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Spin Master, the makers of Bakugan Battle Brawlers toys and games announced earlier this week three new Bakugan Ball types.  They are:

Clear Bakugan
	The lack of a color attribute allows these warriors to take on the attributes of their opponent.  If both players roll clear Bakugan, the players get to choose the attributes.
Reverse Color Bakugan
	The highlight colors of these unique Bakugans determine their attribute.
Dual Action Bakugan
	These special attackers allow the player to choose from one of the two attributes associated with the Bakugan.  Choose your attribute wisely to dominate your opponents!

Amazon.com is now offering the special edition Deka Bakugan Warriors.  These special Bakugan work the same as the normal pocket-sized Bakugan Balls, but are about as large as a softball.  Also just like the regular sized Bakugan, these come in Blue, Red, Black, Green, and Brown.

With Bakugan Battle Brawlers becoming the hottest selling toy for the 2008 Christmas season, these balls are going fast, so get yours before they’re all gone!

The 2008 Bakugan Poster has pictures of all the current Bakugan.  You can download and print the poster for yourself here: 2008 Bakugan Poster Think you can collect them all?

Official Multi-Player Rules

The rules included with the Starter Pack only cover a 2 player game, but a lot of Brawlers like to play with a group of four.  There are only a few small changes to the game that will allow you to enjoy Bakugan with more players.

How Gate Cards are Played

When two players battle, Gate Cards are played with their short edges touching, with the owner of the card playing their card closer to their opponent. This is essentially the same when playing a game with more than two players. Each player plays their card “as far away from themselves as they can” in the middle of the field with it touching other cards out there. Here is the layout for a 4 player game…

Turn Sequence

You’ll want to randomly determine who goes first, second, third, fourth, etc… After you determine that order, you’ll want to sit in that order around the field (as in the diagram above). This helps remind players who goes when, and is just a good way to keep track of whose turn is next.

Playing Cards

Players in a multi-player game can only play “play in battle” cards when they actually have a Bakugan at the battle! This includes cards that say “play before a battle” or “play after a battle.” Cards that can be played outside of battle, like the cards you can play before or after an opponent rolls, can be played by any player. If two players want to play a card at the same time, the player whose turn is next gets the first chance to play their card.

Running out of Bakugan

While not common, it is much more likely in a 4 player game that a player will find themselves with no Bakugan to roll during their turn, particularly if an opponent has played a Doom Card. If this happens to a player, the player may move any of his standing Bakugan to another Gate card that would start a battle instead of rolling. If the extremely rare situation where no enemy Bakugan are currently standing at the time, then the player moves one of the Gate cards that he has a standing Bakugan to his Used pile along with all of his standing Bakugan.

Winning the Game

Winning the game is exactly the same. The first player to get three Gate cards to their used pile wins!

Odd situations

One final world about multi-player games. Multi-Player games have the potential to have some very unusual and strange things pop up. The rules above provide a good outline for what is different and how to handle situations as they occur. If a situation not covered above comes up, the players at the table should take a quick vote or flip a coin so that the game can keep moving forward.

Now that Bakugan is hitting North America by storm and the store shelves are bare, imitation and counterfeit Bakugan are beginning to make their appearance.

The makers of Bakugan, Spin Master offers the following tips to help ensure that your Bakugan purchases are real:

• Some counterfeit Bakugan packaging is identical to original product so check the packaging for the Spin Master logo
• Authentic Bakugan Battle Brawlers items will always be in packaging; if Bakugan action figures or game cards are being offered individually, they aren’t real.
• Infringing product is being sold under names such as “Bursting Egg” and “Battle Barwlers”

According to Lorne Lipkus of Kestenberg Siegal (Spin Master’s legal counsel)

The obstacle facing us in our efforts is that Bakugan is such a hot product, even the counterfeiters and stores selling the counterfeits are selling out quickly. As enticing as counterfeits might be to some retailers however, its not worth the risk of a law suit.

Earlier this year, Spin Master Ltd. sent cease and desist orders to counterfeiters and distributors in Ontario and Quebec.  Over 2,000 counterfeit Bakugan Battle Brawler Toys were removed from sale.

