Before you buy a product, it's generally common practice to be familiar with what it does, the branding, and other details. We feel that the same rule applies to our "New Inductees" we announce each week, so this section is titled "About Our New Inductee." The information in this section will provide you with a quick yet accurate glance of what the product or service is all about.

	Here we have 101 ivory-like tiles in a bag shaped like an apple, hmmm. This would tend to create some curiosity. In actuality, it creates far more than just curiosity, it creates an experience of fun that is not only highly addictive, but also educational simultaneously. Much like dominoes with the skill builder of matching dots and colors, Appletters takes this to a much larger scope of functionality. Much as the classic game of dominoes, Appletters is a game where you are having to make matches to progress further, yet at the same time, it is like a combination of dominoes and crossword puzzles! Appletters provides double the level of stimulation and challenge!

	As referenced in the introduction, Appletters is not designed just for kids to tweens. The versatility in the creative agenda allows adults to create more intense narrative development with a higher level of challenge in Play. In a quote from Shauna Parson, the Marketing/PR rep for Appletters, "The game includes instructions for more adult play - APPLE TURNOVER™ for an extra challenge and APPLESCORE™ for word lovers who like to have fun with palindromes and semi-palindromes." [ Palindrome - A line that reads the same backward and forward. ]

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       Additional Details & Perspectives

	As referenced earlier, it's great for some people who just want a cursory glance at what a New Inductee is all about, there are many others who have a greater appetite for more information. This section is titled "Additional Details & Perspectives". It will provide you with additional details and perspectives associated with the product or service being featured here.

	Appletters brings an experience of multiple emotions and catalysts together as one. Excitement, challenge, and delight are all a common denominator with Appletters. When you stop and think about it, having a group of equal sized square playing pieces from which you have the task of using letter/word association to draw on your memory to beat your opponent, the development of excitement, challenge, and delight is inevitable. In reading one of the reports from our independent evaluators, a very meaningful observation was noted. According to the evaluator, "This small, apple shaped bag, full of small plastic tiles could be one of the most powerful and imaginative tools ever imagined in a school's arsenal for education and progressive skill development." Appletters provides a literally perfect medium to take words, spelling, and the alphabet itself, merge them all together and produce a game that is not only fun, but fun to learn. For those who are word lovers and addicted to word solution puzzles, Appletters is their dream come true. The ivory-like looking tiles create a virtually endless possible combination of game strategy development scenarios. [ Top of Page ]

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       Independent Evaluator Reports

	In this section we have called upon the assistance of top industry professionals to evaluate the product in this evaluation summary. These scholars form their own opinions from extensive analysis and produce detailed, in-depth reports connected with their own personal study and evaluation of the products submitted for independent evaluation. The information to follow is comprised of excerpts from the independent evaluator reports that have been paraphrased, posted verbatim, or a combination of both in order to encapsulate an accurate presentation of the primary details conveyed in each report. This approach provides a completely independent perspective in the evaluation each product.

	Independent Evaluators - Initial Report Outline PRODUCT | SERVICE: Bananagrams MEDIA PLATFORM: MEDIA CONTRIBUTION: TARGET AGE GROUP: Non-Traditional Tile Game Skill Development & Improvement Designed for ages 13 years and older

	Independent evaluators are a vital part of our product and service evaluation process. Having the most elite of professionals from across the globe assist us in our evaluation process. Being independent of our publication and providing their time at no charge, enables us to ensure the production of a well rounded and accurate evaluation of all products and services submitted. These scholars form their own opinions from extensive analysis of all products and services submitted and produce detailed and in-depth reports which are an integral part of our entire evaluation process. The information to follow is comprised of primary feature details and excerpts from their reports that have been paraphrased, posted verbatim, or a combination of both in order to encapsulate an accurate presentation of the primary details conveyed in each report. This approach provides a completely independent perspective in the evaluation each product or service.

