ISketch...fun online

I am sure most of you, like me, spend quite a lot of your time online browsing through various websites. And there are times when you really have nothing to do and having gone through all your pet websites are bored and aimlessly browsing, just looking for something good to spend your time.

This is one website which can become quite addicting and the beauty if it is that here time flies away quickly, you get in action mode, get involved, it also has virtual social interactions..in short everything one might want to spend some time enjoying.

Isketch is a kind of a game similar to Pictionary where one after the other, an artist is selected, given a word which others can't see and that artist has to draw and others have to guess that word. Simple? Only the concept is.......

Online Cricket Game lovers

Stick Cricket

I already have quite a few posts on games, specially online games and even in that my all time favourite is Cricket. Cricket is the one thing that I am always involved with some how- either watching any kind of Cricket Match on Television or playing it myself or online.

For online Cricket games, there are quite a few good ones depending on what kind of game you are looking for. A few are- CW Cricket, CoverDrive Cricket, Cricket Academy - The Ultimate Test, Cricket Craziness, Flash Cricket, Last Man Standing, Npower Cricket Game, Slogout, Table Top Cricket, Krish and Zapak etc

Though the best I really feel is the Stick Cricket. In fact STICK SPORTS not only has games for Cricket but also Football, Baseball, Motor sports and Tennis too. I knew about this website earlier and just recently visited after quite some time and it has really improved and added new features and is developing well. It even has blogs, opinion polls etc. It is quite good to play and in that I found one option of Multiplayer. It is one thing to be playing against a computer opponent and entirely different to play against a real opponent. It is so much more enjoyable playing against a real person, and the players are from different countries. It almost feels like a real match. Some of the best features of this Stick Cricket Multiplayer game are- It gives skill and reputation points. The better you play i.e. the better you bat and bowl and win matches against skilled opponents, the more skilled you get, indicated by 5 stars. Currently I am at 4 1/2 stars. So you can select the skilled opponent as per your level or wish or there is even a match up button which will find you an opponent whose skill is the same as yours.

Stick Baseball

There is only one disadvantage that in a match if you are playing quite well and are winning and dominating the opponent, the opponent might just leave the game. This is quite frustrating and really you cannot avoid it but still they do have some measure for that which works to a certain extent because they also give reputation stars just like the skill stars. Initially you have 5 reputation stars and the more the matches you leave midway, your rating goes on decreasing and really nobody would want to play some one with just 1 or 2 rep points because that person is highly likely to forfeit a match that he is losing. Also an interesting stat for this game 97 % of the players are male!

You also have an option of playing this multiplayer game as a guest if you want but then you will not get the skill or rep points. However if you leave the game, you will be temporarily banned. There is also an option of chatting and thus even while the game is going on, you can talk to your opponent, anything, friendly or to disturb his concentration or anything but racism, abuse or anything offensive would mean a ban for you which can be lifetime and the SCC (Stick Cricket Council) looks after it. You can see the kind of realistic feel there is to this game with the freedom to select the team of your choice, the toss, chat with the opponent, sledging, etc.

Before you enter a match, it shows the list of all the players that are online and they have named it the 'Dressing Room' where also you can chat. You can add players to your buddies list against whom you have played and enjoyed and know that they can be trusted and won't leave a match. Thus you can set your profile as 'buddies' meaning only the people in your buddies list can play with you, or 'members' profile meaning only members can play with you and not guests, or 'do not disturb' meaning no one can challenge you to enter a game and you can challenge the person you want. It is good to play guests to improve your skills and it is best to be on 'do not disturb' if you have high rep points because then a lot of people will invite you to play for which the method is to challenge the person.

StickCricket

Now some of the tips. Since I am at a 4 1/2 stars, I can say that I have the expertise to advise you, though it is not necessary that high skill points means a good game every time; just the other day I had a horrible game where I couldn't hit anything and the opponent with 1 star won easily. It is a game of 5 overs everytime and it all depends if you are getting the timing right. If not, it can be a disaster.

For batting, you can just play with the 2 keys- the left and right. All you have to decide is whether the ball is on the off side or on side and where is is moving- either swinging or turning and which direction you want to hit it - thus depending on that, the left or right key. But the timing is the key. The basic requirement is the correct key but to excel, in addition to the correct key, timing is crucial or you may completely miss the ball. Generally I score around 70- 75 every match in 5 overs, but I am more confident of my bowling and mostly get my opponents out under 45 on an average.

I can give some tips for bowling. Firstly select the team according to the type of bowlers they have. Generally I have seen opponents, a large majority of them are almost clueless against spinners, if you use them well that is. I really win easily due to my spinners and thus choose Indian team also because I am from India and they have two spinners in this game. You can also select the opponents this way depending on if you play spinners well, select such a team.

