Time Waster
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Spies and secrets in space – ‘The Apollo Murders’
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As a rule, I’m what you might call an omnivorous reader. My choices aren’t usually constrained by genre – I’ll read pretty much anything. That said, I do have certain types of book that I generally don’t pick up.
For instance, I don’t often get into jargon-heavy thrillers – the Tom Clancys and Clive Cusslers of the world. Just not my scene. I also tend to steer clear of fiction written by famous people who are not famous for being writers – I’ve been burned by too many vanity novels.
So the idea of a book that COMBINES those two things should be a hard no, right? Maybe so – but every rule has its exceptions.
“The Apollo Murders” (Mulholland Books, $28) is the fiction debut of decorated astronaut Chris Hadfield. It’s an alternate history of sorts, a reimagining of the Apollo 18 mission that is packed full of mystery and Cold War intrigue. It’s a new wrinkle to the space race in a world where it’s no longer about getting to space, but rather about controlling it.
Hadfield taps into his own experiences and vast knowledge base to craft a story that is absolutely overflowing with period-accurate detail while also offering up enough twists and turns to make for an engaging thriller. He blends real-life individuals with fictional creations to tell a tale rendered all the more compelling for its general plausibility.
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Weekly Time Waster - ‘Wordscapes’
I download and play A LOT of different time wasters, all in hopes of providing you with fun and new experiences. This means that I have seen my fair share of ads inside of these games while I play them.
One that always seemed to pop up in the ads was “Wordscapes.” After trying the demo many times (to make the ad go away), I figured it was time to play the real thing. Yeah - they got me with the games ad. I can’t lie about that.
“Wordscapes” is an interesting take on both word searches and crossword puzzles. You have a crossword-type layout to fill and you have an assortment of letters in a circle. There are lots of words you can make with these letters, but not all of them go in the crossword. When you play each level, you just use your finger and connect the letters together in the circle to make words; you can only use a letter once.
The game makes you think, but it’s also a nice relaxing game to play, as it doesn’t offer any type of challenge to frustrate you. There are over 6,000 puzzles to play total, and each one gets a bit harder than the last. If you like games like “Scrabble”, crossword puzzles or even if you simply like solving our weekly “Boggle” game here in the pages of The Maine Edge, “Wordscapes” is a nice way to waste time similarly – all in the palm of your hand.
“Wordscapes” is free to download on the Android and IOS stores.
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Weekly Time Waster - ‘Yeah Bunny 2’
Platformer style video games have been around since the beginning of gaming history; even today, in the modern era of gaming, platformers are still around and kicking. There is just something so relaxing and stress-relieving about simplistic-yet-challenging 2D platformers that make you want to keep playing until you complete every single level possible.
“Yeah Bunny 2” is an arcade-style platformer with an awesome 8-bit retro feel. The game plays like any platformer you can imagine out there (like “Mario”) where you can move left and right and need to jump vertically to get onto higher areas of the map. You play as a little bunny character who is trying to collect carrots and keys trying to complete each level that is thrown at you. There are 50 different levels to play, enemies to crush along the way and pretty cool boss battles to fight every few levels or so.
As you complete each level, the next one seems to always be more of a challenge, as it will throw more enemies, unique landscapes to travel and/or surprise boss battles at you along the way. The keys unlock doors and there are teleporters that take you to different places to collect stars and unlock new levels. You also are being chased by a giant pig king through the entire game so mistakes can get your small bunny eaten!
“Yeah Bunny 2” won’t ever compete with the likes of a “Mario” game, but for a fun little free adventure with a floppy eared furry friend, “Yeah Bunny 2” is a pretty darned good time. “Yeah Bunny 2” is free to download on the Android and IOS stores.
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Weekly Time Waster - ‘Text or Die’
We all love some good trivia-style game shows, right? Well, “Text or Die” brings the combination of trivia and game shows and takes it up a notch!
In “Text or Die”, you are pitted against other players around the world to answer trivia questions with the goal of being the final contestant left. But there’s a catch: each question can have multiple answers, but it’s the people who answer with the longest words who remain “safer” than the other players.
You’re standing on a tower and the water is rising. You answer a question. However many letters there are in the word you guess, your tower will grow by that amount of blocks. For instance, there could be a question such as “Name a state.” The person who guesses Pennsylvania will build up their tower over the rising waters substantially more than the person who guessed Maine.
That’s pretty much the entire premise of “Text or Die.” You must not only get correct answers to the questions, but guess correctly with the longest answer you possibly can. As each round goes on, the water rises higher and higher, eventually engulfing the players who just can’t keep up with the deluge of many-lettered answers.
The game certainly has its quirks – if you play against the bots, they can sometimes give ridiculous answers – but overall, it’s a great game to waste a few minutes of time on.
“Text or Die” is free to download on the Android and IOS stores.
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Weekly Time Waster - ‘GeoGuessr’
If there are any geography nerds out there, this Time Waster is for you! And if you aren’t a geography nerd, well … you’re about to become one!
“GeoGuessr” is a sweet little game that throws you on a random street somewhere in the world and you have to figure out where you are. That’s right, it’s the equivalent of waking up one day, not knowing where you are and embarking on a quest to find where you’ve somehow ended up!
“GeoGuessr” basically uses Google Maps Street View and lets you move up and down roads and explore where you are. You need to utilize all the information within view to guess your location. Street signs, languages, flags, major landmarks – they are your best friends in “GeoGuesser.”
The game sometimes throws you onto tiny back roads and into back-alley towns across the world. The addictive part comes when you find those small clues that give you an idea of where you might be. You might see Spanish writing on a sign! This is great news, as you’ve now narrowed down where you might be, but that is only one piece of the puzzle. You simply guess what country you are in based on the clues you’ve found; the game will tell you whether you are right or wrong.
“GeoGuessr” is great, because you not only get to embark on all of these adventures of discovery, but you get to learn a lot about parts of the world that you otherwise might not give a second thought. It gives you an appreciation for the many towns and landmarks all throughout the world, whether big or small.
“GeoGuessr” is free to download on the Android and IOS stores.
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