Posts with tag Game

Drawminos: domino knockdown simulator! - Time Waster

by Jay Hathaway Dec 2nd 2008

If you're like me, you rarely played dominos properly as a kid. Instead, you just built elaborate chains and knocked them down, Domino Rally style. Drawminos is a site that lets you virtually relive those fun times, building and saving different domino setups, so you can watch them fall whenever you want. The best part? You don't have to set the dominos back up when you're done.

If I have a complaint about Drawminos, it's that it's tedious to pick up a new domino every time you want to place one. It would be fun to have a domino tool you could just hold down and drag. I guess that part of the simulation is a bit too realistic for me. On the other hand, you won't run out dominos like you would in real life.

Tags: dominos, drawminos, game

Filed under: Fun, Games

Akinator, the web genius - Time Waster

by Jay Hathaway Dec 1st 2008

There's something of a minor craze about this thing called Akinator lately. It's been popping up on Delicious and it's all over my RSS feeds. But what the heck is it? Akinator is a guessing game. You think of a famous person, and it asks you questions and makes a guess about who you're thinking of.

There are plusses and minuses to Akinator's popularity. On the plus side, all the data it has collected makes it surprisingly good at guessing some pretty obscure celebrities. Akinator has successfully guessed everyone from Britney Spears to 80's prog-rocker John Petrucci to various literary characters and ... Pokémon? It's that good. The downside to Akinator's high traffic is that it's sometimes excruciatingly slow. To remedy this, Akinator currently only allows 1500 players at once, and it's almost always full.

Tags: Akinator, game, guessing

Filed under: Audio, Fun, Games

Auditorium is a gorgeous musical puzzle - Time Waster

by Jay Hathaway Nov 28th 2008

Oops, there goes my entire day! I just discovered an addictive new musical puzzle game called Auditorium, and I'm trying to play though all of the demo levels. Gameplay in auditorium is centered on a flow of "audiovisual particles" that you can direct by moving and resizing different objects that are available to you. The object is to direct the flow across musical audio containers, using arrows, attract and repel symbols, and any other special tools that pop up.

The audio containers each represent a different piece of the music, and they get louder the more you fill them up with flow. To clear a level, you need to max out all of your containers, which brings the song together. There are multiple ways to solve each level -- right now, there are 3 acts, with 5+ levels each, and 20 total acts are being planned. Once you get into some of the more complex levels, you have to deal with multicolored flow, and even containers that need more than one color to fill up. It's challenging, but the freeform gameplay gives it good replay value.

Tags: Auditorium, game, music, musical

Filed under: Games, Internet

PETA mashes up Cooking Mama and Stephen King for gruesome holiday fun

by Victor Agreda, Jr. Nov 18th 2008

'Tis the season to go on a murderous rampage, according to PETA. Once again proving hostile to cavemen but friendly to animals, PETA has re-created Cooking Mama in a Flash version (downloadable on Macs and PC's through the magic of Adobe AIR).

Unlike the soothing "Better than Mama!" you're used to on the Wii, this Mama is more akin to Sweeney Todd. PETA is calling their creation, "Cooking Mama: Mama Kills Animals." I think I just heard the Lawyermobile at Majesco pulling out of the garage.

Killing turkeys, ripping out their guts and stuffing them with Atkins-unfriendly carbs is the name of this game. PETA tries to drive home the point that cleaning and cooking a turkey is a messy, horrible affair. Unfortunately, I had too much fun with the cartoonish game to truly grasp the horror of the situation. Luckily, after two rounds -- and regardless of whether you "win" -- you're treated to a "bonus" video describing and illustrating the sad lives commercially-raised turkeys are forced to endure. It ain't pretty.

Still, I give the idea two big thumbs-up for creativity; PETA has always been a creative bunch. But I doubt the Southern gents I know would be dissuaded in the least by this game. It's tricky to preach through videogames, and trickier still to illustrate terror when making something so cute and fun. All the same, I look forward to "Hello Kitty: Shelter Edition" if they ever pick up the idea.

