Monday, May 28, 2001		Kids chat

HELLO kids and welcome to our weekly kids chat.

Windy: Hello, Hello, Hello! Friends, let us dedicate this week’s edition to our dear old Fluppy.

Fluppy: Wow! What am I hearing, Cliparti?

Cliparti: Don’t feel so elated Fluppy. It’s just that our friends out here have been requesting for some game downloads.

Fluppy: And Windy has to tell them anyways!

Cliparti: You’ve got it!

Fluppy: So be it. Thanks Windy dear. It’s really kind of you!

Windy: I know. Anyhow, to begin with, let’s talk of pipe fun. It’s a wonderful game similar to pipe dream and tetris. It’s a puzzle where you have to connect pieces of pipes to each other. Pipe fun offers two unique types of games, three modes of game and much more. You can download it from http://jaibosoft.8m.com

Cliparti: There are many such games similar to Tetris. For example Tetruzzle is another such game that keeps original Tetris simplicity and offers fine twists. You can create easy new scenery and playing the game will reveal a puzzle. Make .exe option generate stand-alone custom-made games. You can get this software from www.xemico.com.

Fluppy: Thanks guys. You have really honoured me by telling one of these wonderful games.

Windy: No, No Fluppy. We’re hardly told you anything. There is so much more to come. You just sit tight and enjoy.

Fluppy: But I don’t ...

Windy: Relax, honey. Okay so I was coming to 3D soma puzzle.

Fluppy: 3D?

Windy: Yes, 3D. I told you you’d enjoy all that’s yet to come. Anyhow as the name suggests, it’s a three-dimensional game. It’s based on logic and challenges you to assemble various figures with the coloured irregular blocks. This may sound simple but yoube surprised to know that there are a variety of solutions for each shape. For example, cube, which is the simplest figure, can be solved by 240 essentially different methods.

Cliparti: I am sure that games like this will not only keep children busy at work for hours or may be days but also adults. Remember how even adults enjoyed the Rubik cube. It’s very difficult to relax until you’re through with it.

Windy: Yes and you know games like this not only provide lots of fun and exploration but also help you develop the ability to visualise spatial relationships. You can get this software from http://yavsoft.com

Fluppy: Hey, I’ll tell you about one of my favourite download. It’s impossiball.

Windy: Impossible. Not Impossiball Fluppy.

Fluppy: No, it’s Impossiball. That’s the name of the game, you can see for yourself from www.impossiball.com. With me, its quite an addiction. The player is basically a bar that spins and moves among several kinds of balls.

Windy: Okay, so Mr. Bar, what do you do?

Fluppy: I have to turn all red balls into green and reach the exit.

Windy: So what’s big deal in it?

Fluppy: It’s not as easy as it sounds. There are various enemies, explosives and ways that tend to block your own way. You need to play with lots of concentration, intuition and some temper. With all the lovely graphics good sound effects, this program becomes very attractive. I guess anybody will get addicted to it.

Cliparti: I am sure that this game would not be easy. As you can see, it’s even called impossiball! I’ll also tell you of one such game that is easy to learn but hard to master. Its called 5 star Gomoku. It’s especially for those who are tired of solitaire, minesweeper and freecell.

Windy: What is it about, Cliparti?

Cliparti: It is quite similar to any other fun board game. You can play against the computer, laying out X’s and Os, at any of the given skill levels of course, the game has network playing mode too, where you can play with your partner through network or Internet. You have to build a row of five, horizontally, vertically or diagonally. A real time scoreboard beeps a tack of the time of the play. You can download this game from http://www.5StarFreeware.com

Windy: Have you heard of Abbie?

Cliparti: Yes, Yes. How could I forget to mention that game? Let me tell about it.

Windy: Fine, go ahead. It’s a typical girli game.

Cliparti: It’s not a girli game but a game about a girl called Abbie. She has to use her wits and logic in order to save the world’s last flowers. She has to overcome hurdles, avoid water gushing fire hydrants. At the starting of the game you will find Abbie in the playing field with a combination of fire hydrants, lawn mowers, wrenches, weeds, walls and flowers. She collects flowers in each playing field. This is a cute game.

Fluppy: Sounds cute to me too. I bet even Abbie must be a cute little girl.

Cliparti: Why don’t you see for yourself? You can get this software from www.directlogic.com

Fluppy: Sure. I’ll love to meet Abbie.

Windy: Don’t be silly, Fluppy. Stop being a girl. Start behaving like a man.

Fluppy: What’s wrong in liking Abbie? That’s not being a girl!

Windy: Of course, it is. You should like something much more macho kind.

Fluppy: What’s that kind?

Windy: Well, lets see. You should be something like Box man. It sounds so manly, doesn’t it?

Cliparti: But he is only a child, Windy.

Windy: A child who is soon going to be a man!

Fluppy: You’re right, Windy; I’ve started to like the name. Tell me more about it.

Windy: Good! It is a logic and strategy game. A brainteaser that features the clever porter box man. Easy to operate but maybe very difficult to solve, it is a great challenge to your brain. You can download it from http://www.magic7.net

Fluppy: Hey Windy, I think there is still a lot of time before I become a man. I think I’ll like Abbie only.

Cliparti: Look, I told you he’s too young for this. Poor Fluppy! He’s only a child after all.

Windy: And he’ll always remain a child, after all. 

— Ira Verma