One Mother's Full Step
Every holiday season, our television sets are riddled with new products, hot products, and sales pitches that could drag down the toughest of shoppers, and year after year I can't get the constant "ooohs" and "Ahhhs" and "But Momma pleases" out of my ears. Last year it was the mini chopper, the year before that a bicycle, and before that an indoor hockey table. This year though, my tomboy turned into a full fledged drama queen when she saw Hasbro's newest simulation game. Aimed at young pre teen girls, Dream Life makes every young girls' fantasy world seemingly come to life. So what exactly is this game then, and is it really a dream or just a plain nightmare further perpetuating the cycle of a materialistic society? One mother and daughter's review of the new age must have: Hasbro's Dream Life.
Dream Life's commercials were everything a tween girl could ask for in a game as well as in life. I can't think of a single tweenager that wouldn't be hooked on the idea of creating their "dream selves" , hang out with their "dream boy", and creating their "dream school year". Hasbro definitely did their homework with this one. I watched as my 8 year old's eyes became the size of giant saucers and the recorded game play showed girls her age shopping, dying their hair, decorating their bedrooms, and hanging out with friends all while a female voice confidently announces that with Hasbro's Dream Life game you can have "The power to live your dreams. You decide what your doing and when." At first I was less than thrilled with this game, but as my daughter reminded me. "But momma, you play the Sims and it's the same thing as the Sims, but for my age." The more and more I had thought about it, she was kind of right. Besides I'm sure I would have killed for something like this when I was her age so with no promises made I told her we would have to see.
After dropping her off to school the following week, I decided to take a look at what this game was all about. I went from store to store and was repeatedly told they had sold out. In my final stop I could find the game nowhere on the shelves, but lucky for my daughter, I was stopped by an old friend working in the store and was told the system showed the toy in stock. We searched and searched before finally finding the remaining 4 games which had been conveniently and severely misplaced. Looking over the game and packaging I began to feel more positive about this purchase. What hadn't been mentioned on the television commercial was that while everything my daughter had seen in the commercial was correct, there was a price. In order to truly build and live your "dream life", you must first study and maintain your grades in this simulation game as well as do chores and attend after school activities that your child's "dream self" chooses. At the holiday sales price, I figured it wouldn't hurt to try and brought it home. Nearly one month after Christmas and my daughter's first mega drama "Oh my. Is this for real" upon opening her "dream gift", has this game continued to be a dream for us both?
Much like the notorious game "The Sims", you start by choosing the perfect you. You can name yourself, choose your own intelligence, athletic ability, personality, hair color, facial shape and skin tone, and fashion sense ,among many others options in designing your "dream self". You can then visit your dream best friends house to name and create her. She will be one of many hang out buddies and study partners, but most of all she will be your "guiding light" in a sense. If at any time you need advice, visit with her. Your main place in this game is your bedroom. This is where you will start the game at all times, end the game or save the game. This is also where your daily planner and address book will be kept and where you can study for big tests, do homework, practice after school activities, try on clothes your dream self owns and more. In the kitchen chores will needed to be finished daily and in town you can visit the rec center, best friends house, salon, shopping mall and school. Even in "Dream Life", school runs Monday through Friday and just as in reality has homework, tests, marking period grades and more. Chores must be done to get an allowance, and certain purchases; such as computers, personal telephones, ipods, and video games; cannot be made unless your "dream self" brings home A's on tests and report cards.
I hadn't realized the magnitude of this game until one day my frustrated daughter asked me why the game wasn't letting her buy a dress for the school dance. I looked up to the screen to find she had only $12.00 in her dream selves account but was trying to make a $300.00 purchase. I just shook my head and laughed. It was about time she fully realized the value of a dollar and saw just how long it took to earn and quickly it disappeared. I was definitely impressed with the way she began to understand that you must work hard and take care of your responsibilities in order to achieve your goals, money, and rewards. In this game, just like in "The Sims", the length of a day, week, and year are different from that of true life and you have only 90 virtual days to succeed in all of your dream self's goals. After the 90 days is up you will receive a grade before starting a new dream life. This is where my only problem falls into place.
In the end, your dream self is graded in three categories: fashion, lifestyle, and friends. To gain a high level in the friends portion, you must make enough friends over the course of the game which is okay, and to make a higher grade in the lifestyle department there is a positive and negative involved. We'll start this out with the positive first. Every time your dream self attends a school dance, or masters a new after school activity like soccer, dance, or swimming the lifestyle bar will rise which is good, obviously. The part I do have a little bit of a gripe about though, is that for every "cool" new electronic gadget your parent's allow you to buy because of good grades, your lifestyle points will rise. I'm not really sure how I feel about this because you would not have received the cool new "in" thing had you not done well in school, but your lifestyle points are not really going up because of your grades, but rather for the new item. The third and final grade received is for fashion. This is where it bothered me a little more so. In order to make your fashion grade rise, you must not only buy the new hot fashions, but really must make purchases often to gain much of anything in this points box. I guess regardless of this game our kids would be made to feel that to succeed in life we must buy, buy, buy in this materialist "mine is newer, bigger, better, more expensive" society, but to start at 8 years old and in such a sneaky way was a bit surprising to me. It seems a little silly to have thought any age could be too young, I know. But they sure were clever to slip them into the game in a such a way that could go somewhat undetected with positive negatives. I guess that has always been my fault though, over analyzing and reading deep enough to inadvertently see the subliminal suggestions. With the right parental support and guidance though, the messaging here seems minimal in comparison to anything else in stores or on television and at 8 years old, I don't even think she cares much about her "Dream Life" grading scale. She's having far too much fun doing all that she could never do at 8 years old in real life like dying her hair, shopping, and wearing make up. I'm shocked to find my tomboy becoming a pre teen girl, but overall this game has been fun and well worth the $30.00.
Nearly one month later, this game is still in play daily and although I do have my complaint or two I must admit that I overall have enjoyed this game and for the first time in history my 8 year old is actually still playing it with high interest as if she had just gotten it yesterday. A huge fete for this child! On a scale of 1 to 10, I would definitely have to give this one an 8 or 9 and if I were able to go back into time, I would definitely buy this one again.1.)Plug and Play meaning just plug the game into your televisions A/V inputs and play. no extra accessories, add ons or fees 2.)The cute little game console come with an easy to hold, use and understand wireless remote which is used to play the game and can be stored in a compartment located in the console
3.)Kids are taught the value of a dollar, responsibility, and more
4.)Certain products cannot be purchased without parental permission and good grades in game play
5.)It's a fun game that allows kids to experiment with hair, makeup, and clothing without actually doing it in real life
6.)It's reasonably priced at anywhere between $30.00 and $45.00
1.)The way that your skill(fashion and lifestyle grades) points rise because of the amount of and popularity of materialistic things owned or obtained during game play
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Interview with game designer Marc Aranha
Interview with game designer Marc Aranha
Michael Tresca (MT): Tell us a little about your gaming background.
Marc Aranha (MA): Games have always been part of my life. When I was five or six, my mother brought me to our local bookstore. While browsing there, I was drawn to this brightly colored box with unbelievable dragon artwork, and of course I had to have it. She was hesitant at first, but persistence paid off and I walked out of there with the Dungeons and Dragons "Red Box" Set. I still remember my first encounter with that rust monster in the introductory adventure and the dismay I felt when it chewed through my armor, but I was hooked. My mother probably remembers the early mornings I woke her with my requests to trace a new character sheet from the back of the manual. Little did she know then, that years later she'd be playing Magic: The Gathering and Hero Quest with me, and loving it!
My father was also heavily into games. He was an actor and traveled a lot, and I remember he had this boxing game called Title Bout, that he carried with him everywhere. He had folders and folders of stats and match results, creating a sort of solo league. That sort of love for a game and its world rubbed off on me. Trying out new board games ended up being a family passion. I think my favorite of the bunch was Mystery Mansion, because of the way the board literally changed every game. As a kid, I found that fascinating and it's remained a sentimental pick of mine. I've since begun playing the game with my own daughter, so it's become multi generational.
