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Showing posts with label games. Show all posts

September 07, 2021

COVID19 Pandemic Turned Me Into a Gamer

Today is Day 540 since community quarantine has started and no one can predict when this will end. This pandemic affected our lives in so many ways and it changes the way we spend our time. It is challenging to live a normal life in these unprecedented times. Sometimes I asked myself if we can still go back to the real normal.

And because of the lockdown restrictions, we are all experiencing physical, financial, mental, and emotional stress. It can feel quite daunting to manage all of these stresses so we need to find a new outlet to unwind even we are confined at home.

How do I deal with this pandemic? To keep my sanity intact during community quarantine, I spend my time learning several short courses and designing graphics for my client and business. I rekindled with my old hobbies like reading books, baking, and crafting. I started subscribing to streaming services so I can watch TV series and movies. And lastly, the COVID19 pandemic turned me into a gamer.

Playing games may seem an unhealthy habit and I know that you can be addicted to it but we cannot deny that there are benefits to playing games. Not only kids can play games, but adults can also take time to refresh the mind and body through play. It depends on our circumstances but life is short to focus only on work and family matters.

Having a balanced life is very important so I am thankful that I have the luxury of playing games to kill time. During pre-pandemic days, I only play games if I am outside like if I am waiting for my doctor’s appointment. I play Wordscapes because I can play this game even without an internet connection.

Early this year is the start when I really spend more time on games, I started with…

1. Shopee Games

Since I cannot go out, I fully embrace online shopping and somehow I agree with this quote “Treat yourself to a little retail therapy” hehehe! Somehow, it relieves my stress because I can still buy what I need and want even in the comfort of my home. But to save money, I started playing Shopee games because I learned that I can earn coins and discount vouchers which I can use for my purchases.

My favorite games are Shopee Candy, Shopee Bubble, and Shopee Farm. It is like playing Candy Crush, Puzzle Bobble, and Farmville. This is a win-win game because you can have fun at the same time, earn money too. I can save up to PHP50 using the game vouchers.

2. Nintendo Game “Super Mario Party”

A few years ago, we bought Nintendo Switch for my son but I don’t enjoy playing it. But things changed when we gifted him a “Super Mario Party” game. It was his graduation gift last June, this is a multi-player game so I play this game too. I love this game because, in order to earn coins and stars, you need to play different mini-games. It has 84 mini-games so there are so many choices and I haven’t played all the mini-games.

Aside from the standard Mario Party mode, you can also play Partner Party, River Survival, Sound Stage, and Toad’s Rec Room. There’s a little bit of exercise because you need to move in order to play some of the mini-games. It is really a fun family game especially during those times when we have no internet connection for several days.

3. Online Solitaire

A card game like Solitaire, also known as Klondike or Patience is one of the popular games in the world because kids and adults can play this game. If I remember it right, I was only 9 years old when I started playing Solitaire and other card games. It is so easy to play and, I just learned it by watching my aunt who loves playing this during her free time. The goal is to arrange the cards in sequence and complete the four suits starting with the Ace card.

During the ’90s, I also play Solitaire on our computer because it is a built-in game on Windows but I don’t know why it was removed. Fortunately, there is solitaire.org where you can play the classic Solitaire online and it is free too. The online game is pretty straightforward so it is not difficult to play. There is a timer and you can earn and lose points too.

I only play Classic Solitaire so I have no idea that there are other types of Solitaire like Spider, Free Cell, Tripeaks, Pyramid, Gold, and Mahjong Solitaire. I got curious so I explored the website and tried playing Spider Solitaire. There are different modes, you can choose Easy, Medium, and Hard. Of course, I chose the Easy mode which you only need to arrange 1 suit from King to Ace.

So far, these are all the games that I’m playing while I am stuck at home. Do you know that playing games can relieve stress, improve brain function, stimulate the mind, boost creativity, improve social skills, and more? So don’t feel guilty about playing games, you deserve to have fun too. Do you also play games? Care to share your favorite online or offline games.

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing” George Bernard Shaw

April 11, 2021

How to Keep Your Kid’s Sanity During the COVID19 Pandemic

Time swiftly flies even we are restricted in the four corners of our house. Today is Day 392 since Community Quarantine was implemented in our country and we still don’t know when everything will be back to normal. This COVID19 is indeed the biggest challenge for many of us and no one prepared us for this kind of situation. But even the future is still uncertain, life must go on.

