Humor

These were made by a poster over at the Game Cafe forums. Had to share them here! We're having such a great time getting the forums in full swing! Why not check it out and join us? It's free! Game Cafe Forums!

Win A Free Game!

Enigmadness.com is sponsoring a Casual Game Trivia Contest! Win a free PlayFirst™ game! (Any game from the PlayFirst™ website, your choice!)

On Friday, November 16th at 7pm CST (8PM Eastern and 5pm Pacific), come to the Game Cafe forum chat room to play!

There will be 20 trivia questions asked, all based on PlayFirst™ games and their storylines. Whoever answers the most questions correctly will win a game of their choice! In the event of a tie, there will be a 3-5 question tie-breaker!

Rules:

• You must have an active account at PlayFirst™. Register here for your free account!
• You must register on the Game Cafe forum prior to the contest to access the chat room!
• In the event of a tie, additional trivia rounds will be used to determine one winner.
• The winner will select one game from the PlayFirst™ website and will receive a free game coupon via email.
• You must attend the live chat at the Game Cafe forum to be eligible to play. Register early to ensure a place in the chat and to set up your Game Cafe account!

If you have any questions, please visit the Game Cafe forum for more information! If you have any trouble registering at either PlayFirst™ or Game Cafe, email me at gamefairy@gmail.com.

Hope to see you all there!

Game Cafe Forum Update!

Well, the Game Cafe forum is up and running now, going into week three! I'm very pleased with the progress so far and the traffic is picking up. In just two short weeks we've added almost 1000 articles (posts) and started amassing lots of content on all the greatest games that we play!

We've upgraded the forum software, added new avatars, post count ranks, lots of new topics and discussions, live tech support for our posters and today we unveiled our new Chat Room!

Come over to the Game Cafe and check out the real time chat! Meet me and all the other game fans who have already transformed the cafe from an empty message board to a warm, welcoming community!

Click here to visit Game Cafe!

Note, you must register on the board to access the chat room and have the Java runtime environment enabled!

Cake Mania 2

The long awaited sequel to Cake Mania and Cake Mania - Back to the Bakery was released by Sandlot games recently. Be sure to check out my post about the Cake Mania Halloween Contest!

Help Jill save her friends' bakeries in this much anticipated assembly-management game! Bake a wide variety of cakes and decorate them with fancy icings and cake toppers! Fill the orders quickly before the customers run out of patience and leave!

Some new features for this installment of the Cake Mania series include new bakeries, each with their own theme, such as under the sea, arctic winter and outer space. A new cast of customers with unique personalities, likes and dislikes. New cake shapes, icings and toppers. New upgrades including a very useful multi-tiered cake display stand! You can even swap the cake in your hand with one on the frosting station, cake stand or oven by right-clicking! This was VERY useful!

A choose-your-own path style storyline allows you to collect a series of trophies depending on which path you take. You can replay the game and choose alternate paths to collect them all!

I found this game slightly more challenging than the original, though the expert scores for all of the levels was attainable with a little effort.

Some tips and tricks:

• Get to know your customers! Each type of customer has a particular set of likes and dislikes. Understanding them will help you keep them happy in line!
• Use the cake display stand! The old ladies with the cats are particularly prone to buying the cakes on display and this can save a lot of time!
• Use the treats. Giving the treats to the customers in line can really help, especially in the later levels.
• Plan your actions. Collect menus on your way to the ovens or the frosting stations. Try not to waste steps, as Jill moves very slowly at first!
• Use the right-click cake swapping feature. Grab a cake from the oven and take it to the frosting table, right click to switch with a finished cake to save a lot of walking!
• Use the television. Figure out which characters prefer which channels and keep that TV going.
  

For more information, tips and tricks visit the Game Cafe and PlayFirst forums!

You can download and / or purchase the game from PlayFirst by clicking HERE.

I give this game an 8 out of 10!

Announcement! Game Fairy at The Diamond Games!

Another exciting announcement to make!

My reviews will now have a home at The Diamond Games! I'm so excited about this as I'm a frequent visitor to that website and always look there for sneak peaks of upcoming games! The reviews on The Diamond Games are fantastic and I am honored to soon count myself among their writers! I hope to get started writing there this afternoon and I'll add links right here as soon as there is some content ready!

By the way, if you haven't checked it out yet, please head over to the Game Cafe Forum and register! It's hard to get a new board started but it's tons of fun too! Hope to see you there!

Game Cafe - Open for Business!

Game Cafe Forum Now Open!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, part of the partnership with Enigmadness.com involves their brand new Game Cafe forum! The forum is free for all users and it's just gone live! Yay! You can click the image above to be taken to the site!

Bear in mind that the forum just started and though there isn't a lot of content yet, or a lot of users, I'm going to do my best to ensure it's growth into the best free casual game discussion board ever!

Although the forum is geared towards casual games, there are areas for other games, IQ tests, and general discussion! Anything (within reason) goes! I'll be posting all of my sneak previews there, tips, tricks, hints, cheats (though not the kind of cheats that allow you to crack a game!), and everything else I can think of to post!

I'm also going to be looking for some forum moderators once the site picks up. If you'd be interested in helping out with the forum, providing assistance to new users, reviewing content and more, please let me know! You can email me at gamefairy@gmail.com or visit the forum and send me a private message!

Many of you know me from the PlayFirst Community boards and I assure you, that is my "home away from home" and I will not cease to post there! I'm a HUGE fan of PlayFirst, their games and their staff and I'll continue to post there as much as ever!

Hope to see you all there!

Build-a-Lot

Click the image above to be taken to the download page or click HERE.

I really enjoyed this game! I tried the evaluation version from Real Arcade and didn't think it looked that exciting, but once I got started, I did not want to stop!

You play as a real estate developer who works with the local towns to improve their real estate markets. In the career mode of the game, each level has it's own set of requirements and a time limit. Build a variety of homes and other buildings, meet rental and cash requirements and meet the level goals before time runs out!

Although the game begins easy, it soon becomes quite challenging. Attaining expert goal on every level is definitely not easy, but I enjoyed every moment of the game.

As you progress through the levels, you unlock new buildings and homes. Draft the new blueprints and build on!

The game also offers a relaxed mode, which I found quite enjoyable - great for learning the game play as well!

Some tips and tricks -

• Build 2 banks and set one to donate, so you don't have to pay taxes, and leave the other to collect interest. Although this uses up a lot that could be a home, you can make a LOT of money this way!
• For most levels, building the most expensive home you can and selling it right away can give you a good financial base with which to expand!
• Upgrade all of your homes! The upgrade value can significantly increase your rental income and the sale value of the home!
• Do not put your houses up for sale while other homes are selling. You won't get the full value.
• Buy homes that come up for sale if you can afford it. When they need to be repaired, demolish them and build a more expensive home on that lot.

I give this game an 8 out of 10!
For more information and tips, visit the PlayFirst forums and Game Cafe!

Partnership with Enigmadness.com!

I'm SO excited to share this!

The Game Fairy blog is now partnering with the Enigmadness.com website! I'll be heading up their brand new Game Cafe forum, too!

Enigmadness is a large website featuring IQ tests, games, puzzles and so much more! I hope to bring the world of casual gaming to the Enigmadness family and spread the word about these great games!

All of my updates, reviews, and game information will be available right here and also on the Enigmadness website! I'll be posting in the forums there with all the insider game info I can find! Please come on over and register for the boards - check out the arcade they have on the website - over 300 browser games! There are a few that I'm almost hooked on already, lol. This could be bad!

Check It Out Here!