My father also bought me my first video game system (Nintendo) and we discovered computer games together. I still remember the arguments over computer time when Civilization was released and we used to geek out over baseball and football games (we preferred coach modes). Needless to say, I've been playing games of all kinds for a long time. They have always been an integral part of my life and my family.
MT: How did you get into game development?
MA: Game development was a natural progression for me. As I played more games, I naturally wanted to tinker with them, fix rules that didn't make sense, write expansions, or even do mash ups of my favorite games. The design of a game fascinated me. However, I didn't try my hand at publishing games for profit until college, back in 1998, when I designed a tabletop game manual called Shalkith: Last Kin. That was my rookie effort, warts and all, but I learned a lot from the process, not least of which is don't do your own cover art if you can't draw! Still, the game was fun and garnered some fans that have remained with me for years. It actually remains the foundation for a lot of my recent designs, including Dragon Clash.
MT: What is the World of Shalkith?
MA: Shalkith is based in an alternate Earth setting. After being ravaged for centuries by the abuse of mankind, Gaia, the dying spirit of Earth has called out to her last defenders in a desperate plea for balance. Those defenders are the dragons, each tied to an elemental type and born from the destruction wrought by man. Red dragons may be born from raging wildfires or nuclear fallout, blue dragons may appear from an oil spill, silvers from the noxious smoke of an industrial factory, and browns from the polluted cesspool of a toxic waste dump. In the tongue of dragons, Shalkith means "Last Kin". The title is an honor bestowed upon the dragon that has proven its worth, the one dragons believe will become the physical will of Gaia and the shaper of the world.
MT: How did you come up with Dragon Clash?
MA: CCGs have always interested me. I collected baseball cards as a kid, but they just sat in a binder. Magic: The Gathering came along and blew my mind. To be able to collect cards and actually play a game with those cards was pretty much my gaming nirvana. So, creating a card game has always been something I've wanted to do. I'd been dabbling in online game development for years, but reached the limits of what I could do independently. I wanted to get back to basics, get to the core of design and writing, and create a tangible game that I could touch and interact with directly.
Over the years I had collected quite the stable of artwork for Shalkith Online from a group of stellar artists that I worked with. I already had established the game world and many of the basic mechanics and themes through previous games. It was just a matter of translating that to a physical card game and evolving the strategies for that medium. Thankfully, it all came together rather smoothly once I had committed to the design.
MT: What has been your experience with publishing through The Game Crafter?
MA: Companies like The Game Crafter are a godsend for independent developers like me. Creating a game like Dragon Clash, at a professional quality, simply wouldn't be possible without them. When I started this process, I evaluated several potential publishing partners and while each had their own strengths, what sold me on The Game Crafter, specifically, was their service. Their owners are all over the chat rooms, social media, and forums. It's that kind of accessibility, in addition to their quality products, that are invaluable and put them at the top of the industry in my view.
MT: Where can fans find out more about Dragon Clash?
MT: Anything else you'd like to add?
MA: The excitement and positive reception to Dragon Clash has been very humbling and gratifying. I'm happy people are finding and enjoying the game. It's often difficult for independent developers with small budgets to follow traditional marketing methods, so the fans become an essential partner in the success of the game. I'd like to thank our fans, old and new, for supporting Dragon Clash. Happy gaming!
Want more? Subscribe to this column; follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and the web; buy my books: The Evolution of Fantasy Role Playing Games, The Well of Stars, and Awfully Familiar.
Michael Tresca (MT): Tell us a little about your gaming background.
Marc Aranha (MA): Games have always been part of my life. When I was five or six, my mother brought me to our local bookstore. While browsing there, I was drawn to this brightly colored box with unbelievable dragon artwork, and of course I had to have it. She was hesitant at first, but persistence paid off and I walked out of there with the Dungeons and Dragons "Red Box" Set. I still remember my first encounter with that rust monster in the introductory adventure and the dismay I felt when it chewed through my armor, but I was hooked. My mother probably remembers the early mornings I woke her with my requests to trace a new character sheet from the back of the manual. Little did she know then, that years later she'd be playing Magic: The Gathering and Hero Quest with me, and loving it!
My father was also heavily into games. He was an actor and traveled a lot, and I remember he had this boxing game called Title Bout, that he carried with him everywhere. He had folders and folders of stats and match results, creating a sort of solo league. That sort of love for a game and its world rubbed off on me. Trying out new board games ended up being a family passion. I think my favorite of the bunch was Mystery Mansion, because of the way the board literally changed every game. As a kid, I found that fascinating and it's remained a sentimental pick of mine. I've since begun playing the game with my own daughter, so it's become multi generational.
My father also bought me my first video game system (Nintendo) and we discovered computer games together. I still remember the arguments over computer time when Civilization was released and we used to geek out over baseball and football games (we preferred coach modes). Needless to say, I've been playing games of all kinds for a long time. They have always been an integral part of my life and my family.
MT: How did you get into game development?
MA: Game development was a natural progression for me. As I played more games, I naturally wanted to tinker with them, fix rules that didn't make sense, write expansions, or even do mash ups of my favorite games. The design of a game fascinated me. However, I didn't try my hand at publishing games for profit until college, back in 1998, when I designed a tabletop game manual called Shalkith: Last Kin. That was my rookie effort, warts and all, but I learned a lot from the process, not least of which is don't do your own cover art if you can't draw! Still, the game was fun and garnered some fans that have remained with me for years. It actually remains the foundation for a lot of my recent designs, including Dragon Clash.
MT: What is the World of Shalkith?
MA: Shalkith is based in an alternate Earth setting. After being ravaged for centuries by the abuse of mankind, Gaia, the dying spirit of Earth has called out to her last defenders in a desperate plea for balance. Those defenders are the dragons, each tied to an elemental type and born from the destruction wrought by man. Red dragons may be born from raging wildfires or nuclear fallout, blue dragons may appear from an oil spill, silvers from the noxious smoke of an industrial factory, and browns from the polluted cesspool of a toxic waste dump. In the tongue of dragons, Shalkith means "Last Kin". The title is an honor bestowed upon the dragon that has proven its worth, the one dragons believe will become the physical will of Gaia and the shaper of the world.
MT: How did you come up with Dragon Clash?
MA: CCGs have always interested me. I collected baseball cards as a kid, but they just sat in a binder. Magic: The Gathering came along and blew my mind. To be able to collect cards and actually play a game with those cards was pretty much my gaming nirvana. So, creating a card game has always been something I've wanted to do. I'd been dabbling in online game development for years, but reached the limits of what I could do independently. I wanted to get back to basics, get to the core of design and writing, and create a tangible game that I could touch and interact with directly.
Over the years I had collected quite the stable of artwork for Shalkith Online from a group of stellar artists that I worked with. I already had established the game world and many of the basic mechanics and themes through previous games. It was just a matter of translating that to a physical card game and evolving the strategies for that medium. Thankfully, it all came together rather smoothly once I had committed to the design.
MT: What has been your experience with publishing through The Game Crafter?
MA: Companies like The Game Crafter are a godsend for independent developers like me. Creating a game like Dragon Clash, at a professional quality, simply wouldn't be possible without them. When I started this process, I evaluated several potential publishing partners and while each had their own strengths, what sold me on The Game Crafter, specifically, was their service. Their owners are all over the chat rooms, social media, and forums. It's that kind of accessibility, in addition to their quality products, that are invaluable and put them at the top of the industry in my view.
MT: Where can fans find out more about Dragon Clash?
MT: Anything else you'd like to add?
MA: The excitement and positive reception to Dragon Clash has been very humbling and gratifying. I'm happy people are finding and enjoying the game. It's often difficult for independent developers with small budgets to follow traditional marketing methods, so the fans become an essential partner in the success of the game. I'd like to thank our fans, old and new, for supporting Dragon Clash. Happy gaming!
