Electronic Arts (EA) and Hasbro have always been a little slow at adapting Scrabble for the cyber culture. They failed to beat Scrabulous to the Facebook market by a whole year, but managed to save face by targeting the mobile market, specifically iPhone and iPod touch, making Scrabble one of the very first mobile apps in the iTunes App Store.
It's been a great year for video games, kind of. Sure, the AAA release lineup has been a trainwreck and hacking has been a bigger problem than ever. But two things have happened involving the federal government that have made video games more legitimate in the United States than ever before. The Supreme Court ruling establishing that video games were the equivalent of movies and books, not porn, was the more significant decision. But in May, the National Endowment for the Arts made another si...
If you love playing those WarCraft and StarCraft strategy games on your PC, chances are you've also heard of a game called League of Legends.
Any time a feature is introduced in an MTG set and not replicated in subsequent sets, balancing issues are surely forthcoming. You wind up with one set that can do things the others can't, forcing players to counter that set with other cards from it, and generally limiting the creativity with which one can effectively play the game. Playing these types of cards is like playing trap defense in hockey or boxing like Floyd Mayweather: you might win, but neither you, your opponents, nor the peopl...
We all remember the controversy of SCRABBLE Trickster back in April. SCRABBLE + Mattel + Proper Nouns = BLASPHEMY!
In 2000, the U.S. Joint Command Forces, a sort of think tank within the military, began planning a war game named Millennium Challenge. The scenario of the game was as follows: a rogue military commander had broken away from his government somewhere in the Persian Gulf and was threatening to engulf the entire region in war. He had a considerable power base from strong religious and ethnic loyalties, and he was harboring and sponsoring four different terrorist organizations. He was virulently ...
Posted with permission via HereComeTheYanks.com Ok, so my prediction of a 3-1 USA victory didn't come true. But I can honestly say that I am extremely happy with a 1-1 draw!! There were times where we looked shaky (first 15 minutes). But there were also times when we were taking it to them (Jozy's great run down the flank only to be denied by the woodwork).
Learn how to always win in a game of Tic Tac Toe. Learn the strategies needed to win if you start first or your opponent starts first. Be the guru of Tic Tac Toe and never return to your losing ways again. This is also a good way to bet a little money and make a little extra on the side. Always win in tic tac toe.
So far, I've talked a lot about what's going on in the world around us, but it's time I come back to politics for a bit. That said, the name of this world is somewhat misleading, in the sense that I talk about everything, not just politics! But I digress again.
Zynga just added another game to their Zynga with Friends series called Scramble with Friends. If you've ever played Boggle, it's basically the same thing, but is dedicated to playing your buddies just like Words with Friends or Hanging with Friends.
As touched upon in the past, knowing all of the possible words you can play is key to being a better Scrabble player. If you don't have the vocabulary, then you can't compete against the best of the best, and you'll never even get the chance to spar against professionals such as Nigel Richards, Joe Edley, Andrew Fisher, and Wayne Kelly.
In these weekly Scrabble Challenges, so far we've covered two-letter words, double bingos, high scoring moves, triple-triples, last moves, parallel plays, phoneys and opening moves. For this week's puzzle, we're revisiting the strategy for opening moves.
Let's face it, not every logophile is addicted to Scrabble. Without the use of a timer, Scrabble can be a pretty slow game. Even in clubs and tournaments where the standard time limit is 25 minutes per person for a two-player game. Now, take away time restrictions and add two other players and you've got a game that could take up to 2 hours! It all really depends on who the competition is.
It's been a busy week here at Indie Games Ichiban, between attending PAX and breaking news stories about Stabyourself and Playdead Studios, that there's been relatively little time for some honest, good old-fashioned game playing. But time was made and here are two excellent indie games of varying age and platform with two very different themes.
This week's roundup features three games that I've either never bothered to play, was unable to play due to PC technical limitations, or haven't played because they've just been released. None of these three games cost more than $15.
For a long time, video games manuals were serious business. Especially for strategy games and RPGs on the PC, the manuals would often run to a hundred or more full-color pages in length. They explained in vivid and well-written detail the history of the game world and every facet of the gameplay system. There were pages upon pages of appendices explaining the statistics of every unit, faction, and terrain type. They were majestic, and I would spend an hour or more poring over each one before ...
The idea is to eat as many hot bean burrito's as possible (untill u cant eat no more) then we shall play football without equipment tackling the opponent forcing him do vomit or poop out the hot bean burrito's... Steve-o shall enjoy this one lol! BORRICOS here i come OLAY!!!!
You scare the opponent with somethin and make he run. Whe he runs he probably looks back so he dont see the dunk full of poo. When he is there just open it nd he's swimming in poo!!!
As Hummer puts it, it's "The Ultimate Gadget for Grown-Ups." Dr. James Brighton from Britain's Cranfield University has converted a full-size Hummer H3 into a working remote control vehicle.
You have four guys portraying the typical chicken fight game which is usually played in a swimming pool (example image attached). Only, this fight isn't inside a pool of water, but a pool of sewage or animal waste. Two guys are attached to stilts. Two other guys are placed on top of their shoulders without shirts. They have rooster wings attached to their backs and rooster combs on their heads (for costume purposes of the skit). They rub each other down with baby oil to make themselves very s...
In Aikido a Jo is a long staff that is used for spearing, hitting or deflecting a strike from an opponent. Learn tips from an Aikido expert on what this weapon is used for and a history on it. Learn about the long Aikido staff Jo - Part 1 of 7.