	This Week's Independent Evaluators

	Doctor of Behavioral Study, Ph.D. Author / Director of Clinical Educational Study "This small, apple shaped bag, full of small plastic tiles could be one of the most powerful and imaginative tools ever imagined in a school's arsenal for education and progressive skill development." "Without the proper array of tools needed to serve as a catalyst to develop a desire for learning, there will be limited to no level of desire or motivation to learn. In a perfect world where the idea of education has great importance to everyone, this game, along with its companion games Bananagrams, and PAIRSinPEARS would be default educational tools which were used on a regular basis as part of the schools' standard curriculum." "One of the most valuable points in determining the value of the game which might be overlooked is the way that the game is easily picked up and stored in a very small space. This allows for the convenience of being easily carried from one place to another, setup and packed up quickly and easily. What most people on the average are likely to fail to recognize is how these details play an important part in social interaction development, sensory stimulation, and many other classes of skill development. Tactile touch of the fabric which holds the playing pieces and the playing pieces themselves is at a far higher level than with many other products for children. With the higher probability of repeated use and much higher volume of occasion due to the convenience of the game's size, Appletters plays a valuable role in the development of a child and improvement of skills for all ages."

	Professor of Psychology M.Ed., & Ph.D. - Educational Theory Specialist Institute Director of Educational Studies "This game is a wonderful example of taking an idea that is well established and instead of trying to create another creative new product from scratch, Appletters is a product that has evolved into a far more challenging model of an original classic game design." "By way of repetitive game Play with Appletters, children and adults can have a constantly changing group of variables that will have a dramatic impact upon their skill development. In my evaluation of the game, this was evident mostly in spelling, word and sentence formation, creative thinking, and psycho-social interaction without intention to do so. This game can be used in multiple applications of recreational Play and education/skill development lesson plans." [ Top of Page ]

	* PLEASE NOTE: At the request of our independent evaluators their names are not disclosed to protect their personal and professional privacy. Their labors are provided at no charge to assist us in providing a well-balanced and accurate product or service evaluation summary. All opinions and or statements from the independent evaluator(s) featured here do not represent the opinion of The Toy Man® Product Guide, any member or division of GreyWolf Corp, or GreyWolf Corp itself.

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       Consumer Hands-On Evaluation

Nothing is more powerful than hands-on experience by a consumer with a product when it is under evaluation. Based upon that fact we put a number of products we currently are slated to evaluate at the mercy of consumers in a hands-on evaluation where anything goes. The information to follow will explore the responses from the participants in our spontaneous hands-on consumer evaluation of the products available for their review.

Consumer were quite active with Appletters in the spontaneous consumer hands-on evaluation segment. What really added to the excitement was our having a domino style game as well being played on the same table! Appletters presented an interesting challenge due to the fact that many of the consumers who were participants in our hands-on evaluation event were reluctant to quit playing when the store where we were hosting our event was ready to close.  Several of the families even showed up the next day at opening of the store to play some more!

In conclusion of the spontaneous consumer hands-on evaluation of the products they examined, we sat down and went through the video-tapes and consumer feedback forms to establish where "Appletters" stood with the consumers. Just as with Bananagrams, and PAIRSinPEARS, there were large number of compliments by many of the participants about the portability convenience, design of the fabric case for the playing pieces, and the very short learning curve!."Appletters" passed this segment of our evaluation with the highest of recommendation.

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       A Sampling Of Our Evaluation Category Ratings

	The rating of a product is useless if you do not fully understand and comprehend how the ratings is reached or what the value of the rating represents. This need for clarity encouraged us to have this section titled "A Sampling Of Our Evaluation Category Ratings". To assist you in gaining a greater understanding of the evaluation category ratings we use, a small sampling of the individual category titles & rating scores from the complete product review itself for this product or service are featured here. The categories which have been selected to be featured in this product evaluation summary for public view, specify some of the primary points of how and why each specific rating score was reached.

	The Featured Category Ratings Sampling For This Evaluation Summary Are Listed Below:

	CREATIVE AGENDA: Rating Level - [5] DEFINITION: The Creative Agenda of a player represents what the player hopes to achieve by way of exploration in their game experience; in this case being applicable to Appletters. Creative agenda is a vital factor in the evaluation of a good quality game and Appletters makes it quite evident how it meets the demands well over what is to be expected in this category. The creative agenda of this game hosts a narrative which demonstrates recognition of the significance of experience, active thought processing, social interactions in group Play, and executive cognitive functioning in learning and entertainment combined. There can be no question with the rating assigned in any of our evaluation categories, without exception. After careful evaluation, study of all reports, videos and feedback forms, it was agreed that Appletters pulls a perfect score of [5] Five Stars in this evaluation category for CREATIVE AGENDA.