Want more? Subscribe to this column; follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and the web; buy my books: The Evolution of Fantasy Role Playing Games, The Well of Stars, and Awfully Familiar.
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Ticket To Ride Board Game Review
Ticket To Ride Board Game Review
Ticket to Ride by Days of Wonder game company has been on my radar for quite some time, since after all, it was the winner of several board game awards, and members of my uber educationally minded family have been talking it up for the last few years. But I wasn't convinced that I needed to run to the nearest mall and buy this game. After all, sometimes award winning products are riding on the hype surrounding their awards. But I finally sat down and played this game with my family, and now I'm a true believer.
This fast paced game requires the player to use skill, strategy, and luck to build a series of interconnected railway lines from city to city across the board. This game combines matching and collecting skills of rummy card games with strategic elements borrowed from well known board games like Monopoly and Risk, and uses some friendly blocking tactics borrowed from more recent games like Jax' Sequence family of card games.
This game has a complicated looking board, and each player uses a Monopoly esque set of plastic colored train tokens to show their rail lines on the board. During each turn, a player may collect colored train cards, collect destination cards, or build a segment of their railway line. It is all a bit daunting at first, but learning to play this game isn't as difficult as I expected it to be. After one game play, which took a little longer than an hour, I understood the basic rules of the game and started formulating some opinions about player strategies, which I put to the test during my second game.
Buy A Ticket to Ride Online
Ticket To Ride EuropeThis version of the game features the European game board
Amazon Price: $31.99List Price: $49.99
Ticket To Ride MarklinThe Marklin edition of A Ticket to Ride features a Germany game board and a passengers a new game feature introduced for this version of the game.
Amazon Price: $36.00List Price: $49.99
Ticket to Ride Switzerland (Swiss Map Expansion)The Swiss Map expansion is not a fully featured game, but includes many new elements for 2 3 players that make it the game inventor, Alan Moon's favorite version. buy this extension to use with the European game board.
Amazon Price: $25.00
Ticket To Ride: Nordic CountriesThe hard to find Nordic Countries version of A Ticket to Ride was a limited release. This version is a standalone version of the game and includes railways connecting Finland, Sweden, and Denmark.
Amazon Price: $35.99List Price: $49.99
A Fun, Educational Game As a parent, I love the educational element of this game. The USA version of the game features a map of the United States with major border cities from Canada and the United States. Play this game 5 or 6 times and you and your family will develop geographic awareness of major cities in all parts of the United States and some major ciities in Southern Canada. But another educational aspect of this game is the strategic element. It quickly becomes evident from playing this game that building lines from one end of the nation to the other can be complicated if you don't have access through the middle parts of the board, and connecting various cities can be easy or difficult, depending on your opponents' goals.
One of the real measures of this game's success in my family was how enjoyable the game was to play, even when we were losing. The nature of game play discourages some of the underhanded strategy that I experienced (and dished out) with Monopoly. Inhibiting other player's progress is fun to do, but at a cost to yourself, because each player has a finite number of train cars, and you may find you need those pieces to score extra points connecting cities that are geographically distant.
This is a fun game to play, and though the Days of Wonder company recommends for players ages 8 and up, a smart six or seven year old could probably play this game without much difficulty, though the finer points of strategy may be lost on this younger age group. The only downside I can possibly foresee for this game is the need to make sure each player has the exact number of train tokens at the beginning of game play. Depending on which version of the game you are playing, the boards and possible train routes vary in size and difficulty. Check out the game board images.
Ticket to Ride Game Versions
USA Version, features United States and Canada. You can purchase the 1910 expansion pack for this version, which features larger game cards and more destinations, which make the game more interesting.
European Version. This version connects cities on a map of Europe, including some port cities. You can purchase a 1912 Europa expansion pack which introduces more cards and an additional level of strategy.
Switzerland Expansion Pack. This is not a self contained version of the game, though it probably should be at the price! You will need game tokens from the European or USA version of the game.
Marklin Version. This version features specialty game pieces from the model train company, Mrklin, and uses a map of Germany on the game board. This version comes highly recommended by model train enthusiasts.
Nordic Countries Version. This limited release version of the game uses Scandinavian countries of Sweden, Finland, and Denmark on its game board. This version of the game is self contained and is not an expansion pack, like the Switzerland version of the game. The Nordic Countries edition was released as a limited edition and is hard to find. I even saw a China game board on the internet, but several of these game boards must be printed from the internet and aren't sold by original makers of A Ticket to Ride.
Additionally, historical versions sold as game expansion packs are also available on the market, and these expansion packs introduce additional levels of complexity to game play, and because the cards in these expansion packs are larger than the ones introduced in the original game versions, they are easier to shuffle.
Electronic Version of A Ticket to RideIf you grew up playing Stratego or Risk, you will really enjoy this game, which doesn't require hours upon hours of time commitment. You can even play the game online on an XBox 360 gaming system. The game is currently sold only on the XBox 360 game system and requires an online game code and an internet connection for play. Personally, I prefer the tactile experience of moving the game pieces around on the board.
dohn121 4 years ago from Hudson Valley, New York
This really does look like a lot of fun. Suddenly, I wish I had kids! Thanks, wannabwestern! I do have 3 nephews and a niece so far.
Ticket to Ride by Days of Wonder game company has been on my radar for quite some time, since after all, it was the winner of several board game awards, and members of my uber educationally minded family have been talking it up for the last few years. But I wasn't convinced that I needed to run to the nearest mall and buy this game. After all, sometimes award winning products are riding on the hype surrounding their awards. But I finally sat down and played this game with my family, and now I'm a true believer.
This fast paced game requires the player to use skill, strategy, and luck to build a series of interconnected railway lines from city to city across the board. This game combines matching and collecting skills of rummy card games with strategic elements borrowed from well known board games like Monopoly and Risk, and uses some friendly blocking tactics borrowed from more recent games like Jax' Sequence family of card games.
This game has a complicated looking board, and each player uses a Monopoly esque set of plastic colored train tokens to show their rail lines on the board. During each turn, a player may collect colored train cards, collect destination cards, or build a segment of their railway line. It is all a bit daunting at first, but learning to play this game isn't as difficult as I expected it to be. After one game play, which took a little longer than an hour, I understood the basic rules of the game and started formulating some opinions about player strategies, which I put to the test during my second game.
Buy A Ticket to Ride Online
Ticket To Ride EuropeThis version of the game features the European game board
Amazon Price: $31.99List Price: $49.99
Ticket To Ride MarklinThe Marklin edition of A Ticket to Ride features a Germany game board and a passengers a new game feature introduced for this version of the game.
Amazon Price: $36.00List Price: $49.99
Ticket to Ride Switzerland (Swiss Map Expansion)The Swiss Map expansion is not a fully featured game, but includes many new elements for 2 3 players that make it the game inventor, Alan Moon's favorite version. buy this extension to use with the European game board.
Amazon Price: $25.00
Ticket To Ride: Nordic CountriesThe hard to find Nordic Countries version of A Ticket to Ride was a limited release. This version is a standalone version of the game and includes railways connecting Finland, Sweden, and Denmark.
Amazon Price: $35.99List Price: $49.99
A Fun, Educational Game As a parent, I love the educational element of this game. The USA version of the game features a map of the United States with major border cities from Canada and the United States. Play this game 5 or 6 times and you and your family will develop geographic awareness of major cities in all parts of the United States and some major ciities in Southern Canada. But another educational aspect of this game is the strategic element. It quickly becomes evident from playing this game that building lines from one end of the nation to the other can be complicated if you don't have access through the middle parts of the board, and connecting various cities can be easy or difficult, depending on your opponents' goals.
One of the real measures of this game's success in my family was how enjoyable the game was to play, even when we were losing. The nature of game play discourages some of the underhanded strategy that I experienced (and dished out) with Monopoly. Inhibiting other player's progress is fun to do, but at a cost to yourself, because each player has a finite number of train cars, and you may find you need those pieces to score extra points connecting cities that are geographically distant.
