The Game for Today!

Missile Command - Can You Save Us?

noreply@blogger.com (I'm not Bob Vila...) — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 01:55:00 +0000

Missile Command, the 80’s classic, was immensely popular and profitable for Atari, and still out-performs many contemporary games today. Missile Command remains a reminder of the threat of Nuclear War when the United States and Russia were locked in a fierce “Cold War.”

The original idea for Missile Command began with a story about satellites that captured the attention of Atari’s president who passed the idea to Lyle Rains. Rains in turn asked Dave Theurer to lead the project.

In the first proposal for the game, originally called Armageddon, there were missiles attacking the California coastline. According to Theurer, "Part of creating a great game is knowing what to strip away. Some of the first baggage the developers dropped was geographic identifications because of the frightful scenario of the game. And then they stripped away more. The original suggestion also included scanning radar, but I immediately said, no way! It would be just too hard for the player because he wouldn't be able to see what was going on. We chucked that idea. And when we first developed the game, we added railroads to transport missiles from the cities to the missile bases. That got to be too complicated and people got confused... if you get too complicated, people won't play. We also had submarines for a while but that didn't work out so we ripped them out, too.”

Missile Command has made its way into popular culture and appeared in a 1981 episode of the TV Sitcom Barney Miller. The game was also featured in Terminator 2: Judgment Day when John Connor is seen playing the game in an arcade just before the T-1000 shows up.

The world record was set as recently as March 9, 2006, when Tony Temple (AKA TT), a UK based gamer and banker, set a new world record in Tournament mode on new tournament settings. His score of 1,967,830 points beat the record previously held by Roy Shildt, who set his record on the factory default settings. Temple's new record has been recognized by the Official Video Game & Pinball Book of World Records.

Duck Hunt - Nintendo's Zapper Classic

noreply@blogger.com (I'm not Bob Vila...) — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 20:22:00 +0000

The game for today is the old home video arcade game classic… Duck Hunt. Originally developed for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) game console in 1984, the game utilized the NFS Zapper to shoot ducks on screen for points. Duck Hunt was one of the two original “pack-in titles” for the first release of the game system - the other game was Gyromite.

Duck Hunt was not often reviewed due to the mid 1980’s release date. Even today, most critics have not reviewed Duck Hunt. Despite the lack of reviews, several user groups have rated the game positively.

Despite the games lack of acceptance with critics, the characters in Duck Hunt have gone on to appear in several other video games. The dog has appeared in Barker Bill’s Trick Shooting and can be shot in the “Balloon Saloon” game. In Super Smash Bros. Melee, a trophy can be unlocked displaying the ducks. Finally, the WarioWare, Inc. series feature several microgames based on Duck Hunt.

In addition to the characters appearing in other games, Duck Hunt has weaved its way through Pop culture including film, television, music, and the Internet.

Its film credits include Boyz N the Hood and the short film titled Duck Hunted.

On television, it has appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann, and the Drawn Together cartoon series.

The original music was composed by Hirokazu “Hip” Tanaka, who has also scored several other Nintendo games. The music was what you would expect for 1980’s video game music (awful by today’s standards), but it is still considered a classic. The game soundtrack is featured in the “Classic Games Medley” on the Video Games Live tour in 2005. Duck Hunt game effects and portions of the sound track were also used in at least one music video…

After Vice President Dick Cheney’s accidental shooting of Harry Whittington, Duck Hunt made a return to online Internet games with Whittington replacing the dog and/or the ducks.

Moon Patrol - Patrol Sector Nine of Luna City

noreply@blogger.com (I'm not Bob Vila...) — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 22:41:00 +0000

Moon Patrol is the classic arcade game distributed in the early 1980’s by Williams in the United States. Originally developed by Irem in 1982, the game allows users to take the role of a Luna City police officer assigned to Sector Nine – home of the “toughest thugs in the galaxy.”

The player controls the moon buggy (viewing it from the side) as it travels over the Moon’s surface. While driving, obstacles such as craters and mines must be avoided. The buggy is also attacked by UFO’s from above and tanks on the ground. Moon Patrol is one of the first linear side-scrolling shoot’em games and the first game to feature parallax scrolling.

Game play was straightforward for the day; the top portion of the screen shows a timeline-style map of the current course, and three indicator lights. The top light indicates upcoming enemy aerial attacks, the middle one indicates an upcoming minefield, and the bottom one indicates enemies approaching from behind.
The map shows five different checkpoints labeled E, J, O, T and Z. Similar to racing games, the time spent during between each checkpoint is compared to the average which determines the amount of bonus points allocated to the player.

Moon Patrol was so popular that the game has been ported to several platforms of home computers and game consoles including: Atari 800, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Apple II, Commodore 64, TRS-80, ColecoVision, Nintendo Game Boy, Sega Dreamcast, Sony PlayStation, TI-99/4A, ZX Spectrum, and Mobile OS.

There is a bootleg version of this game called Moon Ranger that made its way to the arcade. This is not related to the unlicensed NES game by the same name developed by Bunch Games.

Star Castle - Another 1980's Classic!

noreply@blogger.com (I'm not Bob Vila...) — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 05:04:00 +0000

The game for today is Star Castle, the 1980 arcade game designed by Tim Skelly for Cinematronics. The game is your classic vector based monochrome game, ala Asteroids and Tank Hunter. Like many of the Cinematronics titles, the game was ported to the Vectrex video game console in 1980.