Never in my life that I imagine that I will be stuck at home for the longest time. My husband is now working from home and my son is attending online distance learning classes. Just like that, we are forced to stay home, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week to be safe.

The only thing that I like about pandemic is, we are spending more time together. But of course, we cannot deny that it is additional stress because we need to find ways to entertain our only child. As a parent, keeping safe and keeping sane is our everyday challenge.

“I’m bored” is the two favorite words of my son so keeping him busy while we are managing our daily lives is not easy. I’m sharing what we did to help my son adjust to this new reality and how we keep him occupied

1. Subscribe to Streaming Service

We already have a cable subscription but we rarely watch TV so I feel that subscribing to Netflix is not worth it. So for the longest time, I stay away from subscribing to streaming services because that is an additional expense on my budget but I realized, paying a monthly fee is still worth it because it entertains us. It helped us to reduce our news intake and give us a break from COVID19 news. Watching movies, TV shows and series helps us to cope with stress.

“Time you enjoyed wasting, was not wasted - John Lennon

2. Playing Online Games

COVID19 made me realize that life is short so since last year, I bend my rules a little bit and allow my son to play online games even on weekdays provided that he will help us with chores and studies first before playing. I accepted the fact that there are surprising benefits of playing video games like

A. It can reduce stress

B. It improves attention and concentration

C. It develops problem-solving skills

D. It improves social skills

E. It enhances memory.

My son has Nintendo Switch but we only have few games and I don’t want to buy a lot of games because Nintendo Games are not cheap. So I’m thankful that there are mobile apps and websites that offer free games for kids. All you need is an internet-abled device and you can play anytime and anywhere.

“Escape reality and play games”

3. Enroll in Online Classes

Although there are benefits in watching TV shows, series movies, and playing online games, we know that too much of it is also not good. We took advantage of the long summer vacation and we enrolled my son in 3 online classes; Young Engineers Enrichment Programs, Explore Scratch 1 and 2 and Explore HTML and CSS.

My son likes playing online games and at the same time, he wanted to create his own game so he really enjoyed his Scratch lessons because he was able to make his own games. The advanced lessons in HTML and CSS class were a big help because that was also their lesson in school.

“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest” - Benjamin Franklin

4. Reading Books

My son is not a bookworm but I still buy books from time to time to limit his screen time. I am hoping that someday, he will learn to appreciate books and he will realize that reading is not boring.

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go” - Dr. Seuss

These are just few ways that we did to help my son during this pandemic. This school year is about to end and summer vacation is fast approaching so I’m currently searching for other ways to keep him busy again.

August 11, 2016

Why I don’t like Pokemon Go?

I’ve been reading a lot of not so good news about Pokemon Go so I already told my son that we will not download this game even it is already available in the Philippines. Last Saturday, I’ve been seeing a lot of Pokemon Go in my newsfeed but I did not pay attention.

Out of curiosity, my husband asked me to download the app because the Pokemon Go app is not compatible with his phone. #choosy So I downloaded it and tried it, I just look for monsters within our house and I was able to catch two monsters and yun pa lang napagod na ko. Hehehe! I downloaded the game in our Ipad too.

Last weekend, my son was not allowed to use the Ipad so Sunday afternoon came, he was convincing his daddy to play Pokemon Go. I said no, but my husband said, “sige na, bonding na namin”. I’m not sure if that is really for my son or dahil gusto din niya magplay. Hehehe! So after church, they drove around the village to catch monsters but they did not find any. Hehehe!

Last Monday, my son asked me to play Pokemon Go. I tried again to look for monsters within our house and I found one. But the following day, I already deleted the app on my phone and my son asked me, why mommy?

Why I don’t like Pokemon Go?

1. The game is not for me, you need to move just to look and catch the monsters. Knowing me, I’m so lazy to move and I don’t want to go out of the house just to play the game.

2. I don’t think it is a safe game because your focus is on your phone.

3. You need to be online just to play the game so it means additional cost if I will play it outside because I don’t have wifi connection.

