MANILA, Philippines – Alright, so I have a story due in a few hours. All I have to do is send it to my editor Pam before the deadline. Well, I’ve got plenty of time to work on it. Yep, plenty of time. I’ll just take it easy for now, pop open my browser and cruise the net for a while.

Open Facebook, confirm some requests, and, what’s this? I've been challenged to a few games? What applications have my friends been playing? I’m sure a few minutes spent on them won’t hurt my non-extendable deadline. Let’s see what we have here.

Chain Rxn

“Chain Prescription”? Oh, it’s “Chain Reaction.” Okay, so what’s the point of this game? I’m facing a screen full of tiny, colorful balls ricocheting off each side. One mouse click creates a temporary circular burst in the clicked area– and I can only click once. As one ball hits the burst, it ignites another. The more balls hit it, the more bursts they make—each burst scores points. Wow, it’s actually kind of addicting! The bursts make addicting-to-hear bell sounds, and hearing multiple collisions has the appeal of popping bubble wrap. Beautiful bell-ringing, orchestrated by bubble bursts.

One click, and I just hold my breath as the bursts come in. Click. Aw, no! I only got one before the burst disappeared. Click. Thirty-six bursts! More! More! Come on!

Twenty-one million points! Nice! This is an awesome prescription for boredom.

All right. Now I really should get this article done. Oh hey! What’s this?

Word Challenge

Speed typing with word searching? I think I’ve seen a game like this before, called Text Twist. In any case, I’ll give it a shot.

The game will give me a set of jumbled letters. All I have to do is form three, four, five, six-letter word combinations before the time runs out. Okay, let’s do this!

RHWODE. What words can I make from that? Row. Red. Drew. Whored... wait. What’s a word like "Whored" doing in a cute game like this? Geez, what a dirty—hey! Bonus round! I’m given more jumbled letters, but this time it’s asking me to find a Facebook friend’s name? MOIESK. Easy enough. Hi, “Mike”!

There are words in this game I never even knew existed. Is “bas” even a real word? Or “fen”? Tell the truth, I just type in random words in the hope that they turn out to be actual words.

Now I have the verbal skills of a salesman! Keep playing… Eureka, I reach Scientist! I’ll get to “Anagram Cyborg” level eventually!

All right, let’s see what else we’ve got.

Bejeweled Blitz

Weird game. The point is to move at least three jewels into an adjacent position. I can swap one jewel with just one to either left, right, top or bottom. And I only have one minute to play this game? That’s too fast! I have to say, the computer voice sounds like a robot that wants to kill me in my sleep.

Move one red square next to two others. Score! Move one silver orb on top of two more. Score! Swap this blue diamond with a yellow one. Score! Combine five similar jewels—nice! I create a special orb that multiplies the score my jewels make!

Ten thousand points. Fifteen thousand. Twenty-two thousand. Sixty-four thousand, one hundred! Time well spent!

Pet Society

Now this is more than a game: it’s an investment. Create a pet, and take care of its living and social needs in a cute environment. I customize my pet, choose a fur color for him or her; I can even make it a boy or girl. Hmm, no, that head shape doesn’t go with those anime eyes and that nose should be more dog-like. There we go! I’ll name this lovable little guy “Balthazar.”

Cruising around Pet City, I see pets other Facebook friends have created. They’re all decked in crazy costumes. Some look like Hawaiian dancers, others look like luchadores. One even has a fish for a hat.

And one of my friends’ pets lives on the beach? Man, I swear. This game has got to be the place for unfulfilled fantasies. If only we could all live on the beach and not work.

Living vicariously through my e-pet. My life feels so fulfilled now.

Who has the Biggest Brain?

Well, I’ve been wasting brain cells on these previous apps. Might as well check out one that’ll grow them back.

In the first part, I have to figure which items on a weighing scale are heavier. As I go through more choices, more items pop up. This is actually tricky.

In the second part, I have to reverse engineer math equations. I’m given an equation, complete with the answer, but I have to guess the missing sign that makes the answer. Is it the multiplication sign “x” or the addition sign “+”?

Now for Memory. I’m given cards, and I need to figure out which are pairs when flipped over.

And the fourth part, Visual Processing ability! I’m given an image with puzzle-like cutouts. I’m given a choice of puzzle pieces to figure out which piece completes the picture.

Those were neat games. Time to work on that article! Oh, gotta take this call... Hi, Pam! My article? Yeah, I was about to… What? Overdue? Two hours ago? Already? Um, could you give me… Yes, I know it’s non-extendable. Yes, I did say I’d send it on time...

Okay. Yeah, I understand.

Darn.

E-mail the author at jedqsegovia@yahoo.com. And yes, he will check it on time.