Popping up out of Nowhere

    I'm back to my regular schedule, and it is time for a favorite of mine. Today I'll talk about the newest sodas out in the market. Each one of them is different for me, but in totally different ways.

    First is Cherry Sprite. No, not Cherry Limeade Sprite Chill, which is a different product available in many places. This is just Cherry Sprite which is an exclusive limited edition flavor found only at Food City brand stores. Normally, I don't drink Sprite, or any Coca Cola product. However, I felt that I needed to try this as I never knew a smaller regional market like Food City would get a major exclusive. At first, I thought that this would be like Cherry 7-Up, a cherry-flavored drink from a company mostly known for lemon-lime.  I was wrong, as this is just regular Sprite with cherry added. While some people like the flavor combination, I didn't. The mix of the two flavors didn't work well together, as the lemon-lime overpowered the cherry, whose notes barely registered. After the original bottle, I didn't try it again.

    Next comes something even more out of left field for me, Dirty Mountain Dew. I rarely ever have Mountain Dew. Usually, it is just a quick blast from a fountain added to my usual Dr Pepper/Pepsi mix, and very rarely at that since the flavors rarely work right. However, I have a slight partiality to cream soda/vanilla flavors, so I decided to try it. Mountain Dew has had multiple flavors for twenty-five years now. (See Code Red/cherry, Live Wire/orange, and Voltage/raspberry.) I have never tried one before, just because of the flavor. Not even the watermelon-flavored Major Melon that just got discontinued for Dirty Dew. Personally, I don't see why vanilla is getting added to everything, but why argue. The color is a pale greenish-yellow, which is somewhat off-putting. I opened the bottle and got a strong whiff of vanilla. I wasn't expecting that. The cream soda flavor was pronounced, but not overwhelming. The regular lemon-lime of the Mountain Dew blended seamlessly with that of the cream soda. It reminded me or lime sherbet, even though I rarely have had it, and I didn't really like it the few times I've had it. The flavor was just different enough from anything else I tasted that made me want it more. (Maybe it was the extra caffeine.) Anyway, I have wound up getting some more bottles for extra testing and tasting. I even got the zero-sugar one by accident to try later on today. I mean, my mind is blown that I like this so much. Not enough maybe to buy a carton or six-pact at once, but possibly a few more times.

    Finally, Dr Pepper has brought back the Coconut Cream flavor for the summer. Keep it away from me. I just hate coconut that much.

    I am looking forward to the battle of the root beer floats as Mug and A & W both bring out their root beer/cream soda combos soon. Which I find odd, as root beer already has some vanilla notes naturally. Oh well.

My Video Game Library: Bonus Stage

    Normally, I would call this extra post an addendum or errata. However, since we are talking video games, bonus stage sounded cooler. Here is the post where I clarify some details I missed in the main posts of this series, as well as correct some mistakes. I did a lot of research this time around, so any mistakes are from bad memory and are somewhat intentional. Let's start.

    I mentioned that I played games at friends and family members' homes, but not what they were. My next-door neighbor had an Atari. He had that horrible port of Pac-Man, Pitfall, and the game with the tanks (Combat?). An older cousin had a Coleco. He had Donkey Kong, a basketball game, and poker.  A slightly younger cousin may have had an Atari as well. I think he had Space Invaders and Centipede, but I played the least amount of time with him, so I might be forgetting some. My best friend in grade mentioned some sort of Indiana Jones/Raiders game while talking with a mutual friend, but I never went to his home to play any. Either he didn't want me there, or my mother wouldn't allow me to go. Both options were equally possible. Finally, I went to one friend's place in high school, without anyone knowing. After some sports type stuff, he went back to his room, where he had an NES. Some guys were playing baseball on it, so I couldn't get a chance to play before I had to leave.  

    I tried to mention everywhere I bought my games. If I didn't mention a location, it was probably due to the fact that my mom got it for me as a gift. (Christmas, birthday, late birthday, etc.) She usually got them at a local Walmart. Mostly Prestonsburg, but sometimes Pikeville or one further out if it couldn't be found closer. Since I wasn't usually there, I can only guess at these assumptions.

    The algorithm on Facebook picked up on my recent interest in video games. One of the articles it picked out involved older retailers. That's when I remembered Babbage's, an old video game store. I'm pretty sure that the GameStop at the Huntington Mall was originally a Babbage's and that is where I actually got those games from. In fact, there is a good chance that the unknown game store at the Fayette Mall in Lexington was a Babbage's as well. It just wasn't open as long.