4. The snatchers are very happy because they see a lot of people playing Pokemon Go, madami sila mabibiktima. Madaling masnatch na ang mga magagandang phone.

Well, the good thing about Pokemon Go, it makes you move so nakakaexercise ka na rin. A good bonding with your friends or family kung sabay-sabay kayo na maghunt.

Let see this weekend, if my husband and son will play the Pokemon Go since I haven’t deleted the app in our Ipad.

July 26, 2016

Your Brainwaves on Fun: Educational Family Game Favorites

You will no doubt be very familiar with the need to eat healthily in order to look after your body and stay in good shape, but it is also just as important to enjoy what you could describe as a balanced mind-diet.

Family favorites like card games, are great for having some fun and friendly challenges against others, but they also serve a great purpose in keeping your brain sharp.

Here is a look at some educational family games that tick most of the right boxes in terms of providing you with some good entertainment, as well as stimulating your brain and keeping that gray matter working hard.

Seal of approval

Mensa arguably exist in order to celebrate the achievements of a great mind and to encourage everyone to use what they have got and to test the boundaries of their brain power.

The Mensa Mind Games competition challenges games manufacturers to put forward their ideas and to produce a game that judges will put to the test in order to find which ones may be worthy of their seal of approval.

Previous winners include the highly-acclaimed Trivial Pursuits and as you might imagine, competition is stiff. The good news for consumers and avid game players of all ages, is that there are constantly new challenges to experience, featuring ideas for board and card games.

Mensa have been reviewing new games for the past 20 years, and there is a good chance that you will have played some them, as they have become family favorites across the nation.

Creative-thinking party game

A past winner, Scattergories is described as a creative-thinking category-based game that first came to light back in 1988.

Although the objective of the game is relatively simple, which is to score points by uniquely naming objects having only been given an initial letter as a reference point, it requires a good ability to think quickly, if you are going to emerge as the winner.

You can also get a fast-paced card game version of Scattergories, for a rapid-fire test that ends when the deck is exhausted and the cards you hold are counted.

Great for problem-solving skills

If you don’t like getting stuck in a traffic jam, perhaps if you hone your problem-solving skills by playing the popular Rush-Hour game, you might be able to negotiate a way out of the jam more easily in future.

The point about this game is that it is designed to challenge beginners and experts in equal measure, so the better you get at solving the problems, the harder the puzzles become.

Rush Hour is billed as an educational game as it aims to develop your problem-solving and critical-thinking skills as well as entertain you in equal measure.

Don’t forget the kids

Introducing your children to educational games will not only entertain them but it will teach them some valuable skills as well.

Robot Turtles is a good example of the sort of modern game that reflects the modern childhood environment, as it is aimed at encouraging kids to learn and develop some early programming skills.

Card games and board games alike, you can find plenty of ways to challenge your mind and develop some useful skills that could even make you hard to beat with enough practice.

Rachael Hancock is a keen gamer, particularly of online games she can play on her phone or laptop. A Mom of two she encourages the little ones to play educational games so that they can learn whilst also having electronics time.

Rachael Hancock is a keen gamer, particularly of online games she can play on her phone or laptop. A Mom of two she encourages the little ones to play educational games so that they can learn whilst also having electronics time.

May 20, 2016

CrimZone at Crimson Resort and Spa Mactan

Planning for a vacation is not easy because it takes time to research and to decide which activities you will include in a day especially when you have kids. You also have to consider the location, facilities and amenities of the hotel or resort. Thank God that we reserved a room at Crimson Resort and Spa Mactan because my son really enjoyed our staycation.

Click here for video

My son loves staycation, he gets excited every time he sees me packing for a short getaway. He really remembers those activities that he enjoyed and he always asked me if I take videos or pictures because he wants to see or watch them over and over again.

As of now, he can’t forget our recent staycation in Crimson Resort and Spa Mactan. One thing that I like in this resort is the CrimZone, it is the comfort zone of kids. I’m pretty sure that kids will not get bored even if you stay in the resort for a few days. If you want to have time for yourself, you can leave your kids here for a fee or just stay and bond with your kids.

Read: Staycation: Crimson Resort and Spa Mactan.