Check out the screenshots... if you dare. Oh, and if you check out the game I recommend you turn your speakers down. There's some screaming and loud music involved. Enjoy!

Gallery: Cooking Mama: Mama Kills Animals

[Via Planetsave]

Tags: activism, flash, game, peta

Filed under: Fun, Games, Kids, Freeware, Time-Wasters, Web

Super PerfectoProp - Time Waster

by Jason Clarke Nov 11th 2008

Remember Lunar Lander from back in the days of your Apple ][ or Commodore 64? I sure do. It was tough, but landing in that deep and narrow trough was so rewarding, and a great way to show off to your geeky friends.

There have been many similar games over the years, and Super PerfectoProp is one of them. The concept is similar, in that you are flying a little guy around, but instead of using jets, you're using propellers, and instead of three, you have four. The idea is to take off on the left side of the screen, collect all of the coins, and land safely on the right side of the screen, avoiding the various dangers around you.

In terms of controlling your character, it's a bit more complicated than Lunar Lander. Instead of one booster that pushes straight up, you have two that are on 45 degree angles. To go straight up, you have to press both at the same time, but if you do you'll go up fast. And since there's a power line overhead, you have to be pretty careful about it.

Super PerfectoProp is interesting for just about as long as you'd want to spend playing a time waster, which might be a great fit for your next coffee or lunch break.

Tags: flash, flash-game, game, lunar-lander, super-perfectoprop, time-waster

Filed under: Fun, Games, Time-Wasters, Web

Build the highest tower with 99 Bricks - Time Waster

by Jay Hathaway Nov 10th 2008

Wrapping your mind around a simple game like 99 Bricks is harder than you might imagine. The object of the game is to build the highest possible tower using only 99 pieces. Sounds easy enough, but you're playing with Tetris pieces and distinctly non-Tetris physics. If you screw up, you don't just leave gaps that you could have used to score points, you cause your whole tower to wobble and collapse.

Pieces also don't lock to a grid in 99 Bricks, the way they do in Tetris. You can wind up with pieces slanted diagonally, and there's an edge of the board that your toppled bricks can fall off of. 99 Bricks is kind of like Jenga, in that it's almost as satisfying to watch your tower crumble as it is to play seriously. Once you get the hang of the way the pieces behave, it's an addictive little game.

Tags: 99-Bricks, 99Bricks, building, game, Tetris

Filed under: Fun, Games, Time-Wasters, Web

Run: Addictive Flash game asks you to do one thing - run

by Brad Linder Oct 24th 2008

Run is one of those games that's so simple it's hard to figure out why it's so addictive. But it is. Basically you have to run and jump your way through an obstacle course. You run at a steady pace, but each time you complete a level that pace gets a little bit faster.

The game takes on a whole new level of complexity when you realize that in addition to moving left or right or jumping to avoid a hole you can also walk up the walls to your right or left. By the time you get to level 10 or so, this technique becomes absolutely essential to your survival.

The game's not particularly hard. You never seem to run out of lives. But it's the kind of game that's hart to stop playing once you start. Consider yourself warned.

[via Neatorama]

Tags: flash-game, game, run, time-waster

Filed under: Fun, Games, Time-Wasters, iPhone

Galcon for iPhone - Time Waster

by Jay Hathaway Oct 13th 2008

The single greatest procristination tool I've run across in the past couple of months is an iPhone game called Galcon. It's a deviously simple space battle that can take anywhere from 9 seconds to 5 minutes. The object is to send ships from your home planet out into the galaxy to conquer your opponent's planets. The number on each planet tells you how many ships you need to conquer it, and the size of the planet's icon tells you how fast it will produce new ships for you.

The strategy of the game takes a few tries to get the hang of, but once you know how to play, replaying each randomly-generated map to get a faster time becomes totally addictive.The short timespan of a game of Galcon, combined with the game's multiple difficulty levels, makes it hard to play just one game at a time. The Lite version of Galcon is free, but there's also an upgrade that introduces 4 additional mission types and an online multiplayer mode. I'm afraid to download it, because I might never put my iPod down again.