Star Castle was not the most popular game, however, it was the basis for the Atari 2600’s Yars’ Revenge, which became a huge success.

The object of Star Castle is to destroy an enemy cannon which sits in the center of three concentric, rotating energy shield rings while avoiding or destroying 'mines' (enemies that generate from the core, pass through the energy rings, and then home in on the player's ship).

The player-controlled spaceship can rotate, thrust forward, and fire small projectiles. The cannon's shields are composed of twelve sections, and each section takes two hits to destroy. Once a section is breached, rings beneath it are exposed to fire. Once the innermost ring has been breached, the central weapon is vulnerable to attack from the player. However, the player is also more vulnerable at this point, as with the shield rings eliminated, the gun can fire out a large projectile. Moreover, the central core tracks player movement at all times. If the player manages to hit the cannon, it explodes violently, collapsing the remnants of the shield rings, and the player is awarded with an extra ship. The next level then starts with a new gun and fully restored shield rings, with the difficulty increased (the mines move faster, the rings rotate more quickly, and the core tracks the player faster).

If the player completely destroys the outermost shield ring, the cannon will create a new one. The middle ring expands to replace the lost outer ring, the inner ring replaces the middle, and a new ring emerges from the core to become the inner ring. In order to penetrate the cannon's defenses, one must be careful not to completely obliterate the outer ring.

The three homing mines will destroy the player's ship on contact. The mines can be destroyed, but they are very small and difficult to hit, and the player does not receive points for destroying them. Mines are revived when shield rings regenerate (some variants keep three mines churning constantly so that a new mine regenerates from the core as soon as one is destroyed). As the player progresses through the levels, the mines get faster and faster, forcing the player to keep moving to avoid them.

At approximately every 182,000 points, game play slows down.
As opposed to some games, the points will not roll over at 1 million (approximately four hours of game play). It is unknown if the score might roll over at 10 million.

Trivia: Star Castle was featured in the 1986 cult movie “Maximum Overdrive” which stared Emilio Estevez and was written and directed by Steven King.

Connect Four - The Captain's Mistress

noreply@blogger.com (I'm not Bob Vila...) — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 03:25:00 +0000

Connect Four, also known as Plot Four, Four in a Line, and The Captain’s Mistress, is a two player board game made popular by Milton Bradley in the mid-to-late 1970’s.

Based on Tic-Tac-Toe, Connect 4 is a simple “connect four” in a row game that adds the element of restricted placement by requiring the players to “drop” game pieces vertically down the board.

Beginners will often overlook a simple threat to connect four pieces, that’s why it’s always important to check all vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines before making a move. In more advanced play, one aims at forcing a win by making two threats simultaneously.

As a general rule of thumb, discs played in the center columns are more valuable than border column discs, because they participate in more potential four-disc lines (and accordingly limit the opponent's opportunities).

Among good players, the short term goal is to connect three discs, thereby preventing the opponent from playing in a certain column and creating a "threat" in that column. A player who manages to create two threats immediately on top of each other wins directly.

Towards the end, the game often turns into a complex counting match: both players try to win by forcing the other to play a certain column. In these situations it is useful to realize that every column has an even number of places.

Try your luck and see if you can Connect Four!

Putt-Putt - from the St. Andrews to the United States

noreply@blogger.com (I'm not Bob Vila...) — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 18:29:00 +0000

Putt-Putt, also known as miniature golf, mini golf, midget golf, goofy golf, or crazy golf is modeled after the sport of golf. The term Putt-Putt has been generalized (similar to the use of Formica when describing a laminated surface) to mean miniature golf, but is actually the trademark of a miniature golf company.

The first miniature golf course is often confused with the two earliest U.S. courses: the 1916 backyard Thistle Dhu ("This'll Do") course in Pinehurst, North Carolina, or; the 1927 Tom Thumb patent of Garnet Carter from Lookout Mountain, Tennessee. Neither of these courses - though each unique on their own - was the true "first" miniature golf course. The Ladies' Putting Club of St. Andrews, Scotland was the first miniature golf course, formed in 1867.

Miniature golf rose to popularity in the late 1910s and early 1920s as a way for early golf fanatics to replicate major golf courses on a small scale. The game was commonly called "garden golf," and was played with a putter on grass.

In 1922, Thomas McCulloch Fairbairn, transformed the game with his formulation of a suitable artificial green (a mixture of cottonseed hulls, sand, oil, and dye). With this discovery, miniature golf became accessible everywhere; by the late 1920s there were over 150 rooftop courses in New York City alone. Mini golf became a popular culture craze in the first years of the Depression but its popularity faded dramatically by 1935 or so.

In 1938 Joe and Bob Taylor from Binghamton, New York started building and operating their own miniature golf courses. These courses differed from the earlier courses of the late 20s and early 30s; they included obstacles, such as windmills, castles, and wishing wells.

Impressed by the quality of the courses, many customers asked if the Taylors would build a course for them. By the early 1940s, Joe and Bob formed Taylor Brothers, and were in the business of building miniature golf courses and supplying obstacles to the industry. During both the Korean and Vietnam Wars the Taylor Brothers prefabricated course that the U.S. Military had contracted to be built and shipped overseas.