If you are attacking , you can use the bouncers freely but for defending smaller totals, bowl outside the off stump and mostly people miss because the initial reaction is always to hit on the leg side for which I don't really know the reason. It is also very important to vary your length and most importantly PACE. Never let the opponent batsman get his timing right and you can almost break him down. I have had opponents many times like 6 runs for 4 wickets and they left the game!
If you are not doing well, there is also an option of practising to improve your skills.

I can write a lot about this game, various tips etc but then it would be too big a post and also I have to leave something for you to figure out as well because that is how you enjoy the game, creating your own strategies, playing with the opponents mind etc.


So go figure out your plans and Happy Playing!

Yes!!! I did it once again :

Shell Swap game

For those of you wondering, I am talking about an online game- Shell Swap wherein I have scored the highest score of all time!

In another post, I had mentioned about the game ‘Tower of Hanoi’ and how I had managed the mental marathon of completing that game with 12 discs, I usually play a lot of online games and recently have been playing a lot on Orkut.

Many people use Orkut which is a social networking site. In that there is a feature of Mind Jolt games and the good thing about this is that you can compete with your friends and constantly compare and challenge your friends to better your score etc. This is the only reason I have been playing the games on Orkut otherwise the games themselves aren’t so good there. One site I have been using quite regularly for games generally is Mousebreaker. It has many games not necessarily all of high quality but here and there you might find good ones and for sports, I would definitely recommend Stick Sports. I feel it is truly the best in it.

In Orkut they track your scores and send the updates to all your friends to let them know. I tried my hands at a few games and since I consider myself generally good at various games – online and otherwise, I back myself to beat most of the others. I tried in a few games namely- Crazy Taxi a very simple but addictive game only because you can score a lot in it but the motivation comes when your friends score more in it. I tried my hand at it and did decent enough but found that I could not go beyond a certain point; scoring above 100,000 is difficult, that was my limit. Also recently Glamour Parking wherein too I figured I wouldn’t be able to go beyond a certain point and I started thinking that there has to be atleast one game which is for me- the one where I can be the best, where I can score more than others. And I came across ‘Shell Swap’- a very simple game consisting of 3 cups and a marble. They show you which cup the marble is in, then they turn it all around, swapping them and you have to tell under which cup the marble is in. The secret in it is to keep your eye continuously on the cup with the marble. With all the swapping going on around it, you should not get distracted. In the initial levels, all the moving around happens for a short period of time and it might seem the easiest game. But slowly as the levels progress, the amount of time that you need to keep your eyes on it increases. Later on it almost goes on for a minute or more.

There were a few weird things in that firstly I really chose the wrong time to play this game since I had a bad cold and cough and you know the headache that accompanies even if you just watch any screen for even a few minutes. And here I was playing the game for hours. Also since this game requires intense concentration, and the swapping would go on for minutes, it put me in an awkward position in the way that whenever anyone entered the room or was talking to me, I was in difficulty, I couldn’t look up from the screen even for a millisecond and nor could I explain to everyone that I am not looking since I am playing a game. As even talking would be distracting at such a critical juncture. A few people sure would have thought me to be very strange which they perhaps already thought from the beginning and this must have confirmed it for them. Also a few other problems that I faced like our cooking maid preparing the food which was spicy perhaps so was hurting my eyes and later on I even took the medicine for my cold which makes you drowsy and sleepy. I overtook the highest score with ease, never having to make a guess or getting it wrong but later on I was left with no time and so I just ended it deliberately!

As I mentioned in the other post, I am now making it a habit of going all the way in the things that I am doing. I do not want to be stuck saying that I have potential and that I can do it, even knowing that I can do it is not enough. There is no equivalent of actually doing it all the way. It is what gives you satisfaction, real satisfaction and also the confidence. If you haven’t done it, no matter how sure you are of your abilities, at the back of your mind there will always be some doubt and that half done thing will be in your subconscious. Actually doing it makes you free of it. So no matter what reasons or excuses people give, either saying that it is dumb, or that anyone can do it or it is possible only this or that is required ….it doesn’t matter what it is. A game or something else; even a small or insignificant thing but taking it all the way has a gratification like no other.

Also one another reason why I am doing it is in addition to what I have already mentioned, I have realized a lot of things while actually doing it. One of the most significant is that I got to observe my mind beautifully. The mind with all its tricks and traps and what not. The mind is the most complex and cunning thing ever. It is truly said that one who has conquered the mind has conquered everything. And the way is not by fighting or suppressing the mind but by just being a observer without any involvement, no support from your side. When you do that, you don’t supply any energy to it and it stops.. You should know that the ‘mind’ I am talking about is the incessant thoughts that continuously go on inside and makes us a mess. The mind is just a mechanism, a wonderful one if we are its master.

While playing this game, the mind said that it was enough now, how long to go on…I almost played for many hours and much more than 100 levels. The tricks it played saying that perhaps I am looking at the wrong cup, or I have missed the actual cup etc. That game acted like a meditation for me. Although it was concentration which is not meditation unlike what people in the west think, but for me it happened. I have always maintained that I am quite a good observer and perhaps that’s why this game suited me.