If you are planning to book this resort, this post will give you an idea of the different activities in CrimZone. Every morning you will receive a piece of paper to inform you of the schedule of activities for that day (adults and kids). If you don’t want to bring the paper with you, just visit CrimZone and check the whiteboard for the schedule.

During our first day, we immediately checked CrimZone. There were slides, merry-go-round, toys, books and TV for movie marathon. Actually, my son forgot that we will swim so I have to remind him that we need to go to the beach and we will just go back to the play area tomorrow. Parang ayaw na niya umalis, hehehe!

The following morning, as promised; we stayed in CrimZone after we checked out. Sharing with you the activities that my son joined.

Face Painting

First activity is face painting but my son prefers hand painting. Hehehe!

Figurine Painting

We missed the 7:30AM Figurine painting activity but I was glad that we can still avail of this activity. The activity is not free, you have to pay P250 but you can take home the finished project. If you’ve been following this blog, you know that my son loves to paint.

Read: Painting at Sip & Gogh

So he paints while watching movie. In the end, I already helped him because we want to eat lunch na and hindi pa siya tapos, though finishing touches na lang naman. Hehehe!

Read: Restaurant in Crimson Resort and Spa Mactan

Amazing Kid’s Race

My son and I love watching Amazing Race so we really waited for this activity. We have no idea that there will be a prize for the winner and my son won the Amazing Kid’s Race. The prize is 15 minutes kayak or bracelet making, we chose the latter because my husband and son don’t want to change clothes na. Everything was packed na rin kasi.

Bracelet Making

This was an easy activity, all he needs to do is put his chosen beads and the staff will be the one to tie them. Voila, he gave me the bracelet. Hehehe! Bracelet making activity is P125.

My son wanted to join the Obstacle Course but we have to say goodbye to CrimZone because we need to go to the airport.

October 03, 2013

Top Board Games for Kids Entertainment and Learning

Board games are the best way of entertainment and learning for the kids. There are many board games which are highly popular among kids. Board games are those games that require some counters or pieces to move on a marked surface or board. Rolling dice is one of the important things that is used in many games to decide the chance or progress in the game. Earlier there were few board games. But nowadays we are having so many games that it is difficult to choose the best one for your kids. Chess, Monopoly are few common board games which are highly popular among kids for entertainment and learning purpose. You can easily buy board games either from a shop or online.

You can order your favorite board game or the latest board game at Big W. At Big W, you get the list of different types of board games depend upon popularity, rating, ascending/descending order with respect to price and alphabetically. The total specification about the game is available on the site. Related games and reviews are also there for each game.

You can get the discount too at Big W. The prices are very much affordable at Big W. There are so many games that it is difficult to choose which one to buy. To help you in deciding what game will be better for your kids, some top board games are listed here for your convenience.

Monopoly Millionaire

Monopoly Millionaire is the modified version of monopoly. In this game, you will live your dream lifestyle. The number of players is not limited in this monopoly Game. You need to earn money in this board game with the help of different ways available in the game. You can play with fortune cards too which is included with this game. This is a mind strategy game where you can make a million dollar. This game is available online. You can buy it from an online gaming site.

Cluedo - The Classic Mystery Game

Cluedo is a very classic popular game. This is a mystery game. It is a mystery game that involves a murder and six suspects. The mystery is to find the murderer. With this game, you will get all the essential parts to play the game. It includes Mansion game board, clues, black Cluedo cards and many more things. It is a very interesting game. You can buy these games online very easily. Stare! Junior Edition This game is good to improve your memory power. In this game, you need to stare a picture for some duration say 30 seconds. Then some questions will be asked to test how much you remembered about the picture. This game comes with 160 image cards carrying more than 900 questions.

Rush Hour

This is a game which teaches your kids to use logic and reasoning ability, in this game, you will find complex traffic jam scenarios. You need to take the red car out of the traffic jam. This game puts some pressure on your kid’s brain to think a little harder. There are 40 cards included in this game with different difficulty levels.

Scrabble

Scrabble game is a word game. This is a very famous game where you need to create words with the pieces you got which is embedded in an alphabet along with a number. This game is very good to increase the vocabulary in your kids. This is a way to learn new words and improve your language.