In 1961, Bob Taylor, Don Clayton of Putt-Putt, and Frank Abramoff of Arnold Palmer Miniature Golf organized the first miniature golf association known as NAPCOMS (or the "National Association of Putting Course Operators, Manufacturers, and Suppliers"). Their first meeting was held in New York City. Though this organization only lasted a few years it was the first attempt to bring miniature golf operators together to promote miniature golf.

In 1955, Lomma Enterprises, Inc., founded by Al Lomma and his brother Ralph Lomma, led the revival of wacky, animated trick hazards. These hazards required both accurately aimed shots and split-second timing to avoid spinning windmill blades, revolving statuary, and other moving obstacles.

Today, miniature golf is played at a highly competitive level. In the U.S. there are two organizations offering tournaments at the professional level. The Professional Putters Association http://www.proputters.com/ (PPA) and the US Pro Mini-Golf Association http://www.prominigolf.com/ (USPMGA). The USPMGA is the only mini golf sport organization which represents U.S. in the World Minigolf Sport Federation http://www.minigolfsport.com/ (WMF).

In Europe, competitive miniature golf has also become very popular. Top national players compete for the European Champion title in individual and team competition. The European Minigolf Sport Federation http://www.europeanminigolfsport.com/ (EMF) also organizes European Junior, Senior championships and Nations cup (a prelude to European Minigolf Championship). Northern European countries also have their own Nordic cups.

Try your hand at a round and maybe you can set a new course record!

Freecell - The Game that Baker Built...

noreply@blogger.com (I'm not Bob Vila...) — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 22:21:00 +0000

In the June 1968 edition of Scientific American, Martin Gardner wrote an article in his “Mathematical Games” column about a card game by C. L. Baker called Baker’s Game. His game is built by suit and is considered the father of Freecell.

Paul Alfille changed Baker’s Game by making the cards build according to alternating color (not suit), thus creating Freecell. He implemented the first computer version of it on the PLATO educational computer system in 1978.

Alfille’s game gained worldwide popularity thanks to Jim Horne who created a version with color graphics for the Windows environment. It was first included with Microsoft Win32s as a test program, and was made a part of the Windows 95 operating system and has been included with every version of Windows since.

Today, there are FreeCell versions for every modern platform, including some as part of commercial solitaire suites. However, it is estimated that as of 2003, the Microsoft version remains the most popular, despite the fact of its limited features such as retraction of moves.

The original Microsoft package included 32,000 games generated by a 15-bit random number seed. These games are known as the "Microsoft 32,000". Later versions of Microsoft FreeCell include more games, of which the original 32,000 are a subset.

While it is believed that every game is winnable, there are approximately 2.00x1063 possible games. Some games maybe similar to others because suits assigned to cards are arbitrary. When a card is black, for example, it may be assigned to clubs or spades.

In later implementations of FreeCell for Microsoft Windows, there are 1,000,000 games. Of these, 8 have been found to be unsolvable. They are games No. 11,982, No. 146,692, No. 186,216, No. 455,889, No. 495,505, No. 512,118, No. 517,776, and No. 781,948.

One way to "win" at any Microsoft FreeCell game was added as a way to help the original software testers; one must push the following key combination of Ctrl-Shift-F10 at any time during the game. When the dialog box appears on screen click 'Abort' to win, 'Retry' to lose, or 'Ignore' to cancel and continue playing the game as originally intended. Double-click any card for the results. However, this does not actually provide a correct solution to the game.

Try your luck and see if you can win…

Yahtzee - The Poker Dice Game!

noreply@blogger.com (I'm not Bob Vila...) — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 21:06:00 +0000

According to the officials at Hasbro, Yahtzee was invented in 1954 by an unknown Canadian couple who called it “The Yacht Game” because they played it on their yacht with friends. Two years later they found toy and game entrepreneur Edwin S. Lowe and asked if he could make some sets to be given away as gifts for the couple's friends. Lowe had the vision to market the game and acquired the rights from the couple in exchange for 1,000 gifts sets. The complete story is explained by Lowe in the 1973 book “A Toy is Born.”

According to Lowe, the game did not do well initially, since the rules and appeal were not easily explained in advertisements. Eventually, he organized “Yahtzee Parties” where people could play the game and gain a firsthand appreciation for it. The idea paid off and word of the game spread quickly.

Although Lowe filed a Yahtzee trademark with the U.S. patent Office on April 19, 1956, the origins of the game can traced to a number of poker dice games. Among these are the Puerto Rican game Generala, and the English games of Poker Dice and Cheerio.

The E. S. Lowe company sold Yahtzee from 1956 to 1973. During this time, Lowe sold over 40 million games around the globe. In 1973, Milton Bradley purchased the E.S. Lowe company and the rights to produce and sell Yahtzee. The game has remained popular and according to current owner, Hasbro, 50 million Yahtzee sets are sold each year.

Try your luck for six of a kind and a Yahtzee!

