Whoa, it be October! That means baseball playoffs begin and my team made it this year for the first time since 1999. That’s right — the Rangers and fans are partying like it’s 1999! I grew up playing sports and cheering on the Mavs, Texas Rangers, Cowboys, TCU and A&M. All teams have been up and down, but the Rangers rule them all in hanging around the cellar in the team standings.

I picked up my love of sports from my dad, the guy who’d have every Ranger game on. (You know baseball teams play a LOT of games… not like football.) Dad played football for his high school (James Madison) in Brooklyn, NY. I won’t bore you with this as I’ve collected lots of great links this week.

Need something fun to do and take a break from grind? Two awesome casual games have a new addition to the series! For the time management and Diner Dash fan: Cooking Dash 3: Thrills and Spills Collector’s Edition. For fans of mystery and hidden object adventures: James Patterson Women’s Murder Club Little Black Lies.

Brain food…

• Great Reminders for Writers from the Movie: The Prizewinner of Defiance Ohio: I never heard about this movie when it hit the theaters. Instead, I found it while looking for a movie to watch and it captivated me. Definitely one all writer’s should catch.
• SiteJabber: Consumer reviews of online websites and businesses.
• Manuals Online and Retrevo: Stop looking for the manual and get ‘em online. Well, some manuals aren’t available online anywhere like my Braun KF-187 Coffeemaker.
• Coordinating a book blog tour: Dotting your Rs and Crossing your… Rs: Worth saving so you can make the most out of them.
• Back to Basics: Why Am I Getting Rejected: Some of the time, it may not be you. Really. You can’t know what’s going on behind the scenes.
• How to Read Faster While Reading Well: Wish I had time to brush up on this as I’d like to read faster.
• Twitter Cheat Sheet: Excellent PDF file sorted in various categories. Not all are links to resources.

For fun because we’re allowed…

• How to Grow a Rainbow Colored Rose: Beautiful.
• Could have been love story: Facebook chat. Love the moral…
• Chewbacca’s First Day of School: That’s a keeper for his mom
• Rainbow Houses: 30 Pics: If I’d lived there, I’d need shades 16/7 (-8 to sleep).
• 10 Hilarious Looking Owls: Hoo knew they come in so many different looks? [Link: Paul Steele]
• Amazing Etch-a-Sketch Drawings: And all I can do is draw a box and weird shaped stick figures. [Link: Flipbooks]
• Carmen Sandiego IRL Win: “Years on the run have not been kind to her,” better half says. I LOVED playing “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?” and watching the game show hosted by the awesome Lynne Thigpen. I have the theme song in my music player. Oh, and I was not a kid through all this. (Showing my age, aren’t I?) Well, actually, I was a teen in the first few game releases.
• Poet Venn Diagram: Brilliant. [Link: Guy L. Gonzalez]

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2010 Meryl Evans

The following games will be discounted next week on Game du Jour, the first ‘one-deal-a-day’ website dedicated to indie and casual games:

Mon. April 5th: 65% off on Empress of the Deep

Tue. April 6th: 65% off on My Kingdom for the Princess

Wed. April 7th: 100% off on Hidden Expedition: Devil’s Triangle

Thu. April 8th: 65% off on Mishap: An Accidental Haunting

Fri. April 9th: 65% off on Jane’s Realty 2

Sat. April 10th: 60% off on Unwell Mel

Sun. April 11th: 45% off on Alice’s Tea Cup Madness

The following games will be discounted next week on Game du Jour, the first ‘one-deal-a-day’ website dedicated to indie and casual games:

Mon. March 29th: 50% off on Dark Souls

Tue. March 30th: 50% off on Dark Souls II

Wed. March 31st: 50% off on Kara’s Quest

Thu. April 1st: 50% off on Last Heroes

Fri. April 2nd: 65% off on The Serpent of Isis

Sat. April 3rd: 65% off on Miss Teri Tale 3 – Danger Next Door

Sun. April 4th: 65% off on 1 Penguin 100 Cases

The following games will be discounted next week on Game du Jour, the first ‘one-deal-a-day’ website dedicated to indie and casual games:

Mon. February 15th: 50% off on Born Into Darkness

Tue. February 16th: 65% off on The Clumsys 2: Butterfly Effect

Wed. February 17th: 65% off on Evoly

Thu. February 18th: 50% off on Many Years Ago

Fri. February 19th: 65% off on Farm Mania 2

Sat. February 20th: 65% off on Azteca

Sun. February 21st: 65% off on Green Valley – Fun on the Farm

The following games will be discounted next week on Game du Jour, the first ‘one-deal-a-day’ website dedicated to indie and casual games:

Mon. March 8th: 50% off on House Racers

Tue. March 9th: 50% off on New Star Tennis

Wed. March 10th: 100% off on Space Spy – Free Game

Thu. March 11th: 45% off on Azada: Ancient Magic

Fri. March 12th: 65% off on Youda Legend: The Golden Bird of Paradise

Sat. March 13th: 60% off on Shaman Odyssey: Tropic Adventure

Sun. March 14th: 50% off on Hidden Identity – Chicago Blackout

Image via Wikipedia

Big Fish Games is offering 30% off all games (except Collector’s Edition games) through February 15, 2010 in honor of President’s Day.

Use the code: PREZSALE

The following games will be discounted next week on Game du Jour, the first ‘one-deal-a-day’ website dedicated to indie and casual games:

Mon. February 15th: 50% off on Born Into Darkness

Tue. February 16th: 65% off on The Clumsys 2: Butterfly Effect

Wed. February 17th: 65% off on Evoly

Thu. February 18th: 50% off on Many Years Ago

Fri. February 19th: 65% off on Farm Mania 2

Sat. February 20th: 65% off on Azteca

Sun. February 21st: 65% off on Green Valley – Fun on the Farm

Playing Youda Marina during Memorial Day weekend (a time when many go to the lake) has me yearning to jump in the car to drive to the nearest lake to rent a motorboat and go water skiing. That yearning didn’t last long as a glance at the window pulled me to reality as the skies are gray. Youda Marina does a better job than Mother Nature in giving me the feeling it’s a sunny day. Before I knew it, several hours flew while playing the time management and strategy game that takes place (where else?) on a marina.