This is a fun game to play, and though the Days of Wonder company recommends for players ages 8 and up, a smart six or seven year old could probably play this game without much difficulty, though the finer points of strategy may be lost on this younger age group. The only downside I can possibly foresee for this game is the need to make sure each player has the exact number of train tokens at the beginning of game play. Depending on which version of the game you are playing, the boards and possible train routes vary in size and difficulty. Check out the game board images.
Ticket to Ride Game Versions
USA Version, features United States and Canada. You can purchase the 1910 expansion pack for this version, which features larger game cards and more destinations, which make the game more interesting.
European Version. This version connects cities on a map of Europe, including some port cities. You can purchase a 1912 Europa expansion pack which introduces more cards and an additional level of strategy.
Switzerland Expansion Pack. This is not a self contained version of the game, though it probably should be at the price! You will need game tokens from the European or USA version of the game.
Marklin Version. This version features specialty game pieces from the model train company, Mrklin, and uses a map of Germany on the game board. This version comes highly recommended by model train enthusiasts.
Nordic Countries Version. This limited release version of the game uses Scandinavian countries of Sweden, Finland, and Denmark on its game board. This version of the game is self contained and is not an expansion pack, like the Switzerland version of the game. The Nordic Countries edition was released as a limited edition and is hard to find. I even saw a China game board on the internet, but several of these game boards must be printed from the internet and aren't sold by original makers of A Ticket to Ride.
Additionally, historical versions sold as game expansion packs are also available on the market, and these expansion packs introduce additional levels of complexity to game play, and because the cards in these expansion packs are larger than the ones introduced in the original game versions, they are easier to shuffle.
Electronic Version of A Ticket to RideIf you grew up playing Stratego or Risk, you will really enjoy this game, which doesn't require hours upon hours of time commitment. You can even play the game online on an XBox 360 gaming system. The game is currently sold only on the XBox 360 game system and requires an online game code and an internet connection for play. Personally, I prefer the tactile experience of moving the game pieces around on the board.
dohn121 4 years ago from Hudson Valley, New York
This really does look like a lot of fun. Suddenly, I wish I had kids! Thanks, wannabwestern! I do have 3 nephews and a niece so far.
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Strategy More
Strategy More
The BasicsThe game of Phase 10 is based on a rummy type game called Liverpool Rummy. This is a type of "contract rummy." Contract rummy means that it is a game that requires meeting certain goals to progress. In Phase 10, the contracts or goals are called phases of which there are 10.
The game is played using a special deck of cards which includes 108 cards total. It is possible to adapt two standard decks of cards to accomplish the same goal, though it is easier to play using the special cards.
A History of the GameIn 1982, Kenneth Johnson created a new card game. Phase 10 was born as a variation of rummy that Mr. Johnson played with his brothers when grew up. Mr. Johnson actually solidified the rules of the game and created it as a commercial product while he was laid off from his job in the automotive industry.
The first copies of the game were sold to K Mart stores and the rest as they say is history.
In 1987, Kenneth sold the rights to the game to Fundex who held it until 2010. In 2010, Mattel purchased the game and added it to their collection of board and card games upping its distribution range even further.
The RulesFor a full version of the rules, consult the instruction manual included with the game. However, in case you have your game and you've lost or fogotten the basics these rules will help:
OBJECT OF THE GAME:
The first player to complete all 10 phases wins if there is a tie, the player who has scored the least amount of points wins.
Reference cards that list the phases, a deck of 108 cards (includes colored, numbered cards as well as skip and wild cards), pen and paper for score keeping.
One player shuffles the cards and deals out 10 cards to each player face down. The remaining cards are placed in a face down pile and one card is flipped upright. The player to the left goes first and either takes the top card from the discard pile or the facedown pile. Play proceeds clockwise.
The goal is for each player to complete his or her phase. Once you've completed your phase, work to be the first player to discard all cards by playing them off other's phases or your own. Once a player has gone out, the remaining players count up their remaining cards and points are added. The next hand play continues with players working on whichever phase they are on. The first player to reach phase 10 and complete it wins in case of a tie, points are calculated and the player with the fewest points wins.
There are a few more details and potential situations the official game rules found in the game or here will explain.
Phase 10 StrategyWant to take your game to the next level? Keep these Phase 10 strategy tips in mind next time you sit down to play a game.
Dump your high cards High cards count for more if you're stuck with them so, if everything else is the same, discard a 12 before a 2.
Skip Strategy Skip cards are more useful than you may think. Hold on to these for the end of the round and it can be easier to go out.
Watch Your Opponent Keep an eye on what your opponent may need, what he's discarding and what phase he is on this can be the key to going out before him.
Bluff Don't give away the strength of your hand with your body language. Learn to bluff and you'll more easily fool your opponents.
A Quick PollWhich Phase Do You Find the Hardest? Seven Cards of One Color A Run of Nine Cards A Set of Five and a Set of ThreeSee results without voting
Facts about Phase 10Phase 10 is the second best selling card game behind Uno.
Previously owned by Fundex, Mattel bought the rights to the game in 2010.
Phase 10 is available to play online as well as on the iOS and Blackberry mobile stores.
There is also a Phase 10 dice game available.
LinksPlay Phase 10 Online via Facebook Here
Download Score sheets for Your Game
Wrap UpDo you have any strategy tips, memorable moments or other information about the game you want to share? Comment below and I'll be happy to add your information to this ever growing database about this awesome card game!
The BasicsThe game of Phase 10 is based on a rummy type game called Liverpool Rummy. This is a type of "contract rummy." Contract rummy means that it is a game that requires meeting certain goals to progress. In Phase 10, the contracts or goals are called phases of which there are 10.
The game is played using a special deck of cards which includes 108 cards total. It is possible to adapt two standard decks of cards to accomplish the same goal, though it is easier to play using the special cards.
A History of the GameIn 1982, Kenneth Johnson created a new card game. Phase 10 was born as a variation of rummy that Mr. Johnson played with his brothers when grew up. Mr. Johnson actually solidified the rules of the game and created it as a commercial product while he was laid off from his job in the automotive industry.
The first copies of the game were sold to K Mart stores and the rest as they say is history.
In 1987, Kenneth sold the rights to the game to Fundex who held it until 2010. In 2010, Mattel purchased the game and added it to their collection of board and card games upping its distribution range even further.
The RulesFor a full version of the rules, consult the instruction manual included with the game. However, in case you have your game and you've lost or fogotten the basics these rules will help:
OBJECT OF THE GAME:
The first player to complete all 10 phases wins if there is a tie, the player who has scored the least amount of points wins.
Reference cards that list the phases, a deck of 108 cards (includes colored, numbered cards as well as skip and wild cards), pen and paper for score keeping.
One player shuffles the cards and deals out 10 cards to each player face down. The remaining cards are placed in a face down pile and one card is flipped upright. The player to the left goes first and either takes the top card from the discard pile or the facedown pile. Play proceeds clockwise.
The goal is for each player to complete his or her phase. Once you've completed your phase, work to be the first player to discard all cards by playing them off other's phases or your own. Once a player has gone out, the remaining players count up their remaining cards and points are added. The next hand play continues with players working on whichever phase they are on. The first player to reach phase 10 and complete it wins in case of a tie, points are calculated and the player with the fewest points wins.
There are a few more details and potential situations the official game rules found in the game or here will explain.
Phase 10 StrategyWant to take your game to the next level? Keep these Phase 10 strategy tips in mind next time you sit down to play a game.
Dump your high cards High cards count for more if you're stuck with them so, if everything else is the same, discard a 12 before a 2.
Skip Strategy Skip cards are more useful than you may think. Hold on to these for the end of the round and it can be easier to go out.
Watch Your Opponent Keep an eye on what your opponent may need, what he's discarding and what phase he is on this can be the key to going out before him.