Whac-a-Mole (aka Gopher Bash!)

noreply@blogger.com (I'm not Bob Vila...) — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 21:37:00 +0000

Today’s game is based on the popular arcade game Whac-a-Mole invented in 1971 by Aaron Fechter of Creative Engineering, Inc. Fechter designed the first Whac-a-Mole and sold it to a carnival operator who sold it to Bob Cassada (owner of Bob’s Space Racers). Fechter was a young inventor who didn’t realize the value of his new game and unfortunately didn’t patent his design.

Cassada understood the value of Fechter's game and trademarked the Whac-a-Mole name. Bob’s Space Racers copied Fechter’s game and even took molds off the pieces Fechter sculpted of the first Whac-a-Mole creatures. Cassada invited Fechter to the Bob’s Space Racers facility and asked him how the machines electronics, but Fechter refused to divulge the secrets behind the machines inner workings. Since Cassada already had a working machine, he was able to reverse engineer Fechter’s electronics too.

Ironically, Fechter later started entertainment pizza chain Showbiz Pizza Place with business partner Bob Brook. Their new company bought more Whac-a-Mole games than any other single customer.

Whac-a-Mole has remained popular throughout the years and can be seen at arcades around the world. In the 1990’s, Bob’s Space Racers introduced smaller versions for juniors and toddlers. In 2004, the company released a SE (special edition) model with updated graphics and moles wearing hardhats.

Bob’s Space Racers has also licensed Whac-a-Mole to other companies for production of consumer products. In 1999, Whac-a-Mole was released as an electronics board game by Toy Biz, now a division of Marvel Entertainment, Inc. In 2004, the game was released by Hasbro, Inc. There are also variations of Whac-a-Mole for cell phones, handheld video games, and home video games. Nintendo has even released versions for the Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance platforms.

You can visit Bob’s Space Racers and see the Whac-a-Mole SE.

The phrase Whac-a-Mole (or Whack-a-mole) has also become a part of modern vocabulary meaning a repetitious and futile task. In the computer and networking industry, it is used to describe the occurrence of fending off persistent hackers or spammers. Each time the attacker is "whacked" or kicked off of a service, he only pops up again from another direction.

Whac-a-Mole is also used in the military to refer to opposing troops who keep re-appearing: Whack the mole here and it dies, but another pops up in a different spot. This use has been especially common in the Iraq War in reference to the difficulty of defeating the Iraqi insurgency.

Checkers - The Primeminister of all Games

noreply@blogger.com (I'm not Bob Vila...) — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 21:56:00 +0000

Draughts (British English) or checkers (American English) is an ancient game. It is believed that the earliest form of checkers was a game discovered at an archeological dig at Ur in Irag, carbon dating sets the game at 3000 BC.

Egyptian paintings and inscriptions from 1400 BC have featured a game called Alquerque which was played on a 5x5 board and was very popular.

Sometime around 1100 AD, a Frenchman got the idea of playing the game on a chess board and played with 12 pieces to a side. This game was called "Fierges" or "Ferses". The rules were soon modified to make jumping mandatory which made the game more challenging. The French called this version "Jeu Force". The older version was considered more of a social game for women and was called "Le Jeu Plaisant De Dames".

As the rules for the game became more formalized, the gameÂ’s popularity began to spread. Books were written on the game as early as the mid 1500's. In England, William Payne, a mathematician, wrote his own treatise in 1756.

In 1847, the first world championship was awarded. It was soon realized that certain opening moves always gave one side an advantage so more rule changes were made. Two move restrictions were developed for expert players that actually began the game in a random manner. Today even three move restrictions are used in tournament checkers.

The most popular version of the game today is international draughts (also called Polish draughts (polska gra in Polish) because once a Pole living at the French royal court decided to enlarge the board from 8x8 to 10x10 in order to perform more spectacular capturing combinations) which is played on a 10 x 10 board with 20 pieces on a side. It is mainly played in the Netherlands, France, some eastern European countries, parts of Africa, and parts of the former USSR.

TodayÂ’s game is English draughts (or American checkers). The game is played on an 8 x 8 board with 12 pieces on each side. Red moves first. Men (the uncrowned pieces) can only move and capture forward. When there is more than one way for a player to jump, one may choose which sequence to make, not necessarily the sequence that will result in the greatest number of captures.

There are many other variations, each with slight rule changes. Brazilian checkers, Canadian checkers, Pool checkers, Spanish checkers (also called Spanish pool checkers), Russian checkers (also called shashki checkers or Russian shashki checkers), Italian checkers, Turkish draughts (a common form of checkers played in the Middle-East is also known as Dama) and many others.
Becauseue there are so many variations of checkers, some games are often confused with the game. Halma is a game similar in appearance to checkers but is actually very different. The pieces can move in any direction and jump over any other piece - friend or enemy. Pieces are not captured. Each player starts with 19 (2-player) or 13 (4-player) pieces all in one corner and tries to move them all into the opposite corner. Another game is Chinese checkers which isn't Chinese or checkers at all. Chinese checkers is based on Halma and uses a star-shaped board divided into triangles.

The first computer checkers program was created by Arthur L. Samuel in 1952. As computers improved over the years, programming has also improved. Early checkers programs required the user to calculate moves on paper because computers were not ready for that type of use. Today's computer programs make use of databases that include every possible combination of moves. This means that today's programs pay less attention to game strategy and utilize the data base of moves as the default.