August 26, 2013

Plants vs Zombies 2

Since Aug 17, 2013 up to now we’re on vacation because of the bad weather and holiday. It was really a long vacation so I need to adjust again starting tomorrow. We will be in school for 3 days and another long weekend for us starting Friday because we have no class, it’s Montessori Day.

Well, we enjoyed the “art of doing nothing”, we just eat, sleep and watch movie. Of course we did some household chores but because of the #bedweather, we took advantage of it. It is time for us to relax and recharge.

From August 18 – 22, we’re just at home so we have nothing to do except watch movie and play. We finished Resident Evil movie from 1-5 and we became addicted to Plants vs Zombies 2. My friend texted me to download this free game and now we’re hooked.

I still play candy crush pero nakakainis lang because it took them more than a month to update the levels, right now I’m stuck on level 410 so I don’t know when it will be updated again. So right now, killing zombies muna ang peg ko.

May 03, 2013

8 Life Lessons Taught By Candy Crush

It’s not a secret here that I’m so addicted to candy crush and this is the only game that affected and stressed me when I can’t complete one level. Especially this level 305, I’m really losing my patience and I even posted this on my FB and Twitter.

I did my best, lagi na lang ganito. Natetempt na ko bumili ng lollipop

I don’t know how many days I’ve stayed in this level but I know it is more than two weeks. I was so delighted when I finally finish this level, just this morning. I was really shocked when I saw level completed. “Persistence is the key to success”

Now I need ticket to move to the next episode.

Sharing with you the 8 Life Lessons Taught By Candy Crush by Joni Cham

Candy Crush is the sweetest addiction to hit our smartphones this year, by far. It's a huge time sink and despite being immensely frustating in the later levels, people just can't stop playing.

In many ways, Candy Crush is just like real life, with 8 lessons we can use four our day-to-day lives.

8. Life is not always fair. Sometimes you get lucky with a good board, sometimes you don't. Deal with it.

7. Persistence is the key to success. If you persist long enough, one of these days you are bound to get it right somehow. Or get lucky. Or both.

6. Ask friends for help when you need it. You'll be surprised at how many are able and willing.

5. Help friends as much as you can. Life is all about give and take after all.

4. There will not always be friends who can help you out. It happens. Suck it up and wait.

3. You won't always understand what's going on. That's fine, you're not expected to.

2. Chocolate is evil. It will mess things up.

1. Life is equal parts fun and frustrating. It is full of challenges every step of the way, yet it can also be sweet and colorful!

Source: http://8list.ph/site/articles/8-life-lessons-taught-by-candy-crush-206.html

March 15, 2013

Candy Crush + iPad 4

I used to play Farmville, Café World, Restaurant City and other games in Facebook but after deactivating my old account and create a new one I already stop playing games. Last January, I saw one of my mommy friends in school playing Candy Crush and suddenly she said “laruin mo nga at di ako makaalis”.

That’s my first time to play Candy Crush and out of curiosity I started playing last February 1 and I was instantly hooked on this game. On my first try, I immediately reached level 19 using my 5 lives so I thought it was an easy game but it was not because there are some levels that I really lose my patience. Would you believe that it took me days and even a week just to solve one level? Currently, I’m on level 169.

All my mommy friends in school are addicted to Candy Crush so they always bring their iPad just to continue playing while we are waiting for our kids. We even helped each other to move up. =)

They always tease me to bring my Ipad so I can play too but I was determined to sell it but after a month of waiting, I finally decided to use my iPad because no one is interested buying it. So I guess this is really for me.

Ipad 4 + Wi-Fi Cellular, 64GB, Wireless keyboard, Apple Lightning Digital AV Adapter, Lightning to SD Card Camera Reader, 3M Privacy Filter and Earpods (Company incentive and my husband gave it to me but I told him to sell it since I'm not into gadget.)

But I was wrong because my son claimed it, sa akin na daw yung small tablet niya at sa kanya yung iPad. Waah! As of now, I’m on level 35 on my Ipad and I can’t move on because I need to connect it to Facebook but I don’t want to connect it to my Facebook at baka malost ang aking level 169, dugo’t pawis na puhunan ko dun. hehe! Kay hubby ko na lang kaya i-connect. Hehe!