Games make one of the best sort of Christmas presents, in my humble opinion anyway. Don’t get me wrong, I have no objections to socks and aftershave, after all, even useful things have their place; but there’s nothing quite like watching a kid’s face light up when they get a good game, especially one that they have been waiting for. There are loads of games around, from board games all the way to online games, but the best gift always depends on who is going to receive it.

So, what games look like being a success this Christmas? Well, according to what some of my friends are saying, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is a must-have and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Limited Edition is going to be just massive. I’m not really into that sort of game, but something like The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks would go done just great in our house at the moment. Arthur’s really getting into his DS games at the moment, and it would make a change from Super Mario and Sonic.

Of course, it’s always worth keeping online games in mind. Ok, they don’t look a good under the tree, but you can download new games any time you want and play to your heart’s content. Games like Emily’s Holiday Season or Zuma’s Revenge (I’ve spent many hours playing that one). It’s it grand to have so much to choose from?

I just saw a question on Twitter from @TheAmanda asking if she was the only one who knew the difference between Vulcans and Romulans. I responded straight away with a tweet letting her know I knew the difference too. Vulcans are trained to wipe any emotion out of their lives, while Romulans are highly emotional. They’re actually two species on the seminal science fiction series called Star Trek which I watched fervently many many moons ago. It’s amazing how facts like that can stick in your mind sometimes and that’s basis of trivia: those snippets of information about something totally random that can spring to mind as soon as someone asks the question.

If you’re a fan of trivia there are quite a few places online where you can learn more and more pieces of trivia and other places where you can compete with others in exciting trivia games. One such place is Triviala.com where you can take part in free trivia quizes and even compete with others for weekly cash prizes. That’s not the end of it though, if you get bored of the multitude of trivia quizes there are on the site; you can go ahead and create your own quizes, then invite your friends to come and take part in them. The site is based around it’s own monetary currency they call Crowns. You can earn Crowns by winning quizes or performing tasks like uploading an avatar photo etc. Once you amass your Crowns you can use them to compete for monetary prizes; the more Crowns you have, the more chances you get to win.

It’s a great site if you’re looking for a way to spend your time and if you feel your trivia is up to scratch. One to bookmark I think.

Image details: Arcade game served by picapp.com

Thanks to the sterling effort of the boys down at ManxJam, we now have a brand spanking new ManxArcade. You can now find me there spending my precious time playing classics like:

• Olympic Discus Throw
• Archery
• Connect 4
• Super Crossbow
• Fairgame
• Monkey Target
• Javelin
• Marble Motion

*sigh* I was really hoping to get some work done this weekend!

Which are your favourite games. I must admit I have spent a lot of time playing Diamond Valley 2

I just wanted to drop a quick post about games actually. I was looking at the bet365 casino which I had blogged about before and noticed they have put up a Blackjack Guide, which is really great for Mike, a friend of mine who has NO IDEA how to play. Putting out a Basic Strategy Guide is a great way to get people interested in the game and it also is more content for people to surf into their site. Not that a Blackjack Strategy Guide is hard to produce, but it’s amazing how many websites out there don’t supply any help as to how to use their services.

Blackjack, online games, Lively, bingo .. how do you waste your free time?

The thing is, this new version of Scrabble is going to have some constraints due to the way Scrabble is licensed. Only Facebook members in the U.S. and Canada will be able to play each other, so if I had a friend who worked for a New York Moving Company, I wouldn’t be able to play Scrabble against him using this new version. So, even if Hasbro manages to shut down Scrabulous, I’m not really going to be rushing to use EA’s application.

bet365.com LAUNCHES NEW ONLINE BINGO ROOM

bet365.com, one of the world’s leading online gambling companies, is delighted to announce the launch of their brand new online bingo room.

Fans of all online gaming can enjoy a multitude of games at Bingo at bet365, powered by Virtue Fusion, the world’s biggest online bingo software provider.

Players can try Bingo at bet365 with a £10 free bonus with no deposit required, with games available 24/7. Players can also enjoy a spin on their favourite slots and casino games, such as Ladies Leisure, Cleopatra’s Chest and Crystal Balls.

Steve Ibberson, bet365’s Managing Director – Gaming, commented, “We are all very excited about the arrival of Bingo at bet365. With a 200% first deposit bonus, up to £200 free, plus a 50% reload bonus on every deposit, we are confident bingo players at bet365 will enjoy the most entertaining and rewarding online bingo available today, in addition to being part of the one of the friendliest bingo communities.”

