This year’s holiday shoppers are trading the desire for plastic-and-metal robo-dogs, cats and turtles for the battling excitement of Rumble Robots.

Area stores managers said the hot-selling techno pets of last year have been pushed aside to make room for remote-controlled robots.

“The pets aren’t quite as popular as they were last year,” said Jason Schultz, toys and seasonal team leader at Target, 320 S. Duff Ave. “The robots are the most popular techno toy this year.”

There are a variety of robots out there this Christmas season, but the bestsellers are the Rumble Robots, by Trendmasters, said Chris Warner, sales floor product specialist at Toys R Us in Clive.

“They’ve been selling like crazy,” he said.

The robots are remote controlled and sell for about $30. Each robot comes with five game cards. Opponents play the card game to win more cards from one another. Those cards can then be swiped through the robot to give it special powers, like speed or strength, and the Rumble Robots battle it out. They can travel forward or backwards, tip one another over, punch, shout and shoot laser beams.

To make the robot stronger and faster, owners can purchase additional packs of power cards – similar to buying baseball cards, Warner said.

“You never know what you’re going to get,” he said.

The cards can be collected or traded and sell in packs for about $6.

“Robot fever” seems to have infected people of all ages, Warner said. “I’ve seen five-year-olds play with them and I’ve seen 15-year-olds play with them,” he said. “They are just really cool.”