Regardless of the mechanism, checkers is as popular today was it was 1000Â’s of years ago. The game is so popular, that the opinion is if chess is the king of all games, then checkers is the prime minister.

Tic-Tac-Toe - Shall we Play a Game?

noreply@blogger.com (I'm not Bob Vila...) — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 07:10:00 +0000

Tic-Tac-Toe, also called Noughts and Crosses, X’s and O’s, X-e O-zees, Boxin’ Oxen, Tickle My Tackle With Your Toe, Hugs and Kisses or many others is universally know by children and adults throughout the English speaking world.

The exact origin of Tic-Tac-Toe is unknown, but variations such as “Three Man’s Morris” were popular in England in the 1300’s.

The game is a simple pen and paper game for two players, O and X, who take turns to mark the spaces in a 3 x 3 grid. The first player who succeeds in connecting 3 marks in a row wins.

The simplicity of Tic-Tac-Toe makes it ideal for teaching concepts of combinational game theory and the branch of artificial intelligence that deals with the searching of game trees. It is fairly easy to write a computer program to play Tic-Tac-Toe perfectly, to incorporate the 765 essentially different positions (the state space complexity), or the 26,830 possible games (the game tree complexity) on this space. Ignoring symmetry, there are 255,168 possible games. Taking into account both rotational and mirroring symmetry, there are 31,896 possible unique games.

The first know computer game, OXO (or Noughts and Crosses) was written in 1951 with the EDSAC computer playing perfect games of Tic-Tac-Toe against human opponents.

The game remained the same, but computers progressed from 1951’s EDSAC compared to 1983’s WOPR in the cult movie War Games. Tic-Tac-Toe was utilized as an allegory for nuclear war when Matthew Broderick’s character makes the missile defense computer WOPR play against itself. As each game ends in a draw, WOPR makes the association between the two and declares that “The only winning move is not to play.”

You can challenge this computer and decide for yourself if it’s ok to play or not.

One Armed Bandit

noreply@blogger.com (I'm not Bob Vila...) — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 21:15:00 +0000

The One Armed Bandit – the most popular form of gambling in casinos throughout the world.

The first gambling machine featured 5 drums holding 50 card faces and was based on poker. It was developed by Sittman and Pitt of Brooklyn, New York in 1891. Many consider this machine the grand father of the modern day slot machine. Players would insert a nickel, pull a lever, and hope for a good hand of poker. There was no direct payout mechanism, so winning spins would be paid out with free drinks or cigars – whatever the house promoted.

Charles Fey of San Francisco invented the “One Armed Bandit” in 1887. Fey’s machine was much simpler than the Sittman and Pitt machine and featured 3 spinning reels containing 5 symbols - horseshoes, diamonds, spades, hearts, and a Liberty Bell, which also gave the machine it’s name. Because of the simpler design, Fey was also able to devise an effective automatic payout mechanism. The “Liberty Bell” was a huge success and spawned a thriving mechanical gaming device industry.

Another early machine paid the winner in fruit flavored chewing gum and utilized pictures of the flavors as the symbols on the reels. The popular cherry and melon symbols used today draw from this machine. The “BAR” symbol so common in slot machines today was derived from an early logo of the Bell-Fruit Gum Company.

Today, slot machines are one of the most popular forms of gambling and comprise about 70% of the average casino’s income.

Try your luck on this one…

Simon - The Pop Culture Icon of the 1980's

noreply@blogger.com (I'm not Bob Vila...) — Sun, 12 Nov 2006 08:46:00 +0000

Considered a pop culture icon of the 1980’s, Simon was launched in 1978 at the world famous Studio 54 in New York City. The game became an instant success and still remains popular nearly thirty years after its original release.

The game was invented by Howard J. Morrison and Ralph Baer, with software programming completed by Lenny Cope, and manufacturing and distribution handled by Milton Bradley.

Simon is named after the simple children’s game of “Simon Says,” but the game play is based on Atari’s “Touch Me” arcade game from 1974. Although Touch Me arrived first, it failed due to all black color buttons and harsh sounds.

Simon was improved where Touch Me failed. The game featured multiple colored buttons and tones that were pleasant harmonics no matter what order they were played in.

By the time Atari released a handheld version of Touch Me, with improved colors and sound in late 1978, it was too late. Several other manufactures also jumped on the band wagon, but Simon remained the game most sought after.

Simon is still sold today by Milton Bradley (now owned by Hasbro) with minimal changes from the original design. Other variations of the original game, now discontinued, included Pocket Simon and Super Simon, both from 1980.

Basketball Hoops

noreply@blogger.com (I'm not Bob Vila...) — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 21:35:00 +0000

The game for today is Basketball. Unlike other sports that evolved over time or mutated from a different sport, Basketball was invented by one person. Seeking a way to keep his students occupied and fit during the long winters of New England, Dr. James Naismith, a Canadian physician of McGill University and minister on the faculty of a college for YMCA professionals (know as Springfield College today), invented the game in early December 1891.

Legend has it that, after discarding other ideas as either too rough or poorly suited to indoor gymnasiums, Naismith modified a Mayan game and wrote the basic rules and nailed a peach basket onto a ten foot elevated track. One of Naismith’s students suggested the name “Basket Ball” since the game was played with the basket and a ball - the name was popular from the beginning.