The obvious disadvantages of counterfeit Bagukan are:

• They are almost always cheaply made and will not function as well as authentic Bakugan Battle Brawlers
• They are often unsafe since they do not follow national and international safety standards testing

Most often, small convenience stores, local flea markets and street vendors are the places where counterfeit Bakugan are sold.

So, as you are looking for Bakugan for the Christmas season or expanding your collection, take a moment to inspect what you are buying to make sure you are getting authentic Bakugan Battle Brawlers Games.

In what may be a preview to what this year’s Christmas season is going to look like, Bakugan Battle Packs and Starter Packs are sold out on Walmart.com.  I’ve been looking in our local store for Bakugan, but haven’t found anything but some action figures and empty shelves. 

Amazon.com seems to be the best place to get Bakugan Battle Brawlers as of right now, but it is the number one selling item in the Toys and Games list.  I don’t expect their inventory to hold up for long. 

Better get your Bakugan soon, or there won’t be any left by Christmas!

Objective

Bakugan is a game for two players.  The player to capture 3 Gate Cards wins the match.

Setup

Each player chooses a team of 3 Bakugan Balls, 3 Gate Cards (one of each color) and 3 Ability Cards (one of each color).  The game can be played on any flat surface or on the Bakugan Battle Arena

Game Play

Each player places a Gate Card face down in the middle of the playing field.  The cards should barely touch each other at the top.

Players take turns by rolling one unused Bakugan at a time at the Gate cards in the field.

If the Bakugan does not open, the player loses a turn.

If the Bakugan opens on a Gate Card, and there is no other Bakugan on the card, it’s now the other player’s turn.

If the Bakugan opens on a Gate Card that already contains a Bakugan, then Battle begins!

If the Bakugan opens on a Gate Card with that contains a Bakugan belonging to the same player, one of two things happen:

• If there is no other Gate Card in play or that player has a Bakugan on the other Gate Card, he wins that Gate Card uncontested.  He takes the card and places it along with his two Bakugan in the used pile.  It is then the other player’s turn.
• Otherwise, this Bakugan is moved to the other Gate Card.  If that Gate Card doesn’t have an opponent’s Bakugan, it is the other player’s turn.  If it does, the Bakugan begin battle.

Battle

Battle happens whenever two Bakugan from opposing players lands on one Gate Card.

To  commence battle, detach the two Bakugan from the Gate Card and read each Bakugan’s G-Power.

Gate Reveal:  Flip the Gate Card over and do what it says.

Ability Cards: Play Ability Cards if desired.  The player whose turn it is can optionally play one ability card.  Each card says when it can be played.  The player tells his opponent he is playing the Ability Card, does what the card says, and puts the card in the used pile.

Gate Card G-Power Boost: After both players are done playing Ability Cards, each Bakugan can add the Gate Card G-Power boost.  Match the Bakugan color to the color on the Gate Card and add that number to the Bakugan’s G-Power.

The Bakugan with the highest G-Power wins the battle.  The winner puts the Gate Card in his Used Pile.

In the event of a tie, each player rolls an unused Bakugan.  The first one to open on a Gate Card wins.

The first player to gain 3 Gate Cards in their Used Pile wins the round.

As of this writing, three Bakugan games are in the Top 10 Bestselling Toys & Games on Amazon including the Bakugan Battle Pack in the number one slot.  This says a lot about the popularity of the Bakugan Battle Brawlers ganes since Amazon is at the top of the Internet food chain when it comes to selling toys.

This list also shows how scarce these games will become as we get closer to the holiday shopping season.  I have been unable to find any Bakugan sets at my local Wal-Mart or Target.  Each were both sold out and my son has been very disappointed.  Online shopping seems to be the way to go for Bakugan.

Past holiday seasons have shown that the most popular products sell out fast, so make sure you do your holiday shopping early this year!

Coming soon - BattleSpheres.com.  Where you can find the latest information on the Bakugan Universe; buy, sell and trade rare Bakugan Battle Brawlers Cards, Balls and Figures; and meet and discuss all thing Bakugan.

Check back often to find updates and news.  We will have:

• A user forum where you can share strategies, write and read Bakugan fiction and find out the latest news about the hottest new game
• Bakugan marketplace - buy, sell and trade rare and hard-to-find Bakugan
• Bakugan Wiki - find all the up-to-date information on the Bakugan universe, how to play and insider secrets on Bakugan