	EASE OF USE : Rating Level - [4.5] Appletters practically wrote the book on EASE OF USE. If a person can walk, they can play Appletters it's so easy to learn. The instructions are quite straightforward, the playing pieces easy to pick up and work with, and the rest is left to the creative imagination of the player. If you look at each playing piece, you see a consistency of design unerring. Read the simple and concise instructions, pick up your number of playing pieces, and jump into the game with high hopes of winning.  Combining letters on your playing pieces you have with those on the table is so simple a caveman could do it! (That is with the assumption a caveman was ignorant.) There was one small concern though. Despite how simple the learning curve of the game is, the small instruction sheet is printed with fairly small text.  This could prove to be a challenge for many who may have a challenge reading small print.  Appletters pulled through so easily in this evaluation category with only that half of a ding boasting a magnificent score of [4.5] stars in the category for EASE OF USE.

	funQUOTIENT™: Rating Level - [5] Appletters tore up the road as it went screaming by to the finish line in this evaluation category for funQuotient™. With every single instance in our evaluation of the game play with a wide variety of age groups, Appletters was never lacking in regard to funQuotient™.  It was amazing to see how such a simple game could generate such a strong level of funQuotient™ during game Play. It was especially amazing how whether we had Appletters being played at a public school, public mall, or even a police station, the funQuotient™ remained in a plentiful level which never seemed to cease. This was especially in the police station and in a police card while in active use!  That will be the talk of that police precinct for some time to come. After several additional studies of Appletters in our evaluation process, it was clear to see it was well deserving of a perfect score of [5] Five Stars in this category for funQUOTIENT™.

	MARKETABILITY: Rating Level - [5] MARKETABILITY was a no challenge evaluation category to work on. The marketability of a product is a very strong factor in its potential success. Appletters has a well established branding already in addition to this product evaluation.  It had the highest of scores in many of our evaluation categories. MARKETABILITY proved to be one of the strongest. Appletters provides a classical example of near perfection in reference to marketability. Considering the portability of the product, price point, substantial contribution to betterment of a person from Play, and the overall visual appeal alone is more than sufficient evidence to demonstrate that the game is well deserving of the perfect score achieved in this category. After an extended period of careful analysis and validation of all rating scores in all categories, Appletters passes the evaluation category of MARKETABILITY with a perfect score of [5] Stars.

	SKILL DEVELOPMENT: Rating Level - [5] Appletters truly made its mark in the evaluation category for SKILL DEVELOPMENT. As with all of our award winning products of this caliber, in every evaluation exercise and analysis, Appletters made it so easy to identify its substantial contribution to skill development. As one of our independent evaluators shared in her report, "By way of repetitive game Play with Appletters, children and adults can have a constantly changing group of variables that will have a dramatic impact upon their skill development. In my evaluation of the game, this was evident mostly in spelling, word & sentence formation, creative thinking, and psycho-social interaction.. Appletters proved its worth without  doubt in the evaluation category of SKILL DEVELOPMENT with a perfect score of [5] Stars.

	OVERALL VISUAL APPEAL: Rating Level - [4] The overall visual appeal category was challenging in our establishing an accurate rating score. Having our own personal opinion of a perfect score then having to abide by our evaluation guidelines and rating which was different from our own personal opinion made this slightly challenging.  The bottom line is that NO exception at any time to ensure consistent and accurate evaluation of all products and services. ! The playing pieces are excellent in design and visual appeal.  The carrying bag which is shaped like an apple follows suit with the playing pieces as well. The only problem is that we cannot say that without question, the overall visual appeal can be rated with the highest honor of being rated as outstanding. The end result in this evaluation category for OVERALL VISUAL APPEAL is a near-perfect score of 4 Stars.