You manage and run a marina complete with building docks, entertainment facilities, emergency services, lighthouses and the radio station. As you work in growing the marina, you need to do what you can to attract visitors and entertain them during their stay. The game reminds me of Build-a-Lot because it involves building structures, changing rates, deciding where to place things, earning enough money to build more structures and meeting goals. They both have similar graphics style.

The game takes time to learn. Its well-done tutorial guides you through the first round and only nudges you when you need to know something new. You need to build various-sized docks to accompany the different boat types and sizes. You can also control how much to charge for the empty docks.

Between managing boat requests to dock, facility updates (repairs, payment and emergencies), the game pace turns frenzied in campaign mode. You have to click on every boat to dock it, every event to kick it off and every emergency to send out emergency services personnel. It grows tiresome to keep clicking these things. However, clicking the boats has merit due to the several docking options available and the chances of boat’s captains accepting the offer vary. Maybe it would ease the pain of frequent clicking by offering “automated” tools as an upgrade.

Sometimes the game doesn’t recognize clicks or won’t put down a building or dock even though the area turns green (to indicate it can go where you have it spotted). When it’s time to renew an event, the game doesn’t always recognize the clicks.

The goal of the game is to complete the tasks, much like in Build-a-Lot. Tasks ask you to add a specific structure, earn X amount of money or have X visitors to the marina.

Relaxed mode is available as a calmer alternative to campaign mode. Both modes come with four types of environments: shore, bay, island and lagoon. Each requires a different strategy to succeed. Instead of handing out tasks, relaxed mode lets you do as you will with the money you have on hand. It helps to play campaign mode first to get an idea of what it takes to run a successful marina. Though the pace turns harried, campaign mode feels more purposeful and enjoyable than relaxed mode.

After completing all the tasks and earning every promotion, you’ll want to play again because the tasks aren’t identical in every game and you still need to see if you can conquer a different layout. Youda Marina has excellent replayability value. Next time you’re in a sailing mood, it’s much cheaper to play Youda Marina than to drive out to the lake and rent a boat.

Download and try the game.

Before digging in Fitness Dash, beware that playing the game does not substitute for exercise! Maybe it’ll motivate you to exercise when you take a break as you’re Jo, who is friends with Flo of Diner Dash and Quinn of Wedding Dash. So Dash fans will recognize a few characters including Uncle Ernie, brides and Aunt Ethel.

Fitness Dash is exactly what you expect if you’ve played any Dash game. Except replace the theme with the gym. Jo frantically runs around passing out towels, handing out water bottles, putting the lazy folks on machines instead of them walking over themselves and dragging them into the shower (I suppose they’re too pooped to do it alone).

The machines change up from treadmills and bench presses to rowing machines and ellipticals. Machines provide cardio (treadmill), strength training (ab cruncher) or both (skiing machine). Clients let you know what kind of exercise they want and how much. For instance, the body builder wants three rounds of strength training and the career woman usually wants both types.

Jo works with her clients for 10 rounds to help them prepare for a game of tug-o-war, the only original part of the game and a creative one at that. It’s a match three-style game except you must match at least FOUR connecting tiles and you can click the tiles to change the color. The bigger the match, the more your team pulls the rope. Too slow and your opponents will have the stronger pull. The whole war takes place below the matching grid, but who has time to watch it when you’re working to get those matches made?

Story and endless modes are available — no surprise. However, endless mode provides two options: gym and tug-o-war. In gym mode, you simply just keep the customers happy for as long as you can without losing five of them. Tug-o-war is one endless stream of matching where you level up every time you clear the screen. Endless mode comes with easy, medium and hard levels.

Disasters also appear in Fitness Dash where Jo needs to fix the TV, shoo away the ice cream truck guy or fix broken machines. Healthy muffins and water bottles earn you happiness points — these are the kind of things you give to customers without them asking for it. It’s possible to play a few different locations without using the water machine and still reach expert status. But the game does get harder and frantic by the fourth locale.

Shopping for upgrades is still there even for endless mode. You can stop to shop whenever you want (and have enough cash) in endless. The game doesn’t stop for you.

The game went a little berserk when things were happening fast. Picking up a client to carry to the shower didn’t go as smoothly. Selecting water and towels on their machines didn’t always take.

Though the Fitness Dash sticks to the reliable Dash formula, it has enough going on with its theme that it can addict fans (me, included — even my surgery-healed thumb hurt from playing the fast levels). Playfirst has an unbeatable formula in its Dash games and produces a decent spin-off. Playing the free trial will give you an idea of the game play to see if you like the theme enough to make the buy.

Download the game from Big Fish Games.

Check out other Dashes

• Diaper Dash
• Cooking Dash
• Wedding Dash 2
• Dairy Dash
• SpongeBob Diner Dash 2

Big Fish Games has Megaplex Madness: Now Playing for 99 cents good through May 31, 2009. Use the following coupon code: MEGA99.

About Megaplex Madness: Now Playing:

Restore the historic Bowmont Theater as the first act of your mad dash to bring cinematic excitement back to Movieville! Purchase ailing theaters all over town and return them to their former glory. Keep customers happy with quick service and delicious concessions! Become a Megaplex Expert to gain access to fun arcade mini-games, and master levels to unlock theater repairs and upgrades. Get caught up in the Megaplex Madness today!