Bluff Don't give away the strength of your hand with your body language. Learn to bluff and you'll more easily fool your opponents.
A Quick PollWhich Phase Do You Find the Hardest? Seven Cards of One Color A Run of Nine Cards A Set of Five and a Set of ThreeSee results without voting
Facts about Phase 10Phase 10 is the second best selling card game behind Uno.
Previously owned by Fundex, Mattel bought the rights to the game in 2010.
Phase 10 is available to play online as well as on the iOS and Blackberry mobile stores.
There is also a Phase 10 dice game available.
LinksPlay Phase 10 Online via Facebook Here
Download Score sheets for Your Game
Wrap UpDo you have any strategy tips, memorable moments or other information about the game you want to share? Comment below and I'll be happy to add your information to this ever growing database about this awesome card game!
Monday, March 24, 2014
tagged with
tagged with
ASTROLOGY AND CHESS (a game or a divine thing)
02nd May 2012
According to Vedic Astrology there are some obviousconnections between the game of chess and the astrology which tells us that the Chess is a game encouraged by the Universal Laws, maybe by the planetary movement.
We can say that Chess is another kind . Bistro sets are not just for quaint outdoor cafes anymore, but come in so many colors and styles that they can be. If you tend to just veg out in front of the television when you have free time, you may wonder just what else is the. The 13 card game of Rummy is a very popular game in India, being played by any Tom, Dick and Harry; however that doesn't make Rummy an easy game. Read >
Jigsaw Puzzle Games Help Kids Develop Cognitive Skills
11th November 2009
A jigsaw puzzle can provide long lasting entertainment and numerous benefits of promoting the cognitive development of children of all ages.
Puzzle solving activities can start at very early ages and continue as children get older. There are puzzles de.
ASTROLOGY AND CHESS (a game or a divine thing)
02nd May 2012
According to Vedic Astrology there are some obviousconnections between the game of chess and the astrology which tells us that the Chess is a game encouraged by the Universal Laws, maybe by the planetary movement.
We can say that Chess is another kind . Bistro sets are not just for quaint outdoor cafes anymore, but come in so many colors and styles that they can be. If you tend to just veg out in front of the television when you have free time, you may wonder just what else is the. The 13 card game of Rummy is a very popular game in India, being played by any Tom, Dick and Harry; however that doesn't make Rummy an easy game. Read >
Jigsaw Puzzle Games Help Kids Develop Cognitive Skills
11th November 2009
A jigsaw puzzle can provide long lasting entertainment and numerous benefits of promoting the cognitive development of children of all ages.
Puzzle solving activities can start at very early ages and continue as children get older. There are puzzles de.
Poker game variations
Poker game variations
I play in a couple of dealer's choice poker games in my local area. Home games are about playing poker games for fun. Yes, everybody wants to win, and many think of themselves as serious players. But the social aspects are what keep players coming back week after week to the home games.
One of the aspects that keep the entertainment level high is the crazy games that pop up in dealer's choice. As the name implies, the next game is the next dealer's option. We don't play wild card games, but our players love the community card games.
Community card games. cheers and groans!Community card games involve each player matching their hole cards, typically two to five cards, with a set of cards in the middle of the table that are used by everybody, the community cards.
There are hundreds of variations in how those community cards are laid out and which cards on the board can fit into your hand. Therein lies the challenge, and therein lies the fun. The luck of the cards and the strategic skill that a player can apply to card and bet selection make the game compelling. Changing the game on each deal keeps the night moving.
A new game announcement will often bring a groan from somebody, "I hate that game!". The dealer generally makes the choice based on their preferences or where they feel they may have an advantage. Sometimes the choice is just meanness, meant to wake up the table or provoke a groan.
HiLo means half the pot but double the fun!Most of the games we play are HiLo games. That is, you can play for the best high hand or the best low hand. One game I play in prefers 8 or better for the low. The best low hand possible is ace to five, commonly called a wheel. Any nine or high can't be used in your five card low hand. The cards talk or declare the winner.
In another game the house rule is to play any low. Straights and flushes aren't low. An ace, two, three, four and six is the best low hand possible, but anything can win the low half of the pot. Here you have to declare that you are going low; you might win low with two pair of nobody else goes low!
Card countingOften the community cards are named by the number of cards in you hand and the number of cards you can pick from the board to make your five card poker hand. Thus a 3 2 game means you take any three from your hand and two from the board. There are rules about how you can select your board cards. This adds a lot of variety as you make lots of rows and columns arrangements for the board and vary the number of eligible cards in any row. So a 2 2 1 game involves picking 2 cards from your hand and 2 cards from the board in one row or direction and one card from another board row. Sounds confusing at first but once the cards are dealt the choices become clearer.
Finally, a list of variations or poker games for funHere are some variations that we play. See how many ring a bell with you. As time permits I'll create a HubPage for each variation and link to it for a more detailed explanation with pictures. So bookmark or select the RSS feed to be notified of updates. If you have a new variation, I'd love to hear about it.
Criss Cross Five community cards in a cross formation. (see Criss Cross HubPage for explanation with pictures and a guest appearance by Daniel Negreanu).
Double Cross Five community cards in a cross formation, plus a sixth spit card in the center. (see Double Cross HubPage for explanation with pictures and a poker tip from Phil Gordon).
Rocky Five community cards and you you start with five cards but discard cards after the two card flop. (see Rocky HubPagefor explanation with pictures and hear Daniel Negreanu talk about Rocky).
Take Away An evil game! You get five cards to start with. Then there is a traditional three card flop, a turn and a river card. Now you have ten cards. Then another flop, turn and river of take away cards destroys hands and a winner rises from the rubble.
What the L? a 3 2 game in the shape of an L.
Bug House A 3x3 grid, but there are no free cards here. Play 2 from
your hand or 5 from your hand. This one gets groans because you often
don't know where you stand until the last center card is revealed.
Big Top There are a six card row and a three card row. Take two from
your five card hand, and two from the top row and one from the bottomSpider One of my favorites to deal. A 3 2 game with nine community cards in an X formation.
2 handed Omaha Plays like Omaha, but you have one or two hand decisions on each bet.
Good, Bad and Ugly Five good community cards and five bad community cards, with an ugly decision to make for a sixth card.
Push Five card stud with your hand built from dealt cards as they move around the table.
Commissary Poker aka Options Seven card stud where you start with two hole cards and add the next five, one at a time by buying from the board cards dealt up three at a time.
Super Buy Another buy game where you buy one or both of two available board cards.
7 Card with a spit Seven card stud with one community card turned at some point.
Piles You get a five card hand. Five piles of 2 cards each are turned up in order. You play three from your hand with any pile.
I play in a couple of dealer's choice poker games in my local area. Home games are about playing poker games for fun. Yes, everybody wants to win, and many think of themselves as serious players. But the social aspects are what keep players coming back week after week to the home games.
One of the aspects that keep the entertainment level high is the crazy games that pop up in dealer's choice. As the name implies, the next game is the next dealer's option. We don't play wild card games, but our players love the community card games.
Community card games. cheers and groans!Community card games involve each player matching their hole cards, typically two to five cards, with a set of cards in the middle of the table that are used by everybody, the community cards.
There are hundreds of variations in how those community cards are laid out and which cards on the board can fit into your hand. Therein lies the challenge, and therein lies the fun. The luck of the cards and the strategic skill that a player can apply to card and bet selection make the game compelling. Changing the game on each deal keeps the night moving.
A new game announcement will often bring a groan from somebody, "I hate that game!". The dealer generally makes the choice based on their preferences or where they feel they may have an advantage. Sometimes the choice is just meanness, meant to wake up the table or provoke a groan.
HiLo means half the pot but double the fun!Most of the games we play are HiLo games. That is, you can play for the best high hand or the best low hand. One game I play in prefers 8 or better for the low. The best low hand possible is ace to five, commonly called a wheel. Any nine or high can't be used in your five card low hand. The cards talk or declare the winner.