Women’s basketball began in 1892 at Smith College when Senda Berebson, a physical education teacher, modified Naismith’s rules for women. The first official game was played in the YMCA gymnasium on January 20, 1892 with nine players on a court just half the size of the current NBA court

Basketball’s early enthusiasts traveled to YMCA’s throughout the United States and the games popularity spread quickly. While the YMCA was initially responsible for developing the game, within a decade it discouraged the new sport as too violent, and the rowdy crowds attracted to the game detracted YMCA's primary mission. By 1896 the game was established at several women’s colleges and in the years before WWI, the Amateur Athletic Union and the Intercollegiate Athletic Association (forerunner to the NCAA) vied for control over the rules of the game.

When Naismith invented the game, it was played with a soccer ball. As the games popularity grew, someone eventually developed a ball. The first balls were brown and game play was limited due to the balls asymmetric shape. It wasn’t until the 1950’s that Tony Hinkle introduced the modern orange basketball that is used today.

Basketball, netball, volleyball, and lacrosse are the only ball games which have been invented by North Americans. All other ball games, like baseball and football, have Commonwealth of Nations, European, Asian, or African links to their creation.

Is That Your Final Answer?

noreply@blogger.com (I'm not Bob Vila...) — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 08:37:00 +0000

“Is that your final answer?” is the catchphrase of the mega-hit game show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” Originally scheduled to be named “Cash Mountain,” The Millionaire game show first aired in the United Kingdom on September 4, 1998. Since then, the international hit has been licensed to more than 40 countries by Celador, the British production company which owns the shows format.

The game originated in the United Kingdom where it is hosted by Chris Tarrant. The program is based on a format devised by David Biggs, who, with Steve Knight and Mike Whitehall, devised a number of the promotional games for Chris Tarrant’s breakfast show on Capital FM radio.

Millionaire, often considered similar to the 1950’s game show “The 64,000 Dollar Question,” offered a surprising twist on the game show genre with only one contestant playing at a time. There is no time limit to answer the questions and contestants are given the question before they must decide whether to accept to attempt an answer. The emphasis of the program was suspense rather than contestant speed.

The title of the show is named after a Cole Porter song from the film “High Society” which ironically emphasized the desirability of lover over material positions. “Who want to marry a millionaire? I don’t. And I don’t cause all I want is you.”

So get you lifelines ready and have a go at it yourself…

The Fifteen Puzzle - the classic N-Puzzle

noreply@blogger.com (I'm not Bob Vila...) — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 00:57:00 +0000

The most famous of the n-puzzles is the Fifteen Puzzle. Originally know as the Gem Puzzle, Boss Puzzle, Game of Fifteen, Mystic Square, and many others, the puzzle is a classical problem for modeling algorithms involving heuristics.

Commonly used heuristics for this problem include counting the number of misplaced tiles and finding the sum of the Manhattan distances between each block and its position in the goal configuration.

Until his death in 1911, Sam Loyd claimed he invented the puzzle in 1891, but Noyes Palmer Chapman is credited with the puzzles invention. Chapman, a postmaster from Canastota, New York, is said to have show a predecessor puzzle to friends as early as 1874. Chapman’s puzzle consisted of 16 numbered blocks that were to be put together in rows of four, each summing to 34.

Copies of the improved Fifteen Puzzle made their way to Syracuse, New York, by way of Chapman’s son Frank. From there, the puzzle made it’s way to Watch Hill, RI and finally Hartford, CT, where students at the American School for the Deaf started manufacturing the puzzle and selling them locally and in Boston, MA.

As the puzzles popularity spread, others soon copied its design. Matthias Rice, a woodworker in Boston, started manufacturing the puzzle sometime in December 1879 and sold them under the name “Gem Puzzle.” The puzzles popularity soon spread and by February 1880, the puzzle became a national hit in the United States, March in Canada, and April in Europe, but the craze ended almost as soon as it started and crumpled by July.

The solutions to the puzzle vary depending on the number of squares within the puzzle. The larger the n-puzzle – the easier it is to solve. The problem of finding the shortest solution is NP-hard.

Try your skill on this timeless classic.

Frogger - aka Highway Crossing Frog

noreply@blogger.com (I'm not Bob Vila...) — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 23:12:00 +0000

The original version of Frogger was actually developed in 1971 at the University of Washington’s Psychology Department and called “Freeway.” The game was utilized as the "reward" part of a project related to studies of human short-term memory using an early graphics computer workstation called the IMLAC PDS-1.

Apparently, someone at Konami saw the game, copied it, and named it “Highway Crossing Frog.” The game was a hit, but the suits at Sega felt that the name did not seize the true spirit of the game, so they changed in to Frogger.

In addition to inspiring numerous clones, Sega also released an unofficial sequel (1991) called Ribbit which featured improved graphics and simultaneous two-player. If you’ve never heard of Ribbit, don’t worry. Ribbit never caught the public’s attention like Frogger.

Today, Frogger is considered a classic arcade game and remains one of the “Top 10 Videogames” of all time according to the Killer List of Videogames (KLOV).

Try your luck at crossing the street…

Asteroids - The Vector-based Classic

noreply@blogger.com (I'm not Bob Vila...) — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 18:16:00 +0000

Today’s game is the popular vector-based graphic classic – Asteroids. Originally released by Atari in 1979, it became one of the most popular and influential games of the “Golden Age of Arcade Games.”

