Oranged!
Www.eastoftheweb.com led me to a curious collection of free online word games. There was a Tetris look-alike called ‘Popword’, and the familiar ‘Wordsearch’, with words hidden in a grid of letters. I decided to try out ‘Storyman’, which had a very Hangman feel about it. A click on the smart orange dashboard and I was confronted with
a choice of topics, ranging from literature and music, through sport, food and drink, and myths and legends, to science and geography and words from short stories. I was already hooked, and couldn’t believe this lavish menu selection was all mine to play with, without paying a thing!
Fascinated by MasterChef Australia, intrigued by the lovely Padma Lakshmi on Top Chef, and horrified by the abrasive Chef Ramsey on Hell’s Kitchen, I selected the Food and Drink category. Names of food are hidden behind elegant white squares. A man (in white profile) stands patiently at the top right corner of the screen. With a three-minute countdown clock that mercilessly ticks away seconds, it’s a race to guess food. Ten points for every correct word, and negative points for every incorrect letter. As if in disgust, the man walked right off the screen. ‘Storyman’ is fabulously well designed, and such a pleasure to play.
PC based games are all about the visual spectacle they provide. ‘Storyman’ is brilliant! My first food was the three word, ‘sticky toffee pudding’. I lucked my way through ‘spare ribs’ and desperately guessed a heap of negative points on ‘salami’. Crumbling under pressure at ‘Storyman’ quickly became a habit. I flailed helplessly with ‘minestrone’, was completely off the mark with ‘asparagus’, and in yet another game, lost hope completely with ‘vanilla ice cream’.
I’ve browsed other free online word games sites before, but ‘Storyman’ is in another league all together. With much trepidation about whether the high standard would be maintained, I decided to try another category. I chose Star Wars under the ‘Films and TV’ category. In quick succession I nailed X-Wing, Jedi, and Death Star, but tripped up over Jar Jar Binks and Naboo. Fabulous! What a find!
— The author may be contacted at arup_kavan@yahoo.com
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