In another game the house rule is to play any low. Straights and flushes aren't low. An ace, two, three, four and six is the best low hand possible, but anything can win the low half of the pot. Here you have to declare that you are going low; you might win low with two pair of nobody else goes low!
Card countingOften the community cards are named by the number of cards in you hand and the number of cards you can pick from the board to make your five card poker hand. Thus a 3 2 game means you take any three from your hand and two from the board. There are rules about how you can select your board cards. This adds a lot of variety as you make lots of rows and columns arrangements for the board and vary the number of eligible cards in any row. So a 2 2 1 game involves picking 2 cards from your hand and 2 cards from the board in one row or direction and one card from another board row. Sounds confusing at first but once the cards are dealt the choices become clearer.
Finally, a list of variations or poker games for funHere are some variations that we play. See how many ring a bell with you. As time permits I'll create a HubPage for each variation and link to it for a more detailed explanation with pictures. So bookmark or select the RSS feed to be notified of updates. If you have a new variation, I'd love to hear about it.
Criss Cross Five community cards in a cross formation. (see Criss Cross HubPage for explanation with pictures and a guest appearance by Daniel Negreanu).
Double Cross Five community cards in a cross formation, plus a sixth spit card in the center. (see Double Cross HubPage for explanation with pictures and a poker tip from Phil Gordon).
Rocky Five community cards and you you start with five cards but discard cards after the two card flop. (see Rocky HubPagefor explanation with pictures and hear Daniel Negreanu talk about Rocky).
Take Away An evil game! You get five cards to start with. Then there is a traditional three card flop, a turn and a river card. Now you have ten cards. Then another flop, turn and river of take away cards destroys hands and a winner rises from the rubble.
What the L? a 3 2 game in the shape of an L.
Bug House A 3x3 grid, but there are no free cards here. Play 2 from
your hand or 5 from your hand. This one gets groans because you often
don't know where you stand until the last center card is revealed.
Big Top There are a six card row and a three card row. Take two from
your five card hand, and two from the top row and one from the bottomSpider One of my favorites to deal. A 3 2 game with nine community cards in an X formation.
2 handed Omaha Plays like Omaha, but you have one or two hand decisions on each bet.
Good, Bad and Ugly Five good community cards and five bad community cards, with an ugly decision to make for a sixth card.
Push Five card stud with your hand built from dealt cards as they move around the table.
Commissary Poker aka Options Seven card stud where you start with two hole cards and add the next five, one at a time by buying from the board cards dealt up three at a time.
Super Buy Another buy game where you buy one or both of two available board cards.
7 Card with a spit Seven card stud with one community card turned at some point.
Piles You get a five card hand. Five piles of 2 cards each are turned up in order. You play three from your hand with any pile.
Friday, March 21, 2014
Place Value Rounding
Place Value Rounding
Place Value RoundingPlace value rounding is an engaging activity to reinforce math skills. Rounding skills to the nearest ten, hundred, or thousand can be strengthened with fun card games.
Rounding is a mathematical skill introduced in the primary grades and becomes a lifelong skill for all students. The objective of rounding is to make the number easier to understand.
After teaching the rounding concept, reinforce the skill by giving students ample opportunities to practice. Playing place value card games is a wonderful activity for students to participate in during the rounding lessons and throughout the year. It is important for players to read the numbers correctly. Player can steal after an answer is given. As well, rounding to whole numbers can be by tens, hundreds, thousands or other.
Rounding whole numbers to the nearest 10, 100, 1000, or other is a difficult concept for some students to grasp. However, a simple card game of place value rounding gives students an opportunity to master this mathematical concept.
Place Value RoundingPlace value rounding is an engaging activity to reinforce math skills. Rounding skills to the nearest ten, hundred, or thousand can be strengthened with fun card games.
Rounding is a mathematical skill introduced in the primary grades and becomes a lifelong skill for all students. The objective of rounding is to make the number easier to understand.
After teaching the rounding concept, reinforce the skill by giving students ample opportunities to practice. Playing place value card games is a wonderful activity for students to participate in during the rounding lessons and throughout the year. It is important for players to read the numbers correctly. Player can steal after an answer is given. As well, rounding to whole numbers can be by tens, hundreds, thousands or other.
Rounding whole numbers to the nearest 10, 100, 1000, or other is a difficult concept for some students to grasp. However, a simple card game of place value rounding gives students an opportunity to master this mathematical concept.
Thursday, March 20, 2014
The Eatery Diet App Review
The Eatery Diet App Review
Download at iTunes
If you're seeking to eat healthier or lose weight, tracking the food you eat is crucial. But how to do it? Some people use food diaries that they write down in notebooks. Others may use spreadsheets or custom made forms. If you who own an iOS device, though, there are many apps that let you track your food intake. The Eatery not only does this, but also adds the wisdom of its other users to give you a rating on the healthiness of your meals.
In many ways, The Eatery is an effective meal tracking app, but as is true of many crowdsourced tools, it's only as helpful as its users.
Tracking Your IntakeThe Eatery works using two very basic functions. First, take a photo of every meal you eat using the iPhone or iPod touch's built in digital camera. When you take the photo, add an optional note about the meal and then rate it on a scale from fit to fat. Each meal, with your rating, is then added to your feed.
Each time you add a new photo to your feed, you're also shown photos snapped by other users of The Eatery and asked to rate their meals. Meals are shown anonymously (you won't see the name of the person whose meal you're rating; you don't have to be too worried about someone you know finding out you ate Belgian waffles for dinner again) and you can skip photos if you don't know how nutritious a meal is or can't figure out what the photo shows.
Just as you rate others' meals based on their photos, your photos are shown to other users who rate them. As time passes after your meal, more and more users rate your meal, giving you a rough, user driven sense of how well or badly you're eating. In my experience, it's fairly common to draw 15 30 ratings of a meal over a day or two, so you're getting a pretty solid cross section of opinion.
Using those crowdsourced ratings for each meal, The Eatery then compiles a composite score for how healthy you're eating every week, using a 0 (unhealthy) to 100 (very healthy) scale.
With your meal history available to scroll through at any time, it's very easy to get a real idea of exactly what you've been eating and identify trouble spots. For instance, my meals are extremely healthy, but my snacks are much more mixed, so I know that trying to improve the health of my snacks can improve the overall quality of my nutrition. It also makes it easier to discover that what might seem like an occasional candy bar is actually three a week a big problem if you're trying to lose weight.
Another interesting aspect of using the app is that, when you know that other people will see and rate your meals, you tend to want to eat healthier foods. No one wants to draw a negative rating. That game ification or mild peer coercion can be a big help in getting you to eat better.
The Wisdom of Crowds?Those are the strengths of The Eatery, but it has its weaknesses, weaknesses that lie in the thing that most often causes diets to fail: people themselves.
Since the app has its users regular people rate each other's meals, the ratings are only as good as the nutrition knowledge of the people doing the rating. are any indication, the nutrition knowledge of the average America is a bit low (putting it charitably). How else to explain that healthy meals like a lentil and quinoa salad would draw unhealthy ratings?
All things considered, the users on the whole are likely to rate food correctly. That lentil quinoa salad ended up with 10+ more positive ratings than negative ones, but the negatives still distorted the overall rating. users.
The other drawback I found in The Eatery also results from the app depending so heavily on crowdsourcing. The crowd can be wise, but it generally can't be expert.
Knowing that your food is unhealthy can be useful, but only if you already understand something about nutrition. If you don't know what you don't know, finding out that a meal wasn't that healthy can leave you stuck. You know it was bad, but you don't know why or how you could change it to make it more healthy. This is where expertise could be valuable. If the developers of The Eatery could find a way to not only rate our meals, but also give us guidance based on those ratings, the app would truly create a virtuous pairing.
The Bottom LineIf you want to get a handle on your nutrition, The Eatery can be a powerful tool. It won't necessarily tell you what to eat, but it will help you identify patterns in your meals and snacks, track your food, and get a sense of how healthy other people think it is.