For even greater player value, Bingo at bet365 will also be offering regular promotions such as Penny Bingo, BOGOF (Buy One Get One Free), chat games, and bonus Jackpot games. Every bingo prize pool is guaranteed to ensure unbeatable entertainment.

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About bet365

bet365 are one of the world’s leading online gambling groups with over 1.5 million customers in 140 different countries. The Group employs over 700 people and is the UK’s 16th largest private company. The company’s casino, games, poker and bingo operations are licensed and regulated by the government of Gibraltar.

Bingo at bet365 is powered by Virtue Fusion, the market-leading bingo software provider. bet365 takes responsible gambling very seriously and customers are provided with a range of options to assist them to gamble responsibly:

www.gambleaware.co.uk.

So, if you’re a Bingo virgin, would you like to know how to play Bingo at bet365? Well, first you must first buy tickets for the game. All tickets must be bought before the 10 second countdown to a game starts.

There are three types of Bingo game available on Bingo at bet365, 90 ball, 90 ball Spanish Variant, 75 ball Variant. In the 90 ball game and Spanish variant, numbers between 1 and 90 are called out randomly. The numbers called are marked on the tickets you have bought.

In the 90 ball game, there are 3 prizes to win – 1 line, 2 lines and Full House or Bingo. The player who is the first to have all the numbers called displayed in a horizontal line on their ticket wins the 1 line prize. To win the 2 lines prize, the player must have all the numbers called on 2 lines of the same ticket. To claim the house or bingo prize the player must have all the numbered squares called on a ticket. There are only 2 prizes to win in the 90 Ball Spanish Variant – 1 Line and Full House. The criteria for the game are the same theory as above for the 90 ball but without the 2 line prize.

The game ends when a player has claimed the House or Bingo prize, or when all 90 numbers have been called.

In the 75 ball variant game, numbers between 1 and 75 are called out randomly. The numbers called are marked on the tickets you have bought. There are 5 prizes to win – 1 line, 2 lines, 3 lines, 4 lines and 5 lines. The player who is the first to have all the numbers called displayed in a horizontal, vertical or diagonal line on their ticket wins the 1 line prize.

To win the 2 line prize, the player must have all the numbers called on 2 horizontal lines of the same ticket. To win the 2 lines, 3 line or 4 line prizes the player must have all the numbers called on the number of lines required for the prize on the same ticket. Only the 1 line prize can be won by having all numbers called displayed in a horizontal, vertical or diagonal line on their ticket. To win subsequent line prizes only numbers called displayed on horizontal lines on their ticket qualify. Diagonal and vertical lines only count towards the 1 line prize.

To claim the 5 lines or bingo prize the player must have all the numbered squares called on a ticket.

The game ends when a player has claimed the House or bet365 Bingo prize, or when all 75 numbers have been called.

To tell the truth, Bingo isn’t quite my game, regardless of how many Bingo Offers I get. I’m not one for games of chance, prefering ones which at least have some skill requirement. Not that I’m a poker man, but prefer Blackjack really when I’m at the casino. What’s your pleasure?

Kwari is the name of the game and here’s the blurb:

Kwari is a free-to-download FPS in which players put their money where their skills are by agreeing on a “per hit” rate of one penny to one dollar. Every time you score a hit, that amount of cash is taken from your opponent’s account and put in yours, with the reverse happening when you’re hit yourself.

That comes from Wired which is where I read about the story thanks to a mate on ManxForums who pointed it out. I’ve signed up for the beta; will let you know what it’s like once i get my hands on the game.

Today I tried out one called Chaos Lands which is a free online multiplayer RPG game. It’s has a fantasy theme with a turn-based strategy battlefield. You can make up your character any which way you like, thanks to the vast selection of parameters the game offers. There are 11 different races, 9 different classes, each race and class has their own unique skill (out of a total of 75 skills). Battle is either one-on-one or co-operative and you can even take part massive battles among many players.

It sounds like fun, but I haven’t really spent a serious amount of time in this world as Real Life interfered once again. The UI is quite interesting as it’s Flash based and works in any browser. You can therefore play anywhere you like without needing a specific telnet client (like traditional MUDs) or thick client (like, say World of Warcraft). Check it out if you want to play a bit.

Mahjong is one of the games that fall into this category for me. It’s a game of skill based around the simple premise of removing tiles off a board, but it’s also very addictive. It involves skill, strategy and calculation as well as a certain amount of luck. There are also loads of variants on the game and board layouts, so you can be assured to never get bored of it.

So, if you ever see me heading in the direction of Mahjong, please, please, please, pull me away!

You have been invited