The game was created by Lyle Rains and programmed and designed by Ed Logg is actually inspired by Spacewar!, the first computer based computer game. Asteroids is basically a one-player version of Spacewar!, featuring the wedge shaped space ship with the asteroids as the main opponent. One feature of the game was the ability for players to record their initials with their high score, an innovation which has become an industry standard in arcade games to this day.

In 1982, Buckner & Garcia recorded a song titled “Hyperspace,” using sound effects from the game and released it on the album Pac-Man Fever.

Space Invaders - A Blast from the Past!

noreply@blogger.com (I'm not Bob Vila...) — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 18:03:00 +0000

Space Invaders is considered one of the forerunners of modern video gaming. The arcade video game was designed by Tosshihiro Nishikado in 1978. It was originally manufactured by Taito and licensed for production by the Midway division of Bally for the United States.

The success of Space Invaders made the entertainment industry take notice of the growing video game market. Within the first year of its release, the game had generated $100’s of millions in revenue – with the majority of it coming from kids in the United States. The video game frenzy among the kids was so strong that some kids resorted to panhandling for quarters so that they could continue playing the games. And on the other side of the planet, the game caused a coin shortage in Japan until the Yen supply was quadrupled.

One of the reasons for Space Invaders success was its new style of game play. Up until its release, video games were timed to a clock and would end once the players’ time was up. With Space Invaders, the game ended only when the players had exhausted the three allotted “lives” or when the invaders landed on the bottom of the screen. A person could play as long as their skill level allowed.

According to the Stratford Video Gaming Records, 1980 Premiere Edition, Eric Furrer (age 12) of Toronto, Canada, set a record of playing Space Invaders for 38 hours and 30 minutes and scored 1,114,020 points.

How do you match up to Eric’s record?

Caribbean Stud Poker - Spice of the Islands

noreply@blogger.com (I'm not Bob Vila...) — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 20:59:00 +0000

Today’s game is Caribbean Stud Poker. Most casino games have a long history that date back 100’s of years, but Caribbean Stud Poker is a relatively new game. In fact, it is estimated that the game was invented in the late 1980’s.

The history of Caribbean Stud is unknown, but there are several theories about its origin.

The most common reference is to the King International Casino, located on the island of Aruba, where the game was first played. The casino has since been taken over by the Holiday Inn Hotel and renamed to the Excelsior Casino.

Another popular theory is that the game was invented by cruise ship operators in the Caribbean as an introduction to their gambling operations. Caribbean Stud Poker has a very high advantage (5.224%) to the house which would make it very profitable.

Las Vegas casinos soon caught on about the new game, but gamblers did not like it due to the large house advantage. The casinos soon offered bonus jackpots to lure gamblers to the table.

Today, Caribbean Stud Poker is offered in almost all land based casinos and is gaining popularity with internet casinos as well.

To begin the game, every player places his ante into the pot. Each player and the dealer receive 5 cards, face down. The dealer will turn over one of his cards. Players have the option to play of fold. If the player chooses to play, they place their bet (twice the amount of the ante). If they choose to fold, they forfeit their ante amount. After players have decided to play or forfeit, the dealer reveals his hole cards. The dealer only plays with an ace/king or higher. The player with the best poker hand wins.

Battleship - The Classic Naval Combat Game

noreply@blogger.com (I'm not Bob Vila...) — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 18:57:00 +0000

You sank my Battleship! The enduring catchphrase heard on television advertising for decades.

Battleship, the classic naval combat game is a guessing game played by two people where the object is to sink all of your enemy’s ships.

Although popularized in the United States as a board game produced by Milton Bradley in 1931, it is know throughout the world as a pencil & paper game that predates the First World War.

Here is a link to a printable version of the pencil & paper game:

Historian John Toland wrote in “The Dillinger Days,” that prisoners in solitary confinement at the Indiana State Penitentiary played a version of Battleship during the 1920’s. The inmates would mark squares on their cell floors and call out attacks from cell to cell. “For years the more obtuse guards wondered what was being plotted when they heard men calling: B7, Miss, or Destroyer sunk.”

Today, Milton Bradley (owned by Hasbro), offers several editions of the game including a hand-held electronic, a travel pack, or an advanced electronic home game version.

Knights Game - a variation on the world favorite

noreply@blogger.com (I'm not Bob Vila...) — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 22:27:00 +0000

Today’s game is titled “Knights Game.” The game is played on a standard chess table and you move your piece (the *) like you would a knight in chess. Clear all of the squares to win the game.

Although there is not much to say about Knights Game, the game that inspired it is one of the most popular board games in the world…

The origins of Chess remain a mystery with many different theories about its origin.
The most common belief is that chess developed in India around the 6th century, since the Arabic, Persian, Greek, Portuguese, and Spanish words for chess all derive from the Sanskit game “chaturanga.” Additionally, India is the only country which had all three animals (horse, camel, and elephant) in its cavalry which represent knight, bishop, and rook in chess. The modern version of chess played today ultimately derives from a version of chaturanga.