    I need to mention two stores that I have visited many times, but never buying anything. The first is Page 3 Game Zone. They have sold used and new games for many years, but I've never bought any there. I've bought hundreds, if not thousands, of other things there (comics, books, cards, even a small paint brush for miniatures), but video games. Then there is CM Games at the Fayette Mall. They also have new and used video games, among other types of games. While I've visited many times, I have yet to buy anything at all there.

    As I mentioned at the start, I was skipping giving some games a post, for various reasons. The first is Duck Hunt, which would be obvious as it game with the NES. I hated the light gun, and I easily beat the game by standing a foot or two in front of the television screen. Another NES game, I am too embarrassed to mention, but it included "cookie" in the title. I almost remember playing Dr. Mario in color somewhere, but I don't remember buying it separate.

    While nearing the end of this series, I finally remembered a PS1 game that I had totally forgotten about. It was a game based on Magic:  The Gathering. I liked the game, mostly the back story and collectability of it, but I never played it in public. I asked for the game as a way to play it, without getting embarrassed in public for my bad skills. However, since I didn't have internet access back then, I could only play the story mode.  None of the rules made any sense. I may have gotten far into it, but I don't remember. It was just too weird. I might come back to this in next year's update.

    I mentioned the video game-based cartoons I watched regularly, but not other media. I was planning on it, but I ran out of time that post. I have never followed any live action television series based on a game. I don't go to theaters, so I have never seen any type of game-based movie. The closest I've gotten to watching a full movie is with Wreck-It-Ralph on Disney, and not the entire movie all at once. (Yes, I am immature for my age.) And it just barely can qualify as a video game movie.  I might have gotten a few comics on video games, for free in hand-outs, but I have never collected any series.

    And that is just ab out all for this post. Come back this Wednesday, as I return to my regular schedule. See you then.

My Video Game Library: Afterthoughts

    Well, I've come to the end of My Video Game Library series. I have played a lot of games over the year, losing a lot of times, but winning quite a bit too. Not as much as I would have liked, but I won.

    I remember a television series on TBS in the 80s. It was a "game show" involving people competing on arcade games. Each round, one of the players would win the chance to determine which of the arcade games they would be playing and who they would play against. While they would usually pick games they would be good at, they would occasionally choose a game they had never played before. One time, the contestant chose one of those animated style games, like Dragon's Lair, only this one involved these two thieves trying to make a getaway. Both players were wrecking their cars all over the place. Neither one gained any points that round, I think. The player who did the best over the show won the prizes. It has been so long since this show was on that I can't remember much else about it.

    Flash forward to the 2000s. I was just flipping through the channels, when I caught a computer game competition on one of the ESPN channels. One of the games was the Aztec/Mayan-themed one where you have to shoot balls at a series of other balls as they spiral inward towards the center to eliminate them. I am guessing that whoever got the largest cumulative score over all the games they played would win. While I never tuned in, I've even heard about shows about teams competing in these massive battle Royale style games, such as Fortnite, for real life prizes.

    Nowadays, students in both college and high school can compete in video games for actual recognition, as if it were varsity sports. When I decided to try to get into gaming, I had no idea that it could turn into something for real money. The idea is so alien to me. However, the realization is also scary for me. It's similar to how I felt when I realized in my mid 20s that I could have been an athlete in school. I had the ability to compete, but not the compulsion to do so. I mean, I only have played basketball once outside of gym class once in my life. I just don't have the right body type to enjoy it. However, with just a little push, I could have gotten into baseball, maybe even football. Heck, if my school had track, I would have tried out immediately. Unfortunately, it didn't start until after I graduated. 

    Now, I could get money just for playing games. It feels wrong on some level. While I don't play those battle-style variety of game (too violent), I have seen contests for other games that I do play. Unfortunately, I never seem to be able to make it far in those. I almost qualified in a Candy Crush contest but I could never play enough to make it far. In just the past week, Golf Clash has started a competition for money, tied to various gameplay features. I have both of my accounts registered, but I don't think it will amount to anything. I am still unsure about the rules, but I doubt that I am skillful enough to contribute much to it. Still, I guess I'll try. 

    The idea of playing for money, though. Just beyond me, but if that's what I can add to gaming to change the experience, so be it.

    Come back this Saturday for one final post in this series focusing on errata and bonus information.

My Video Game Side Quest: School

    That's right.  I played games at school. 

