Fugdale’s Funhouse

Review: This very basic line-drawn game has one of the most clever mechanisms I’ve ever seen in an online game. The game really presents a challenge to climb from floor one to floor sixteen using a single cursor to click on the stairs to rise to the next levels. The cursor only appears on the screen for about 60 seconds, however, so you have to move fast. Mostly you will just click on a stairway to advance up a level, but on certain floors you will have to find the stairway hidden inside boxes or will have to push a button to make the stairway appear.

You will not be able to complete this challenge on your first try. It IS impossible. But, that’s where you will discover the inventiveness this game puts into play. You get 10 cursors. With the first cursor, you just move up as fast as you can until you reach your first obstacle and you will eventually run out of time. When you start the course over with your second cursor, however, a ghost of your first cursor will play alongside you, doing exactly the same moves you did the first time around. So use your second cursor to race alongside the ghost of your first until you reach the obstacle where you got stuck. Then your previous cursors will assist you through the obstacle and onto the next obstacle.

This may sound a little complicated and the first time you play it will seem that way, but you will quickly discover how you must utilize each cursor in order to help yourself out the next time around. For example, on one floor you must find a stairwell hidden under a box in a room filled with boxes. With just one cursor, this will slow you down, but, when you have the previous cursor opening boxes alongside your current cursor, you will be able to locate the stairwell much faster. Later on, you will sacrifice your current cursor in order to push a button to make a hidden stairwell appear. Then use the next cursor to rise up the stairwell. Each time you start the race with a new cursor ALL of your previous cursors will do exactly what they did the first time you played them, so by the 8th or 9th cursor, you will have a screen full of busy cursors and it gets a little hectic to keep track of your current one.

If you make it to the 16th floor you win! It might take you a few full games to meet the challenge, but if you keep at it, you will eventually figure it out and win. Along the way, you will discover a whole new genre of gaming delight, which hopefully other designers will explore. The game has the feel of racing your ghost in console games like “Mario Kart”. This time however, you aren’t just trying to beat your previous time, but are actually using your ghost’s path to your benefit. So think ahead!

Review: There’s gold in them thar hills! It’s your job to mine it out. You play as an old bearded miner who sits at the top of the screen with a swinging claw. Below you, buried in the layers of terra firma, lie various sized chunks of gold, ore and diamonds. As your miner swings his claw toward a chunk you want to collect, press the down arrow key and he will drop the claw and grab it. He takes longer to reel in the larger chunks, but they have a greater value. Gray rocks don’t command much money, so try to avoid those if possible.

You get a target amount of money for each level and you must collect enough gold, rocks, or diamonds to match or beat that amount. You can also collect grab bags which contain random cash or special items. Although the target goal increases steadily with each round, the money you collect will carry over, so the more you can mine in each round, the easier time you will have meeting your next goal.

Additionally, after each round you will visit the general store, where you can use some of your earnings to purchase helpful items. Dynamite allows you to blast undesirable objects you grab by accident; Clovers increase the value of grab bag items; Strength Drink allows you to drag heavy items faster; the Book of Rocks increases the value of rocks; and Diamond Polish increases the value of diamonds. Different items become available as the game progresses and sometimes you may want to curb your spending habits in order to keep some money in the bank for the next round.

Along the way various critters show up and crawl about the screen. They have value like anything else you mine, but tend to just get in the way. However, sometimes the creatures carry diamonds with them, in which case they provide lucrative rewards upon capture.

The game mechanics won’t win any awards for excellence. Your attention to timing and aim will increase your score. The hit area on each target seems liberal enough that you don’t have to tear your hair out while racing against the timer. However, later levels get a little more difficult as more useless rocks and animals get in your way.

If you enjoy the basic version of this game, you can increase and extend your fun by downloading the full version. The full version includes pesky bats and elves; more items; more levels and even a gambling game to increase your money.

Review: This point-and-click adventure by Tim Betrand seems a little daunting at first, but with a little bit of deductive reasoning, you can make it out alive. The game itself doesn’t involve a long drawn out series of clicking and finding objects like some adventures. Instead you have one major task…to get inside the box and find a way to deactivate the bomb. You only have 15 minutes of real time to accomplish this task.

You will mostly have to put your number logic to work to make it through. The notes and etchings inside the box provide you with most of the information you need to deduce the next step, but it still takes a little thinking and a bit of trial and error to make it through in time. Starting with the combination lock, you immediately will thank yourself for all those games of Mastermind, but the game will test other areas of knowledge including multiplication and binary numbering systems.

If you don’t make it through in time, you will blow up, but you can always try again. Another unique feature of this game is that each time you play, the combinations and some of the puzzle solutions change. So you can’t rely on memorizing the sequences, but have to start fresh each time. In that sense, the game has some replay value, although once you’ve done it, you probably won’t need to go right back and do it again. The game won’t drag on forever. You really can solve it in just a few minutes if you put your mind to it, so give it a shot and see if you can work under pressure to disarm the package.