Tags: Galcon, game, iPhone, space

Filed under: Fun, Games, Kids, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Freeware, Time-Wasters

Coign of Vantage - Time Waster

by Jason Clarke Sep 29th 2008

If you get seasick when looking at three-dimensional games, this time waster might not be for you. Coign of Vantage is neat little game that uses your vantage point in three dimensions to change how something looks. The game presents you with a bunch of seemingly randomly scattered blocks, but if you move the cursor on the screen, shifting your vantage point, you can find a point at which an image takes shape.

It might take you a few tries to catch on, but luckily the game gives you hints on the first few. One tip is to always start with your cursor in the center of of the game screen, then move it slowly. Usually, you can look for where the pieces trail off to a point, and try to bring that around to the front. If this doesn't make any sense, try the game and come back, and I bet it will then.

The game is to try to reveal as many of the images as you can in 5 minutes, and you earn back time for quick identifications. Perfect for your next coffee break.

Tags: coign-of-vantage, game, online-game, point-of-view, time-waster, vantage-point

Filed under: Fun, Games, Windows, Time-Wasters

I Wanna Be The Guy: Hardest Platformer Ever? - Time Waster

by Lee Mathews Aug 21st 2008

Ok, I filed this under "fun," but once you give it a shot you might disagree with me.

I Wanna Be The Guy may be the most frustrating, hair-pulling game you ever play. As the developer states on one of his Zazzle shirts, it's "The game where everything kills you. Even the moon."

Within the first couple of minutes, I'd died more times than I cared to count, and that's the point. My poor keyboard nearly got smashed across the edge of my workbench. The game is so difficult (and addictive in a masochistic way) that you want to beat it just to say you did.

Levels have an old-school feel to them and borrow certain elements from some of your favorite classic games, like Bullet Bill and Zangief.

What makes it so hard? Anything can pop out from anywhere and kill you. Keep your eye on that wall, it'll start chasing you and then impale your unsuspecting butt.

IWBTG is kind enough to let you turn down the amount of splatter from your death, as well as music and sound effects - which can get a little irritating during an extended session.

This little baby is freeware, Windows only. If you're not ready for the full dose of insanity, grab the demo download and try the first few levels before taking the plunge.

Tags: game, gaming, hard game, HardGame, platformer, side scroller, SideScroller

Filed under: Fun, Games, Time-Wasters

Stop stealing my Letters!!! - Time Waster

by Christina Clark Aug 6th 2008

This is a simple and quick time waster for you word nerds from Lunchtimers. Or even for those of you that always like to slip a naughty word into a scrabble game.

Remember those refrigerator magnets you had when you were a kid that were all letters? Letters is the same concept in your browser with one fun twist. Instead of just you playing with the letters you have to share with whoever else is logged in. When I tried it there were 12 people sharing letters.

Every time I got close to spelling out "Download Squad Rules" someone kept stealing my letters, moving them around and trying to put them into their own words. Of course when someone named Kevin tried to proclaim he was god, I took the time to change it to goofy which seemed to annoy him since the next thing he came up with was who?

There were plenty of people using their letters to spell out naughty words and plenty of others who would immediately try and change those naughty words into something nicer.

See what you can spell before someone steals your letters.

Tags: game, letters, time waster, TimeWaster

Filed under: Fun, Games, Internet, Time-Wasters

Fun With Physics? Fantastic Contraption FTW! - Time Waster

by Lee Mathews Aug 4th 2008

I suffered through two years of physics in high school, and it's not really a subject that most people would consider an exciting way to waste time on a Friday afternoon. Well, slap me silly, Fantastic Contraption proves that physics can indeed be fun!

The goal is simple: assemble your contraption in the work area (the light blue box) and propel the pink wheel into the pink box. You're provided only a handful of simplistic components with which to build - wheels, a water-drive rod, and sticks. Assemble them like a caveman MacGuyver to reach the goal, and move on to the next level! The physics is surprisingly realistic, and the game can get quite challenging.

Registering allows you to create and save levels, and you're given given a url that links directly to your creation so you can frustrate your friends. Unfortunately, playing other user's saved games requires a $10 registration fee, but you'll have plenty of fun playing the free levels.