    Although not an actual game, or a "real" computer for that matter, my first experience of games at school was in first grade when I got sent over to second grade for my reading lessons. I can't explain it either. Anyway, there was this thing called a Systems 80. It had a monitor with four or five buttons under it. You would put a strip of tape on a punch card, stuck int into the system, and a series of pictures would pop up as an audio track would play over some headphones attached to it. You were given prompts and answer questions by pressing the buttons. When done, you took out the card and presented it to the teacher who would grade it, based on the holes on the tape that corresponded to the buttons you pressed.  

    I didn't get to be at a real computer until fourth grade when I was part of the inaugural Talented and Gifted program (TAG) at my school. We had special advanced lessons involving a number of different topics. Among them were advanced number theory, learning French and ASL (the former using a Systems 80 at times), helping to paint a mural for the school library (some of the details I did got painted over later), and computing. We did some basic coding, in BASIC, and played games during our brief periods at the screen.  (We also played board games designed to teach, well, advanced game playing. Chess was one, but anything without dice was allowed. We particularly loved a game about evacuating a volcanic island.) One of the games was probably Oregon Trail. I never touched it, but I think others did. I tried a sci-fi game once, but it was too complicated to figure out what to do. There was also a trivia game. You had to match up pairs of answers. For instance, one question asked about superheroes and their secret identities. The name 'Lamont Cranston' was on both sides. I didn't know yet that The Shadow used the name to hide his original one, which I can't remember right now.

    High school didn't have as many opportunities. At the end of my sophomore year, maybe junior, I wound up wandering around campus, ending in the typing lab with of bunch of guys playing the diving section of an Olympics game. No one knew the exact buttons to play, and the game acted up anyway, so winning was never an issue.  We were just goofing around. There were other sports, but I don't remember much about them, if we played them. There was also a version for winter sports. We were just as clueless for the figure skating portion.

    Anyway, that experience led me to take typing my senior year. I also thought it would be a way to get me on the yearbook staff. Unfortunately, I found out too late that you need a year of typing to make the staff. Not only was my dream shattered, but I had to suffer the indignity of being the only senior in a class full of freshman. At least I frequently got to use the computer, or the Mac that showed up later in the year, for lessons. The backspace key makes drills so much easier. (I only used it twice, at most. I swear.) I usually arrived early enough to see the actual yearbook staff, who took accounting, as they were finishing up. Sometimes, they were playing games. One was a lemonade stand business sim; another was poker. I played neither, but I sometimes offered suggestions.

    At least my dream of being the editor of the school paper survived, even if we barely touched our textbooks. And teacher didn't even know they had been changed that year. Or that an entire section of the class got detoured into doing a major project for the twentieth anniversary of Earth Day (I actually took control of the school for a brief time due to this, but that is for another post.) instead of making the paper. The class met in the computer lab. There was some overlap with the computer class beforehand, so some students would be finishing up the games they were playing when I got there. I remember helping out some people solve a case from Where in the World is Carmen San Diego? (I actually asked for the NES port for Christmas, but my mom never got it.) I would help someone else with a haunted house text-based game, but I couldn't solve one puzzle until well after the game.

    As editor, I mostly got to use the Mac as my computer. While I searched a lot through it, I don't think I ever found any games. That doesn't mean I never 'played' with it. As I may have mentioned once in a post, a friend and I were goofing around instead of working just before winter break. We wound up altering some clip art of Santa Claus into a punk rock 'Satan' Clause. What did you expect? We were kids. (Technically, my friend had been eighteen for a few months, but since we didn't go to grade school together, I was unfamiliar with his birthday. And I would turn eighteen a few weeks later. However, we were still in school, so we were kids. What matters is we didn't get in trouble when we were caught. So there.)

    The only time I was at a computer at community college was during a computer science course my second year. We barely made it to the actual computers in the lab/s (a second lab was started in a former nursing lab room halfway through the semester). One of the lessons involved a tutorial that could be considered a type of game, involving learning how to move things on screen. Everything else was mostly drills. For my last two-and-a-half years of college, I never used a computer. The lab at the school was in the basement level of a building I rarely went to. The library wasn't even fully computerized yet, but I didn't need the help for research. I'm an expert on that, usually.

    And that ends the side quest. Wednesday ends this series, so come back for the big finish.

My Video Game Library: Golf Clash

    I didn't want to play a sports game based on golf. However, a friend of mine on Facebook invited me to play Golf Clash.  Since I wanted to be friendly, I took him up on the offer. (I would later find out that he got an in-game bonus for every friend invite who joined the game. I positive that had nothing to do with it.). While I wouldn't say I was hooked, I did stay with the game longer than I thought I would. I would soon find out that another friend of mine also played Golf Clash.  That surprised me. One of the features of the game is that you can challenge your friends to matches. One day, before I got my own computer, I wound up playing against the two of them at the same time, alternating between them for over ten minutes. I had to stop because I was running out of time at the library.  I forget where I was that day, but it was getting confusing playing between the two of them. I've played with other friends, on occasion, but most of them have since left the game.