And, when it comes to eating well and losing weight, understanding what you're putting in your body is a major factor.
What You'll Need
An iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad running iOS 4.2 or higher.
Download at iTunes
Suggested ReadingBest Weight Loss and Diet Apps for the iPhoneTop 5 Cooking Apps for DietersTop 6 Recipe Apps for Vegetarians and VegansTop 14 Recipe Apps for the iPhone and iPadTop 5 Cooking Apps for Dieters
Suggested ReadingHow do You Add Healthy Foods to Your Diet?Reduce Stress With A Healthy Eating PlanTips for Weight Loss and Healthy EatingStrategies to Combat Common Unhealthy Eating HabitsStaying Motivated On A Healthy DietLiving at Home: Nutrition and Meals for People with DementiaDiet2Go iPhone App ReviewAt the Appetite Cure Mark TwainFood ProgramsApps for the Traveling Food Lover
Download at iTunes
If you're seeking to eat healthier or lose weight, tracking the food you eat is crucial. But how to do it? Some people use food diaries that they write down in notebooks. Others may use spreadsheets or custom made forms. If you who own an iOS device, though, there are many apps that let you track your food intake. The Eatery not only does this, but also adds the wisdom of its other users to give you a rating on the healthiness of your meals.
In many ways, The Eatery is an effective meal tracking app, but as is true of many crowdsourced tools, it's only as helpful as its users.
Tracking Your IntakeThe Eatery works using two very basic functions. First, take a photo of every meal you eat using the iPhone or iPod touch's built in digital camera. When you take the photo, add an optional note about the meal and then rate it on a scale from fit to fat. Each meal, with your rating, is then added to your feed.
Each time you add a new photo to your feed, you're also shown photos snapped by other users of The Eatery and asked to rate their meals. Meals are shown anonymously (you won't see the name of the person whose meal you're rating; you don't have to be too worried about someone you know finding out you ate Belgian waffles for dinner again) and you can skip photos if you don't know how nutritious a meal is or can't figure out what the photo shows.
Just as you rate others' meals based on their photos, your photos are shown to other users who rate them. As time passes after your meal, more and more users rate your meal, giving you a rough, user driven sense of how well or badly you're eating. In my experience, it's fairly common to draw 15 30 ratings of a meal over a day or two, so you're getting a pretty solid cross section of opinion.
Using those crowdsourced ratings for each meal, The Eatery then compiles a composite score for how healthy you're eating every week, using a 0 (unhealthy) to 100 (very healthy) scale.
With your meal history available to scroll through at any time, it's very easy to get a real idea of exactly what you've been eating and identify trouble spots. For instance, my meals are extremely healthy, but my snacks are much more mixed, so I know that trying to improve the health of my snacks can improve the overall quality of my nutrition. It also makes it easier to discover that what might seem like an occasional candy bar is actually three a week a big problem if you're trying to lose weight.
Another interesting aspect of using the app is that, when you know that other people will see and rate your meals, you tend to want to eat healthier foods. No one wants to draw a negative rating. That game ification or mild peer coercion can be a big help in getting you to eat better.
The Wisdom of Crowds?Those are the strengths of The Eatery, but it has its weaknesses, weaknesses that lie in the thing that most often causes diets to fail: people themselves.
Since the app has its users regular people rate each other's meals, the ratings are only as good as the nutrition knowledge of the people doing the rating. are any indication, the nutrition knowledge of the average America is a bit low (putting it charitably). How else to explain that healthy meals like a lentil and quinoa salad would draw unhealthy ratings?
All things considered, the users on the whole are likely to rate food correctly. That lentil quinoa salad ended up with 10+ more positive ratings than negative ones, but the negatives still distorted the overall rating. users.
The other drawback I found in The Eatery also results from the app depending so heavily on crowdsourcing. The crowd can be wise, but it generally can't be expert.
Knowing that your food is unhealthy can be useful, but only if you already understand something about nutrition. If you don't know what you don't know, finding out that a meal wasn't that healthy can leave you stuck. You know it was bad, but you don't know why or how you could change it to make it more healthy. This is where expertise could be valuable. If the developers of The Eatery could find a way to not only rate our meals, but also give us guidance based on those ratings, the app would truly create a virtuous pairing.
The Bottom LineIf you want to get a handle on your nutrition, The Eatery can be a powerful tool. It won't necessarily tell you what to eat, but it will help you identify patterns in your meals and snacks, track your food, and get a sense of how healthy other people think it is.
And, when it comes to eating well and losing weight, understanding what you're putting in your body is a major factor.
What You'll Need
An iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad running iOS 4.2 or higher.
Download at iTunes
Suggested ReadingBest Weight Loss and Diet Apps for the iPhoneTop 5 Cooking Apps for DietersTop 6 Recipe Apps for Vegetarians and VegansTop 14 Recipe Apps for the iPhone and iPadTop 5 Cooking Apps for Dieters
Suggested ReadingHow do You Add Healthy Foods to Your Diet?Reduce Stress With A Healthy Eating PlanTips for Weight Loss and Healthy EatingStrategies to Combat Common Unhealthy Eating HabitsStaying Motivated On A Healthy DietLiving at Home: Nutrition and Meals for People with DementiaDiet2Go iPhone App ReviewAt the Appetite Cure Mark TwainFood ProgramsApps for the Traveling Food Lover
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Reviews of News iPhone Apps
Reviews of News iPhone Apps
News App Reviews
Reviews and comparisons of iPhone news apps, such as those produced by leading news/journalism companies like the AP, CNN, NPR, and the New York Times.
There are dozens of iPhone news apps available, and some are not worth downloading. The good news? There are a number of iPhone apps that will satisfy your inner news junkie with breaking news alerts, in depth reporting and lots of multimedia content. Here are our picks for the best iPhone news apps.
Fox News iPhone App Review
The Fox News app wasn around when we wrote our review of the best iPhone news apps a few months ago. Now that the news organization has finally released an app, we take a look to see how it stacks up against other heavyweights like AP Mobile, CNN or The New York Times.
The Washington Post iPhone App Review
The Washington Post just debuted a new iPhone app to highlight the paper's news coverage. We take another look at this news app after they worked out some of the kinks, but right now it doesn make our list of the best iPhone news apps.
MSNBC iPhone App Review
The MSNBC iPhone news app has a good amount of news coverage in a very colorful package. While it contains lots of videos, blogs, and articles, the numerous ads in the MSNBC app can be overwhelming.
Fluent News Reader App Review
Fluent is one of the few places where Fox News, Al Jazeera, and CNN all coexist happily.
News Addict iPhone App Review
News Addict does little more than provide links to the mobile versions of individual news sites. However, if you regularly check numerous news sources, this app streamlines the process. Is it worth $0.99? I not entirely convinced.
AP Mobile iPhone App Review
Find out why AP Mobile is one of the best news apps for the iOS.
CNN Mobile App Review
For a $2 app, CNN Mobile is a very mixed bag.
Apps Compared: CNN Mobile vs. AP Mobile
Which iPhone app is your best bet for breaking news and in depth coverage?
The New York Times App Review
Find out why the NY Times app is one of the best free news apps for iPhone.
NPR News iPhone App Review
If you're a fan of NPR News or its other programs, you need this app.
Los Angeles Times News App Review
The Los Angeles Times has completely redesigned its news app, and the new version is now available for download in the iTunes store. There are several good choices among iPhone news apps, so the LA Times app faces some stiff competition.
News App Reviews
Reviews and comparisons of iPhone news apps, such as those produced by leading news/journalism companies like the AP, CNN, NPR, and the New York Times.
There are dozens of iPhone news apps available, and some are not worth downloading. The good news? There are a number of iPhone apps that will satisfy your inner news junkie with breaking news alerts, in depth reporting and lots of multimedia content. Here are our picks for the best iPhone news apps.