Welcome to Minecraft World! Check out our advanced tutorials and come play on our free server. This past weekend, our Weekly Workshop focused on building a suffocation trap. But today, we're going to be covering a different type of redstone trap in Minecraft—one with a 100% success rate (perfect for PvP servers).
You're currently playing a heated game of Scrabble or Words with Friends. The game is close, too close for comfort. But you're not sweating because you're confident. You play a huge word that puts you in the lead, but then when your letter tiles are drawn...
Welcome to Minecraft World! Check out our advanced tutorials and come play on our free server. Sometimes it's easy to get overwhelmed with the sheer scale or complexity of a build or group project on your favorite server. Too much stress from any creative endeavour can lead to mistakes, discouragement, or fighting among a community. What better way to relieve stress and entertain the troops than some old fashioned competition?
Being able to spell a seven-letter word on the board is one of the most enjoyable things about playing Scrabble. It's even better when those seven letters are all from your rack, giving you a bingo—those 50 bonus points in addition to your regular score.
There's only a few week left until costumes and candy take over the streets, which means they'll be more and more seven-letter words in the Scrabble Bingo of the Days that relate to the Fall season, horror movies, and of course… Halloween. Below you'll find bingo words relevant such films as Halloween, Children of the Corn and The Wicker Man.
Last Thursday, on October 7th, indie game developers from around the world walked down a red carpet in Santa Monica, California in the hopes of winning an IndieCade award. We previously discussed the IndieCade festival and conference, but the award show is a smaller, more inclusive event that provides finalists the opportunity to see their project on stage with rewards by sponsors such as LG, who presented this year’s ceremony.
Improve your bingo skills with a roundup of this week's Scrabble Bingo of the Days. What exactly is a bingo? It's when a player empties his or her rack in one turn, placing all seven of their letters on the board to create a word that's at least seven letters long.
If you haven't noticed yet, I've started dishing out some "Scrabble Bingo of the Day" articles that showcase interesting and somewhat unusual seven-letter words (or longer) that could give you an extra 50-point bonus on the board, as long as you empty your rack. So, for this week's Scrabble Challenge you'll have to get your brain in gear, because it's a tough one based of high-scoring bingo plays.
The small size of most indie game development teams is a strength, but also a weakness. It allows them to take risks and explore revolutionary ideas that a larger company could never justify to its shareholders, but also means they must navigate the game development labyrinth with minimal help, taking much longer than those with big development teams. Some of the most exciting indie games currently in development have been so for years, or look like they will be.
It's 1976. The hottest arcade game on the market is Blockade (or Blokade), an 8-bit maze game for 2 players. You and your opponent must move your characters around the screen in 90-degree angles, leaving a solid line behind them. Whoever runs into one of the solid lines first, loses. But soon you'll be able to play this fascinating game from the comfort of your own home—
Here is the final part in Null Byte's series on mastering the skills in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. We have already covered the slick and brutal methods to raise our Spellcasting and Combative skills. Skyrim's intelligent new leveling system has trumped the former methods of spamming repeated moves to raise levels quickly. Rather than casting a spell, or jumping up and down constantly, the new system requires that we use our skills in practice to get experience for them. This causes leveling...
I've been unreasonably excited about Dungeon Defenders (NOT DUNGEON DEFENDER!) for almost a year. Playing it at PAX did nothing to damper that enthusiasm. I had a chance this week to speak with co-founder/development director Jeremy Stieglitz and marketing diretor Philip Asher from Gainesville, Florida based developer Trendy Entertainment to find out a little more about the game, and how it came together.
I love SCRABBLE, but sometimes it's hard to find an opponent who'll play a classic, tournament style game in person. Don't get me wrong—I play on the computer and iPhone all of the time, but it's just not the same as an in-person match. This leads me to stray every now and then, checking out new word-friendly games with a fast pace and interesting twist. And the most recent one was nothing like SCRABBLE, and I don't mean that in a bad way.
RESPECT - What It Means (in the picture above are my parents, both of whom I respect and cherish dearly)
OSPD1 In 1978, the first SCRABBLE Dictionary was conceived and published by Merriam-Webster, with the help of the National Scrabble Association (NSA). The idea was to include any word that was found in one of the five major dictionaries at the time:
The 2011 Toronto International Scrabble Open (TOSI) took place last weekend, with former World Champion Adam Logan beating out all of the human competition for the $3,000 grand prize. But when it came time to take on the Quackle program in the Human vs. Computer Showdown, he lost his first two games and won the last two, ultimately losing with a measly 28-point differential of the combined total scores. But he still came out three grand happier.
No matter what word game you're playing, whether it's Scrabble or one of its near-homogeneous counterparts like Lexulous, Wordfeud or Words with Friends, one of the easiest ways to stay on top of your opponent is knowing all of the legal two-letter words you can play. You're not going to win by only playing two-letter words, but there are definitely occasions when the game could slip from your hands by not playing them.
The holiday season is here, and if you didn't already pick up a SCRABBLE set during Black Friday or Cyber Monday, then you still have time to buy the perfect gift for your lexical-minded friend. There's sure to be deals out there over the next couple of weeks, you just need to browse the web and search store shelves for the best deal.
My JO was watching The Simpsons on FOX the other day, like she wholeheartedly does every evening, and I joined her, much like I always do— though I must admit, I'm not as obsessed with the cartoon family as much as she is. Just like she isn't as obsessed with SCRABBLE as I am.