Tags: flash, game, games, timewaster

Filed under: Games, Windows, Macintosh, Open Source

Who Wants to Kill Some Zombies? We do! We do! - Time Waster

by Lee Mathews Jul 7th 2008

Aw snap, someone get the holy water. Open Source Zombies!

Grab whatever you can - pitchfork, chainsaw, hatchet, or a shotgun for those of you who can't be bothered to "finesse" a zombie into submission. Your goal in this addictive little game is to save as many of the humans as you can from a horrible fate no doubt involving their brains being eaten.

It's set up kind of like a chessboard, with humans and zombies randomly placed. Set your difficulty and gore level, and go to it. Use the right and left arrows to turn your character around, then walk them with up and down (preferably over a weapon). Next to a zombie? Turn to face it, move towards it, and you automatically attack - you may miss, of course, so make it count. Grab a shotgun if you can, they've got phenomenal stopping power (read: one blast and you've got yourself a heaping pile of zombie slaw).

The graphics aren't great, but who cares? Zombies is ridiculously fun, only 7MB to download, doesn't require an install, and runs on Windows and Mac. Everybody wins! Linux users can play too, you've just got to compile the included RealBasic source code yourself.

Tags: game, games, gaming, zombie, zombies

Filed under: Fun, Games, Freeware, Time-Wasters

Kitten Cannon - Time Waster

by Alan Silcott Jun 18th 2008

Kitten Cannon addresses one of mankind's most primal urges; firing small fluffy animals out of a cannon.

The goal is simple really; shoot the kitten out of the cannon as far as possible. You can adjust the aim and velocity of the cannon, but the real distance is obtained when poor fluffy lands on a pile of explosives, or is trampolined into a balloon-bomb. Watch out for the Venus Cat-traps and death spikes that will stop fluffy DEAD in her tracks.

Some may think that there is a trivial amount of strategy involved in firing a Kitten from a cannon. Obviously they haven't reached 2,164 ft!

Tags: Game, time waster, TimeWaster

Filed under: Fun, Internet, web 2.0

Time Waster: Drink beer and throw axes LOTR style

by Drew Olanoff Jun 17th 2008

You've seen Lord of the Rings. You've drank beer. You've thrown axes. Ok, so maybe not the last part.

Now do all 3 online for points with the Lord of the Rings Swig & Toss game! All thanks to the wonderful thing we know and love called Flash!

This is brilliant for a few reasons.

The more you drink, the harder it is to hold the axe straight, naturally.
The more you drink and the better you do, the more points you get!

This is the definition of a Time Waster.

As always, post your scores here...if you can type straight!

Tags: axes, beer, flash, game, lord of the rings, LordOfTheRings, points

Forumwarz - a potentially offensive time waster

I pwn U After spending the better part of an hour on Forumwarz I still can't decide if it's just sick or if it's kind of fun. It's a bit like a car wreck on the highway. I know I shouldn't be looking but I can't quite turn away.

It's sick, it's twisted, it's the internet on it's worst level and darn it, it's kind of fun. At least for a little while.

Forumwarz is a parody role-playing game that takes place on the internet - or at least the Forumwarz version of it. Your goal is to complete missions that are given to you through a mock up of GoogleTalk called Sentrillion.

Your first "friend" is ShallowEsophagus who begins giving you missions to pwn various forums by being a troll. Depending on the character type you are assigned at start up, you have tools like drooling on the keyboard or bashing your head on the keyboard that you can use to destroy forum threads and eventually, pwn a forum.

Future missions involve buying illegal software from the Russians, pwning more difficult forums and other internet oddness.

Completing missions gives you cash, called Flezz in game, and items that you can pawn or use in other missions. The game is NOT for those easily offended. It's crass, coarse and there are frequent f-bombs in the fake chat sessions.

This is also a game for a more mature audience as it requires you to shop at the Drugs R Fun store to get various concoctions to improve your playing, engage in certain cyber activities to get more Flezz and just generally use a more adult perspective.

If you can get past that, here are the more enjoyable and time-wasting aspects.

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