Is it Friday again already? Some weeks just fly by!
Every Friday I bring you three online games to play all weekend. I do this on Friday so you'll really play them on the weekend, saving your valuable work and school week for work and school. Do I suspect that you continue to play the games throughout the next week? I do. But that's bad. Don't do that.
Most games require the Adobe Flash Player, and I do test all games on Mac and Windows. I try to remember to let you know when there is music or sound, too. Why do I do that? Well, I guess it goes back to that work/school suspicion I have, but I'm officially going to say that it's in case you decide to play one of these at 2am and don't want to wake someone up.
Two weeks ago, in the inaugural edition of this column, I said "Check back next week when we'll have a new twist on the old-fashioned game of Rock-Paper-Scissors, and more!" Last week, I had the "and more," but not the Rock-Paper-Scissors. How did this happen? That's easy: I forgot. I'll make it up to you, I promise.
But first, RPS-25, the ultimate "Rock, Paper, Scissors" game. We all know that Rock is covered by Paper but smashes Scissors, while Paper is cut by Scissors but covers Rock, and Scissors is smashed by Rock but cuts Paper. But what happens when you add, say, Fire and Air? The three possible non-tying match-ups blossom to ten, as Fire is blown out by Air and pounded out by Rock, but melts Scissors and burns Paper, while Air is swished through by Scissors and fanned by Paper, but blows out Fire and erodes Rock. Silly? Yes, and difficult to remember.
But now you don't have to, as you can play traditional RPS, as well as RPS-5, RPS-7, RPS-9, RPS-11, RPS-15, and RPS-25 online, letting the computer remember the many combinations for you. By my math, there are 300 possible non-tying matchups in in RPS-25, so that's a relief!
There is music, which you can turn off, and sounds effects, which you can't. There is also a two-player option, for when you need to decide someting in best-two-of-three style.
Bonus: If you would rather sit back and just watch, rockpaperscissors brings RPS to life.
Road Blocks requires considerably more thought. It's a puzzle game with 22 levels. Your job is to get the ball into an exit. The thing is, while you choose the direction in which the ball moves, it then keeps moving until it hits something (or flies off the screen, which is bad). So you'll need to rely on blocks to stop you at the right spot, and figuring the correct order in which to head for which block is the tricky — and fun — part. There are also teleports, as shown in this screencap, and funnels, which allow one-way travel only.
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Article comments
1 - Phillip Winn
On Fracture, level five, the pink baddies shake the world when they're first hit. That's cool. The purple baddies at level seven are a letdown after the coolness of the pink hash-marks!
2 - Ryan
Check out worldwide online rock paper scissors. See you in the winners circle.
3 - zayne
i am so stuck on level 14 do you think you can give me a hint???
4 - zayne
that was for the road blocks game haha sorry
5 - abe
the password for level 14 on road blocks is KRASNOW
6 - confused.
wats the password for the next level because i dont have a clue how to get past level 14.
7 - Phillip Winn
Instead of skipping level 14 with the password, which I can give you if you're desperate, here's a walkthrough of how to solve the level. It's time-consuming and has a lot of steps:
First, we've got to get to the teleport on the bottom:
Up Right Up Left Down Right Down Left Up Right Down Left Up Left
Now, on the top half, we've got to get to the exit:
Up Right Down Right Up Left Up Right Down Right Up
That's it! To work out more complicated levels, I use paper and pen (well, technically, index cards and pen, but paper works). At each point after the first, there are only two possible correct moves (since you've hit something that stops you from going further in the same direction, and going backwards doesn't make sense), and you can easily eliminate the ones that send you off into space.
For example, when we start this level, the only *possible* correct moves are Left, Up, or Right. If we choose Left, the only possible move from there is Up. From there we can only go Left, then Down, then Left, then Up, then Right, and then there are no more moves. So we know that our first move cannot be Left. Repeating this same process for Up and Right will eventually reveal that Up is the correct first move, because Right leads to Up, then Left, and suddenly we're back on the dead-end course we ran into by starting with Left.
Working it out this way may take some of the fun out of it for some people, so you might want to save it for the more complicated levels. Level 14 is actually the most complex level in terms of the number of steps required to solve it.
8 - Lewis
Level 12of Roadblocks...Please godit's impossible...
=P
9 - Old Gregg
Hey Level 16 on road block. There just does not seem to be anyway. I thin there might be a glitch in the one im playing. lol. Yeah Walkthru would be great. The website im playing it on is this one... hmmm
10 - 12309
how do u get past level 16 .....please i need it soon
11 - JUPS
lvl 17 pasword HOTWATER
LVL 18 PASWORD HOSPITAL