Hi Bza
This is one of the most common problems I come across. I work with a lot of eCommerce sites that face the same problems. Some of them set up all products separately and others group under core products. It also has a lot to do with site structure. It's all to do with how similar the products are.
Example Structure:
Site>Category>Sub-catergory
Site>Game
Site>Games>Vowel Games
Site>Games>Vowel Games>Product1
Site>Games>Vowel Games>Product2
Site>Games>Vowel Games>Product3
Site>Games>Vowel Games>Product4
If you are unwilling to set up the Cat Vowel Games then this would be Kindergarten Games (maybe)
So now you have a category - 'Games' - with all of the generic SEO (Title, description and maybe 300 words of descriptive content.)
You also have a sub category of 'Vowel Games' - but with specific SEO (Title, description and maybe 300 words of descriptive content.) all good so far!
You now have 4 games.
Now - if these games are really similar for example 1+2 come from the same brand and have the same name - and the only difference is the size of the game or number of pieces.
Then set it up as 'Brand - Product Name'
The variants 1 and 2 can be in the form of a drop down on the page. The canonical URL on the singe page would be 'Brand - Product Name' and the variants 1 and 2 could be an attribute so hidden behind a # or ? which can be excluded from Google (in the case of the # it is anyway - with the ? you can do it in parameters)
When someone searches for that product and title - yours would likely come up provided you have written some decent product specific content. Yes its a vowel game but there will be features that will distinguish it from other games.
If the products are ALL the same brand and title apart from a measurable attribute then they could ALL be grouped under one core product with attributes for 1,2,3,4 as a drop down on the page. e.g. size, number of pieces.
If then they are the ONLY vowel games on website and there are no others then you may wish to set them under games and get rid of the sub-category Vowel Games as there will be canonicalization between Vowel Games and the single game with the 4 attributes. (This would not be an issue if you set them under Kindergarten Games)
If the games are not the same brand and title and you canonicalise them then you run the risk of Google ignoring the canonicalisation and showing them anyway. Here you also run the risk of Google not trusting your canonicalization structure.
By teh way I would never set up Product 1 and canonicailze the other products as that one. I would always set up a non-attribute URL and then canonicalze the attributes to that one.
For an example go to Zappos and look how they canonicalise shoes with different colour attributes and sizes under one core URL. http://www.zappos.com/p/dunham-fitsync/product/8651820
I believe that with the right descriptive content for each game or brand-title game then you would still rank if someone typed in vowel games. The individual products would come up. Remember that most people start a search with Brand-Title then the type and these three pieces would be in the Title of the page. i.e. in this form: Brand Title Vowel Games Attribute
I do this every day so if you need any further explanation just ask.
Regards Nigel