Another theory that exists is that chess arose from the similar game of “Xiangqi,” (Chinese chess) or at least an ancestor thereof, which existed in China since the 2nd century BC.
As the games popularity increased it spread westward to Europe and eastward to Japan with new variations as it spread. When the game entered the Islamic world, the names of the pieces closely retained their Persian forms but its name became “shatrani,” which continued in Spanish as “ajedrez,” and in Greek as “zatrikion,” but in Europe it was replaced by versions of the Persian word shāh (meaning king).

Chess eventually reached Russia from Mongolia, where it was played at the beginning of the 7th century. It was introduced into the Iberian Peninsula by the Moors in the 10th century, and described in a famous 13th century manuscript covering chess, backgammon, and dice titled “Libro de los Juegos.”

Mahjong - The Popular Chinese Game of Tiles

noreply@blogger.com (I'm not Bob Vila...) — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 05:09:00 +0000

Mahjong, Májiàng, Màhjeung, Máquè, Màhjeuk; or the common English spellings of mahjongg, majiang, mah-jong or mah-jongg. No matter how you say it, it remains the popular Chinese game of skill, strategy, intelligence, calculation, and luck.

There are several theories regarding the origin of Mahjong, however, there is no evidence to support anyone of them.

One of the theories suggests that Confucius, the great Chinese philosopher, developed the game about 500 BC. The appearance of the game in various Chinese provinces coincides with Confucius’ travels at the time he was teaching his new doctrine. Also, according to myth, Confucius was fond of birds, which would explain the name “Mahjong” (meaning sparrow).

But there are problems with this theory… Confucius was northern Chinese and “Mahjong” comes from a westernized pronunciation of Yueyu (Cantonese) name for the game. In addition, there is little to no evidence of Mahjong’s existence prior to the Taiping era which eliminates Confucius as the likely inventor.

Another theory implies that Mahjong was developed from existing Chinese card and domino games around 1850. The most likely card game is “Mádiào” (AKA Ma Tiae - Hanging Horse; or Yèzí – Leaf) from the early Ming Dynasty. This card game is played with 40 cards which are similar in appearance to the cards used in Ya Pei. The cards are numbered from 1 to 9 in four different suits with four extra flower cards and are very similar to the numbering of Mahjong tiles today.

Other theories include Chinese army officers serving during the Tai Ping Rebellion created the game to pass the time. A noble living in the Shangai area created the game between 1870 and 1875. Or, the game was created around 1850 in the city of Níngpō by two brothers who created Mahjong from the earlier card game Mádiào.

Mahjong was banned in it’s homeland in 1949 when the People’s Republic of China was founded. The new Communist government forbid any gambling activates which were regarded as symbols of the capitalist corruption. After the Cultural Revolution, the game was revived and once again has become one of the favorite pastimes of the Chinese people.

Super Monkey Poop Fight - A Parody of the 80's Mega-Hit

noreply@blogger.com (I'm not Bob Vila...) — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 23:06:00 +0000

Here is an interesting version of the popular Donkey Kong video game… “Super Monkey Poop Fight. Call me sophomoric, but I thought it was funny.

Donkey Kong (AKA Donki Kongu, or DK) was created when Shigeru Miyamoto was assigned by Nintendo to convert Radar Scope into a game that would appeal to Americans. The result was a major breakthrough for Nintendo and the video game industry. Sales of the game were so strong that it was the best selling video game in the early 1980’s. Nintendo has since release two sequels of the popular game (Donkey Kong Jr and Donkey Kong 3), as well as eight games for the Game & Watch platform.

One little known fact: Since 1994, DK has worn a necktie, his sole article of clothing.

The goal of this version is to have DK find bananas. You will need to fight the other monkeys by avoiding and throwing poop. As the game progresses you will not only fight monkeys, but need to avoid evil zoo keepers who will try and catch you.

You control DK with the left and right arrow keys. “A” will throw poop or, if you are walking, it will make you run. “S” will make you jump or, if you press “S” and then the up arrow, you can grab on to branches and vines.

Crossword Puzzle - The Most Common Word Puzzle in the World

noreply@blogger.com (I'm not Bob Vila...) — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 18:17:00 +0000

The Crossword Puzzle is the most common word puzzle in the world but do you know where they came from?

The first "word cross" puzzle is credited to Arthur Wayne, who published his puzzle in the New York World on December 21, 1913. This puzzle, which can be seen here, contained most of the features as we know them today. It wasn't until later that the name was changed to "crossword puzzle."

As Wayne’s puzzle gained popularity, they became a weekly feature in the New York World. The first book of crossword puzzles was published by Simon and Schuster in 1924 and became an instant hit. In 1930, the term “crossword” first appeared in a dictionary.

Today, crossword puzzles appear in almost every published paper in the world. The most prestigious (and among the hardest to solve) are the puzzles published in the New York Times.

A popular variation of Wayne’s crossword puzzle is the British cryptic crossword which was first published in New York magazine in 1968. Until 2006, Atlantic Monthly published a cryptic crossword “puzzler” by Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon, which combined cryptic clues with clever variations on the construction of the puzzle itself. The intent of the puzzle authors was to entertain with novelty that resulted in no two puzzles alike.

A more complete history of the crossword puzzle, as well as a reprint of that very first crossword, can be found at a page maintained by New York Times crossword editor Will Shortz here.