And by the way, In Orkut, a similar game – Find me or not, I played that too and in that too I have the highest score in all of Orkut of all time. It’s a different matter that my friend and roommate asked me to give a dinner party for getting it since our maid did not come the next day!

Well 2 highest scores in 3 days! Not bad!
p.s. At this point of time, I hold the record of having the highest score in All of Orkut of All Time in 13 games!!!
1.) Shell swap,
2) Find me or not (very similar to Shell swap involving good Concentration),
3) Kwhack (All about fast Reflexes...and by that I mean really fast),
4) Fire juggler (requires great Skills)
5) Warzone Tower Defense (addictive tower defense game requires good Management and Strategy) In this game, of the 10 versions that it has, I have the highest in 9 of those!
So if any of you want to get a high score or are stuck somewhere,not able to go beyond a certain score, contact me through the comments section here....I might be able to help you..atleast for these above mentioned games. I can provide you strategies etc.)
HAPPY PLAYING!

My marathon run : Tower of Hanoi & other online games

Phew! I finally did it!!!

I cannot stop smiling. It feels like I have conquered Mount Everest!

Ok, ok..now I will tell you what I am writing about.

As you might know from my hobbies that playing games has always been one of my favourite things to do and I am glad I still do. That is because as a child I reflected what I was at that time and seeing how people change when they grow up, I thought to myself that I too would change and would not remain the same person. My hobbies would change, the things that I liked at that time, I will not when I grow up. But after all these years- 24 and a half as of now, I now look back at that child who had become sad on thinking that as a grownup, that child would not be there and in his place there would be someone else. At this point of time, many things have changed- physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually and various other ways but inside when I look, I still find that child exactly the same and it gives me great satisfaction.

Almost every day I spend some of my time playing games, maybe online games or others but I do play a lot and have been doing it for years and I consider myself pretty good at it. Today I played a game, which though I knew about, had not really played much before. The game is- “Tower of Hanoi”

Perhaps some of you might know this game. You can play it from- http://www.mazeworks.com/hanoi/index.htm

It is such a simple game in principle. You basically have 3 pegs and some discs from 3 to 12 in number, in ascending order of sizes, depending on the difficulty level, on the first peg initially. All you have to do is transfer all the discs to the third peg but with the condition that you can only move one disc at a time and a larger disc cannot be placed on the smaller disc. That’s it. It cannot get simpler than this. You will have to play it yourself to understand.

Initially start with 3 discs to understand the principle. Then gradually go on increasing the number of discs. The highest that you can go is 12 and God is it difficult! My friend and roommate had challenged me that I couldn’t possibly complete with 12 discs. Well, it would not be a bad bet to make with your friends. You will have to be really unlucky to find someone who can do it. And yes, he found me!

Below is an example to do it with 4 discs :

Just to have a little idea of what it is playing with 12 discs, just click the solution button on the slowest speed from the link provided above, and you will see how much time it takes just to move it. The minimum possible steps in which you can do it is…Can you guess? 100? 500? 1000? No…not at all. The minimum number of steps in which you can do it is 4095!!! It means there is no possible way to do it below 4095 steps. These many will be required ATLEAST. I took 4323 steps and over 2 hours. Around 2 hours and 10 minutes.

Just imagine the amount of time that would be required to just make 4323 steps and add to it the major part- THINKING. That is obviously the major part of the game. You have to think about what move to make.

It is really a Marathon. A mental one and as close to mental torture as you can get. The amount of challenges that you get in so many ways! I had the opportunity to observe my mind as I played it and I tell you, there comes these points when you become absolutely blank. You have almost no idea what you are doing. You feel so lost, you come to know the meaning of the word ‘lost’. Also some of the added problems that we may not be able to imagine theoretically but you experience them while playing it practically- you lift and place a disc but if you haven’t placed it properly, it again goes back to its original place and many a times I was left wondering whether the move was executed or not!!!

Many people once they try 5 discs, 8 discs etc would say that they now know the method and can do it for any number of discs. I know this but unless you have done it for 12 discs, you cannot say anything. No use saying that you were so close, you would have really done it. There are only 2 things- either you have done it or you have not. You have to decide which category you fall under. If there is anyone out there in the world who has done it with 12 discs like me, please do tell me. I know there will be a few but I am not absolutely sure.

If you have some free time and like challenges and love to achieve difficult targets and exercise your brain and experience a wide variety of emotions (I felt almost mentally vulnerable and delicate in the course of it!) I recommend this game and don’t tell me if you have completed it with any number of discs below 12. It is not difficult in the way you can imagine, but it is in so many other ways which you will come to know in the course of the game.

I had decided that I won’t leave it close to the end, feeling I would have definitely done it. I had to go all the way as I felt that it is what gives one strength and crystallization of the self- a concept of Gurdjieff I guess!