    The object of the game is basically just golf. Two players put up money from the game, play a hole, and the winner gets both players' money.  The winner also gets a chest with a little more money, as well as cards to develop clubs. Originally, the holes were all created for the game, involving situations that were really feasible in real life. Recently, they have been licensing real world courses for the game, which are more authentic, but not as much fun.

    Sometime after I started, and just barely getting really good at the game, Golf Clash introduced the concept of clans. Up to fifty players could get together in a clan, getting extra bonuses for their combined wins for how well their clan did each week. My friend found a clan, and I joined him there. I managed to get my second friend in the same clan as well, but he got kicked out after a short while because our clan's leader at the time didn't feel he was playing enough. However, both my friend and I have stuck through ever since.  In fact, he somehow got to be our clan's leader after the original one felt that the clan had too many players not caring enough about competing.

    I have since become one of the better players there, KentuckyBBN, even though I still don't consider myself that great. Luck is still playing a big role in my playing. Sometime in the next month or two, I will have maxed out one of the power clubs of the game, after already maxed out all of the basic and medium clubs. Golf Clash has since instituted seasons, offering better benefits and challenges lastly every four weeks. (Players can pay to get them faster, as well as many, many, many other offers. I've read on social media about the complaints over pay-to-play.) One new feature that has just started is a three-way challenge among clans, competing over a weekend a course with many club drawbacks that can only be resolved by having the best scores on four secondary courses, whose ownerships can cycle every four hours. My clan won the first time it was out, but only came in second the next two times. I must admit, I had some burnout playing the same holes time and again, but I do what I must for my clan.

    That includes taking over as leader. My friend, the current leader, hasn't been able to play much lately. If he needs me to step in, I could. I would just need a week to prepare and proper timing, and I would be in a position to take over at the next season change. I admit, my style would be different from his, but I might be up for the challenge. Maybe. I still find it strange that someone who hates sports games as much as I has become a sports gamer. 

    

My Video Game Library: SongPop

    I first saw SongPop on Facebook, just there on the side where the games used to be. I have always been pretty good at music, so this was a clear for me. SongPop 2, as it was called back then, is basically a version of the television game show Name That Tune or a "reverse Shazam." A computer plays a snippet of a song from a category you chose (usually an artist, genre, or timeframe; although some categories can be based on features from the titles or lyrics), and you have to guess the song correctly as quickly as possible before the other player. You get more points if you guess correctly sooner, so that an incorrect guess doesn't automatically mean you lose, especially if the other player takes longer to get all of their songs correct. There was also a second game mode, Party, where you and four other players try to guess songs as quickly as possible. You get bonus points based on how fast you are. After the twenty-four hour Party is over, you gain a prize based on your ranking among the over a hundred other possible party players.  While I never got to play against of any of my Facebook friends, I still loved the game. I had a bunch of regular players that I vied against as much as I could.

    Then, SongPop announced that they were leaving Facebook at the end of the year. On that December 31, I played like I normally would, thinking I had until midnight to play. I was waiting until that evening to say goodbye. When I tried to log back on to the game, it had disappeared. Unfortunately, they had meant midnight their time, in England I think, not here. I hated that I never said goodbye. I even wrote a post on my blogcast about it. Sure, the game was still available as an app, but I didn't have a phone at the time.  Or a PC. So, I had to stop playing.

    But only for a few months.

    The following summer or so, SongPop finally developed an app for Macs. I even got an email about it.I quickly downloaded it, when I could. I still had a prize available from the last Party I never got to finish. All but one of my regular players had left me. Well, the computer opponent had to stay, but one woman kept with me during my absence. I would always try to give her a category she could compete with whenever we played.

    SongPop Classic, as it was now named, had added a few features. They now had challenges (daily, weekly, monthly, and expert) that one could finish to add points to a prize path. Some require playing the other SongPop game, which leaves me out.  For now. It took me a while, but I ultimately got to the biggest prize at the end of the month, and even the bonus ones available beyond that. Last year, they added Carnival mode, a themed group of challenges similar to Party mode, but available to everyone and not just the 200 or so for parties. The Carnival lasts seven day, and there is about one a month, or so. They are usually based around holidays or similar events. 

