I've had my eye on the Toniebox 2, the upgraded audio entertainment system for kids, for months now ever since a family friend gifted us the previous version of Toniebox. There are any number of reasons to make the jump, but the simple fact is that there are now some interactive characters or materials that simply don't work on the original.
That includes, but is not limited to, the newly revealed Tonieplay Hasbro Collection, which brings some of the best board games like Monopoly, Guess Who?, and The Game of Life to the Toniebox 2. When the opportunity arose to give some of them a shot for myself, bringing together something my family already enjoyed with new board game experiences, it felt a bit like kismet.
The Game of Life, Guess Who?, and Monopoly titles all come with a Tonieplay Controller as a pre-order bonus on the official Tonies site, but it seems unlikely that will be the case with other retailers at launch where each will be $24.99 and the controller will be an additional purchase.
If you're completely unfamiliar with Toniebox – let alone Toniebox 2 – you can think of it a bit like child-friendly experiences by way of proprietary amiibo. Both are soft red (though you can get other colors, this is the baseline) cubes with little ears to turn it on and adjust volume for the speakers on its sides that also has a reader on top for the magnetic "tonies" to sit on. They're fairly simple devices that do still require an internet connection, but once you've bought the box itself and the figure, there are no ads or screens or unintended offramps to worry about.
They're designed for kids, and my family has had a grand time letting ours listen to kid-friendly podcasts, Spider-Man stories and songs, and so on. They've also had their fair share of time with the Nintendo Switch and locked-down tablets, so playing games isn't beyond them. The Tonieplay Hasbro Collection felt like it would be a natural extension of what they've already done.
And having now played both the Guess Who? And The Game of Life Tonieplay games, that is, by and large, true. Both are specifically designed for 5+, and we even had a newly minted 5-year-old kid play and win Guess Who? the first time we broke it out. The Toniebox 2 basically does all of the work with relatively little setup required.
To begin, you have to put a punchout on top of the Toniebox 2 that sort of sits over the aforementioned ears to provide a series of options along the edges. You then have to use the proprietary Controller in the middle, which has a button and an arrow, to pick and choose various elements. In Guess Who?, for example, the Toniebox 2 walks players through a series of stories that feature clues about colorful, playful monsters to try and determine which one is the culprit at the end of the day.
It's hard to say whether Guess Who? Or The Game of Life is more complicated in this format. Guess Who? features 30 total monster pieces with required stickers while The Game of Life has a full-on foldable board and pieces. Up to 4 players can take on The Game of Life while only 2 can do Guess Who?, though both are more playful than cutthroat.
The positive aspect here is the closed garden nature of the Toniebox 2 – you can hand these off to kids and they can play all on their own without any concern that some unfiltered internet might seep in around the edges. They also encourage imaginative play, as several different parts of The Game of Life had us acting out silly scenarios. But it's also not a cheap investment; the Toniebox 2 is roughly $150, another $25 (when discounted) for a game, and then $15 for the proprietary Controller. All told, $190 before tax to play Guess Who? is a bit of an ask.
More likely, this is aimed at people that are already within the ecosystem. Have a Toniebox 2 for all your favorite tonies to play on already? Why not extend that to games for a nominal fee? It's certainly more deliberately interactive than simply listening, and from direct experience, I can tell you that there's nothing quite like the look your kid gets when The Game of Life suggests a career they really want and then has them act out different scenarios about it.
Not that my kids picked "writer" when it came up.
The Tonieplay Hasbro Collection is currently available to pre-order on the official Tonies site, and is expected to be available at all major retailers on July 7.
The Toniebox 2 and relevant games and controller were provided by Tonies PR for coverage purposes.
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