Fox News iPhone App Review
The Fox News app wasn around when we wrote our review of the best iPhone news apps a few months ago. Now that the news organization has finally released an app, we take a look to see how it stacks up against other heavyweights like AP Mobile, CNN or The New York Times.
The Washington Post iPhone App Review
The Washington Post just debuted a new iPhone app to highlight the paper's news coverage. We take another look at this news app after they worked out some of the kinks, but right now it doesn make our list of the best iPhone news apps.
MSNBC iPhone App Review
The MSNBC iPhone news app has a good amount of news coverage in a very colorful package. While it contains lots of videos, blogs, and articles, the numerous ads in the MSNBC app can be overwhelming.
Fluent News Reader App Review
Fluent is one of the few places where Fox News, Al Jazeera, and CNN all coexist happily.
News Addict iPhone App Review
News Addict does little more than provide links to the mobile versions of individual news sites. However, if you regularly check numerous news sources, this app streamlines the process. Is it worth $0.99? I not entirely convinced.
AP Mobile iPhone App Review
Find out why AP Mobile is one of the best news apps for the iOS.
CNN Mobile App Review
For a $2 app, CNN Mobile is a very mixed bag.
Apps Compared: CNN Mobile vs. AP Mobile
Which iPhone app is your best bet for breaking news and in depth coverage?
The New York Times App Review
Find out why the NY Times app is one of the best free news apps for iPhone.
NPR News iPhone App Review
If you're a fan of NPR News or its other programs, you need this app.
Los Angeles Times News App Review
The Los Angeles Times has completely redesigned its news app, and the new version is now available for download in the iTunes store. There are several good choices among iPhone news apps, so the LA Times app faces some stiff competition.
Monday, March 17, 2014
Granny Smith Granny Smith
Profile Information Archive other editions
"Granny Smith Granny Smith" is an exciting action game to avoid the horizontal version, Granny Smith Apple loves her, but thieves are stealing apples from the garden! So she put on skates across urban and rural areas, flying barn and office, desperate just to her apple! Fast-paced game, full of broken and special effects, dancing, elegant, gliding, grinding, etc., the game has 36 levels and 3 different difficulty, we will let you put it down! Note that when landing must land feet first!
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[Game Features]
- Stunning physical effects, the use of mobile devices most advanced physics engine damage;
- Dazzling visual experience, dozens of vibrant world, each level is like a wonderful three-dimensional storybook;
- Simple and intuitive two-button control, the perfect support for tablet PCs and mobile phones;
- Replay the game to watch your film style retro game process.
[Update records]
v1.2.0 update:
- 9 new bonus levels
- For high-end gamers increased difficulty modes
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Stray Souls: Dollhouse Story - Collector's Edition
Welcome to a town where something that should not exist runs free; where a desperate wife will risk her beating heart to find her husband; and where a terrible secret lies buried behind an orphanage. Search for clues, solve puzzles, and unlock new areas as you visit spine-chilling locations, play stimulating mini-games and locate Hidden Objects. Stray Souls: Dollhouse Story will take you to a dark and spooky world!
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TRY IT FREE, THEN UNLOCK THE FULL ADVENTURE FROM WITHIN THE GAME!
☆☆☆ Features ☆☆☆
✓ Dark, spooky and beautiful atmosphere
✓ Incredible storyline which takes you through 12 unique chapters
✓ Interesting puzzles to solve and challenging hidden objects to locate
✓ Unlock the Collector's Edition to get amazing extra content, including:
-- Bonus prequel chapter
-- Concept art
-- Incredible soundtrack
-- Wonderful wallpapers
☆☆☆ Discover more from Big Fish Games! ☆☆☆
We’re big believers that everyone is a gamer at heart and that games are a great source of joy and relaxation. Founded in 2002, Big Fish Games is a developer, publisher and distributor of casual games. We offer a virtually endless selection of interactive games that you can enjoy anytime, anywhere — on your PC, Mac, mobile phone, or tablet. Renowned for offering A New Game Every Day!® on www.bigfishgames.com, Big Fish Games distributes more than two million games per day worldwide.
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Robot Adventure Electopia v1.1
Brief introduction
Electopia is a perfect picture of the action has a graphic adventure game, is responsible for the maintenance of a driving robot spacecraft crashed on a tropical island called Electopia, while on the island inhabited by the mad killer robots! The use of stun guns and gun such as a magnetic weapon, you must help defeat the hordes of robots fat chips, succeeded in escaping from the island.
Game Features:
· Beautiful and charming screen mobile platform unmatched
Simple and fast gameplay and precise touch control
· Creative magnets and electricity to create fun gaming experience weapon
· The first fully OPEN GL ES 2.0 shader support the new features of the game
Gaming Graphics Features:
- Particle effects;
- The nature of the GPU skin based animation;
- Water use normal mapping;
- Cube reflective material;
- Expected shadow;
- Affect the depth of processing backcourt;
- Bloom post processing effects;
- An average of 480,000 triangles per frame.
This game company is customized for Sony Ericsson Xperia over a variety of games SOUTHEND, system requirements 2.1 +, X10 test, perfect run.
v1.1 updated content:
- Now supports full-screen mode displays a benchmark. And fix the errors and do some corresponding optimization occurs at a resolution of WVGA (800x480) under;
- Users now can not run you will see a message, the message will show why you can not run, and which lacks hardware support (This game requires OpenGL ES 2.0 hardware support);
- Fixed cycle mode in the baseline scenario, after killing the final BOSS arise.
Electopia is a perfect picture of the action has a graphic adventure game, is responsible for the maintenance of a driving robot spacecraft crashed on a tropical island called Electopia, while on the island inhabited by the mad killer robots! The use of stun guns and gun such as a magnetic weapon, you must help defeat the hordes of robots fat chips, succeeded in escaping from the island.
Game Features:
· Beautiful and charming screen mobile platform unmatched
Simple and fast gameplay and precise touch control
· Creative magnets and electricity to create fun gaming experience weapon
· The first fully OPEN GL ES 2.0 shader support the new features of the game
Gaming Graphics Features:
- Particle effects;
- The nature of the GPU skin based animation;
- Water use normal mapping;
- Cube reflective material;
- Expected shadow;
- Affect the depth of processing backcourt;
- Bloom post processing effects;
- An average of 480,000 triangles per frame.
This game company is customized for Sony Ericsson Xperia over a variety of games SOUTHEND, system requirements 2.1 +, X10 test, perfect run.
v1.1 updated content:
- Now supports full-screen mode displays a benchmark. And fix the errors and do some corresponding optimization occurs at a resolution of WVGA (800x480) under;
- Users now can not run you will see a message, the message will show why you can not run, and which lacks hardware support (This game requires OpenGL ES 2.0 hardware support);
- Fixed cycle mode in the baseline scenario, after killing the final BOSS arise.
Monday, March 3, 2014
For imitating the "Flappy Wings" American summit area free list
But just two weeks before the cyclone but Flappy , iTunes on another comeback. So, in the end what is the reason these games are still so popular ?
Recently, the U.S. top 10 free applications in the area temporarily store App Store is an imitation of the first "Flappy Bird" game "Flappy Wings", whose name still has "Flappy", the name is still easy to understand, the pixel the screen is still familiar, the game in the middle of this month increase since Apple class "Flappy Bird" after an audit of the game , a lot of names with "Flappy" 's have been "killed ." But just two weeks before the cyclone but Flappy , iTunes on another comeback.
So, in the end what is the reason these games are still so popular ? In fact, just over a month to , "Flappy Bird" has witnessed a rise and fall dramatically, even ruthless developer announced that its never off the shelf, it is difficult to stop the global boom has been formed . Subsequently , a large wave like crazy game once more emerged to dominate the game list. However, with the application store shelves clean-up of the rules , like "Flappy Bird" game under control. As a clone , "Flappy Wings" seems to bring the game experience more pleasant by contrast , led the ranking of their performance is not surprising.
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