    I currently have a group of around thirty or so players that I compete with every week. Some drop me after a few times, as our musical tastes don't line up, or if they only want to get money from me. The number of players who want me to buy naked pics of them are way too many. Others, I drop if I don't hear from them after four or five months. I try to give everyone a real chance at coming back.

    Unfortunately, one of those players I had to drop was the one who stuck with me during my absence. She started to miss challenges, on a very frequent basis. She mentioned she was having problems, medical I think. Possibly financial as well. She was gone for a few weeks at a time. Then, she missed a few months. After a year, I finally deleted the game with her. I had kept her going as long as I could.  Even with the intentional and accidental deletions, I still needed the extra space I needed to maintain a minimum number of active games. While I hope she is okay, I'm pretty sure she isn't. 

    So, I'm still chugging along, playing at a fairly high level. I'm discovering songs that came out long ago that I missed, remembering oldies that I all but forgot. I keep up with new music too. I still wonder about the newer version of SongPop.  It has a number of new features and types of play not on 2. And I wonder what happened to all of the players who I had to delete their games.

    I'm sorry.

My Video Game Side Quest: Apps and Ads

    When I first got a computer, one of the things I couldn't wait for was solitaire. I knew from experience that many PCs had their own solitaire programs. I played it a lot in the 90s, since I didn't need anyone else to play. Well, I quickly found out by checking my MacBook, as well as a third-party manual, that Apple doesn't include a solitaire app with its Macs. They have Chess instead. Now, I played chess quite a bit when I was young, but I wasn't that big of a fan.  Since it took a few weeks after I got my MacBook for the installation of the internet at home, chess was the only game I had. Sure, I could customize a little, but I still didn't like playing it. At least there was also a sliding tile game widget hidden within a file. That I really liked. Too bad it got dropped in a later update.

    At least I had internet access at work to download a few games until I got hooked up at home. The first solitaire app I tried was technically free, but you had to buy extra layouts after the limited ones included. The first tableau was impossible for me to solve. I think I accidentally skipped a few layouts, preventing me from ever trying to solve them. I stopped playing it fast. I also got Epic Solitaire, at least I think that was the name. It had different modes to play, customizable card designs and tabletop, and a daily challenge. I played the challenge almost first thing everyday when I turned on my MacBook, usually playing a second game, or more, as well. Every day until my first MacBook died. Of course, I got the game again three days later with my new computer, but it wasn't the same. I couldn't get the game to look the same. I wound up not playing the game ever again. (Like a dunce, I didn't realize that the original game was still on my iCloud. I could have just retrieved it. Oh, well.)  I also got two pool games. One had basic graphics, but an easy mechanics system. The other had much better graphics, but some of the mechanics weren't as intuitive. I played the former way more. I stopped with the pool games after I got the internet installed and I could play my Facebook games instead.

    The only other game I have on my MacBook is Songpop Classic, and I only have that one due to the fact that it got dropped my Facebook gaming. It didn't get a Mac version for months after that, but that is for a later post. I have yet to activate any of the free trials to Apple Arcade on any of my devices. Strangely enough, the Songpop app appeared on my iPhone the same time I got it on my MacBook, without me having to download it.

    I only got an iPhone because I needed it for SFA for my grad school.  I wasn't planing to use it for games and such, but that's what happened. Not only do I have Songpop Classic on my phone, but I have Golf Clash as well. I had to migrate it from Facebook after the game makers had some difficulties with them. At least I had a phone by then to make it work. (More on this it a later post.)

    One thing I noticed on each game is the huge amount of ads on the phone versions, many of them for other games. When on my Mac, there were few ads, and they were usually just there when a special offer was given or when switching between modes. On the phone, Songpop has an ad after every single match it seems, not just occasionally. It's why I try to stick to my MacBook. Golf Clash also had ads, and they can be more intrusive. At first, many of these ads were interactive. You could play a level to try out the game. Sometimes, the playing would stop just before you could beat the level, though. Instead of continuing, the ad would take you to the game's site so you could purchase it. Very infuriating.

    So far, the only game I've actually gotten was one of those fruit merging games, that I keep on my second phone, the one without a SIM. I've also tried different merging games on Bing and YouTube. No other type of game that I've looked at was enjoyable enough to download to my phones. I don't think that I'll get the chance to do it again. Recently, I've not been getting ads for games on Golf Clash. Instead, I'm getting ads for AppleTV, wild salmon, TEMU, and chair tai chi for seniors. I guess that I've aged out of the game demographics, although Clash seems to have a new ad partner as well. The number of possible ads has decreased a lot as well. 

     I just want another test run ad. I want to try out something else. Especially since I don't eat salmon and don't need to sit in a chair for exercise.