Zwingo - Today's Time Waster

by Romeo Wahed Jan 22nd 2008

Today's Time Waster is one of those very simple looking games that features some key mechanics that make it quite, shall we say, addictive? Zwingo is a game that revolves around some basic physics of balls or spheres and how they bounce off of each other.

Essentially the game is like playing billiards except your cue is a rubber band tied to a white ball that you use to protect a larger white ball from small black balls trying to attack it. Okay, it's not like playing billiards, but the ball-to-ball dynamics are similar. The rubber band is practically tied to your mouse cursor, so as you move it around it causes tension to which your ball reacts. You then maneuver your ball so as to interfere with the black balls that are trying to ring out the ball you are protecting. Or something like that - it makes much more sense once you try it.

As you progress through the levels, you can get upgrades such as extra speed or size, which affect the way the balls bounce off of each other. You can also expand the zone that your main ball is in as to make it easier to defend. Naturally, as the levels progress, the numbers of enemies increase, including occasional boss rounds. All in all, Zwingo is just what the doctor ordered for when you need some time removed from your day.

Tags: fun, games, time waster, TimeWaster, zwingo

Featured Time Waster

Civiballs is a beautiful, soothing physics puzzle Time Waster

I have an absolute weakness for physics games, and while Civiballs isn't the strongest physics-based game, what it lacks in the physics department it makes up for a few times over in style and fun.

In Civiballs, you are presented with a few colored balls, and your goal is to get those balls into the same-colored urn on the level. The "civi" part of Civiballs is that there are 3 sets of levels to play, each representing a different civilization. While the civilization doesn't affect gameplay, the artwork for each level is beautifully themed to it's appropriate era.

To play the game, you are given only one tool - a sword with which to cut the chains that are holding the balls. The puzzle part of the game is in figuring out what order, and with what timing to cut each chain. Do it right, and all the right balls end up in the right urns, with no stray balls entering an urn (a no-no). Do it wrong, and you get to start over again.

Civiballs is not terribly deep on gameplay; the entire game can be completed in about 15 minutes. But if you enjoy this type of game, it will be a very enjoyable 15 minutes.

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