Damn that StumbleUpon
Nothing much happened on the personal front in the last two days (Btw,I bought the xbox dvd drive on ebay, and now I am keeping my fingers crossed), so I will dedicate this post to StumbleUpon and some interesting finds on the www.
The StumbleUpon tool, is an amazing way to find out some great pages that you would never be able to find otherwise. You specify your interests and it shows you what you are most likely to well.. like.
Now lets talk about simple online games. I found them through Stumble and slashdot.
1. The version of Yeti-Penguin that we enjoyed the most. My (and 3 of my friends') record: 323.5 Beat it and send me a screen shot to prove it. You must try on this version though.
http://www.ndtoday.com/games/files/penguinswing.swf
It is also fun to try for a non-zero shortest distance. Let me know what you get and I will tell you what the record is.
2. The ESP Game
I am sure this is used for some brain research but it is fun. This is how you play. You log on to the server at
http://www.espgame.org
Then you are matched with a random "partner". Not opponent but partner.
Both of you will be shown a random image. You must write what comes to your mind after looking at that image. You cannot write any words that are listed as taboo though. Your partner will do the same. As soon as, both of you have written a common word, you get points and you are shown the next image. The rules are better explained in the game page. You will get a hang of it pretty soon.
Hints: Whenever there is any text, write the word that is not a taboo.
If colors are not taboo, list them.
Man, woman, guy, girl, boy, lady are the most useful words.
Have fun. (My Highest: 2200)
3. The peekaboom game:
This is a game developed by the same team after they were done with espgame.
http://www.peekaboom.org
This is internet-pictionary with a twist.
"How to play" link does a great job there to explain the rules but I will try to explain the basics.
You are matched with a random player. One is a peeker and the other a boomer. The boomer sees a image and a word that is related to the image (mostly grabbed from the espgame guesses is what I believe). The boomer can then click on certain areas of this image. Only the clicked areas would be visible to the peeker, who is trying to guess the word. All the guesses are visible to the boomer and the boomer can give hints like hot/cold, related noun etc or request to give up in case it looks like a hopeless case. You can request to pass an image anytime if you think it is very difficult to save time. Trust your partner, there is probably a good reason for that request. Once you pass or the peeker successfully guesses the word, the roles are reversed. This continues until you run out of time or images. My current record is 1631 and yesterday we scored 1587 with 40 seconds to spare and I found out that we had passed on "Strings" on his request. The picture was that of a String instrument. He should have had more confidence in me after I guessed "Chandelier" in 6-7 clicks :) and no spelling mistake. We were lucky too as we scored on both bonus rounds, quite critical to get that 99 percentile.
I will let you figure out how to use the bonus stage. Or you can leave a comment (that will force you to leave a comment). One hint is to use hints, you get more points if you use hint.
Remember, you got 3:30 minutes only and you are playing with a partner. You might experience later why I am stressing that. It is frustrating and comical when the boomer clicks 2 spots and waits for your guess, then says yor guess is cold, clicks another 2 spots and waits again. It is as much a test of boomer's skills as it is of peeker's skills. Have fun, you might have to install latest Java Runtime to play these.
These games sound very simplistic, but you have to give them a shot to experience why people love these.
And lastly,
Try this exercise. It will really make you wonder how your brain works: While sitting at your desk, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles. Now, while doing this, draw the number "6" in the air with your right hand. (start with the top of 6 and come down, loop should be anticlockwise as normal people write 6, no cheating).
Your foot will change direction and there's nothing you can do about it.
The StumbleUpon tool, is an amazing way to find out some great pages that you would never be able to find otherwise. You specify your interests and it shows you what you are most likely to well.. like.
Now lets talk about simple online games. I found them through Stumble and slashdot.
1. The version of Yeti-Penguin that we enjoyed the most. My (and 3 of my friends') record: 323.5 Beat it and send me a screen shot to prove it. You must try on this version though.
http://www.ndtoday.com/games/files/penguinswing.swf
It is also fun to try for a non-zero shortest distance. Let me know what you get and I will tell you what the record is.
2. The ESP Game
I am sure this is used for some brain research but it is fun. This is how you play. You log on to the server at
http://www.espgame.org
Then you are matched with a random "partner". Not opponent but partner.
Both of you will be shown a random image. You must write what comes to your mind after looking at that image. You cannot write any words that are listed as taboo though. Your partner will do the same. As soon as, both of you have written a common word, you get points and you are shown the next image. The rules are better explained in the game page. You will get a hang of it pretty soon.
Hints: Whenever there is any text, write the word that is not a taboo.
If colors are not taboo, list them.
Man, woman, guy, girl, boy, lady are the most useful words.
Have fun. (My Highest: 2200)
3. The peekaboom game:
This is a game developed by the same team after they were done with espgame.
http://www.peekaboom.org
This is internet-pictionary with a twist.
"How to play" link does a great job there to explain the rules but I will try to explain the basics.
You are matched with a random player. One is a peeker and the other a boomer. The boomer sees a image and a word that is related to the image (mostly grabbed from the espgame guesses is what I believe). The boomer can then click on certain areas of this image. Only the clicked areas would be visible to the peeker, who is trying to guess the word. All the guesses are visible to the boomer and the boomer can give hints like hot/cold, related noun etc or request to give up in case it looks like a hopeless case. You can request to pass an image anytime if you think it is very difficult to save time. Trust your partner, there is probably a good reason for that request. Once you pass or the peeker successfully guesses the word, the roles are reversed. This continues until you run out of time or images. My current record is 1631 and yesterday we scored 1587 with 40 seconds to spare and I found out that we had passed on "Strings" on his request. The picture was that of a String instrument. He should have had more confidence in me after I guessed "Chandelier" in 6-7 clicks :) and no spelling mistake. We were lucky too as we scored on both bonus rounds, quite critical to get that 99 percentile.
I will let you figure out how to use the bonus stage. Or you can leave a comment (that will force you to leave a comment). One hint is to use hints, you get more points if you use hint.
Remember, you got 3:30 minutes only and you are playing with a partner. You might experience later why I am stressing that. It is frustrating and comical when the boomer clicks 2 spots and waits for your guess, then says yor guess is cold, clicks another 2 spots and waits again. It is as much a test of boomer's skills as it is of peeker's skills. Have fun, you might have to install latest Java Runtime to play these.
These games sound very simplistic, but you have to give them a shot to experience why people love these.
And lastly,
Try this exercise. It will really make you wonder how your brain works: While sitting at your desk, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles. Now, while doing this, draw the number "6" in the air with your right hand. (start with the top of 6 and come down, loop should be anticlockwise as normal people write 6, no cheating).
Your foot will change direction and there's nothing you can do about it.
posted by Nikhil at 11:30 AM
1 Comments:
Damn. My foot changes direction as soon as I just start "thinking" about the 6, let alone start drawing it.
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