Free Games - Cafe.com Online Game Blog

More Awards: Don't forget to Vote!

Well this is cool: Cafe.com is up for not just one, but TWO awards!

First, the Cafe.com game site has been nominated for the Pixel Awards, an annual award honoring sites that have shown excellence in web design and development. If you're a fan of Cafe.com, be sure to support it by voting for the site. You can even vote multiple times (once a day)!

Second, Boonty Inc (Cafe's parent company, but you already knew that!) CEO Romain Nouzareth was nominated for the Silicon Alley 100 list! Not too shabby, considering Mr. Nouzareth was already honored recently when his team took the top award at the Yahoo! "Hack a Day" Conference just last week. You can vote for him by clicking the small arrow next to his portrait. Only once please: hit it multiple times, and his score will go down.

Keep on trucking, Cafe.com!

Apparently, He Has Super-Powers

Wow. Thats all I can say.

Current high score for Jigsaw Wonders: TheTrevinator, with 1,852,400 points. One. Million. eight-hundred-fifity-two-thousand. Four-hundred.

TheTrevinators secret? Apparently, he has super-powers.

Bust a Fruit with Busta Fruit

Ok, cheesy post-titles aside, it's a ton of fun. Busta Fruit that is. The new game at Cafe.com? Come on people, stay with me!

Busta Fruit is a colorful update of the addictive 1996 puzzle game Snood. You remember Snood, right? The reason you skipped class, ignored your bosses presentation, and totally forgot to study for that history test? Ah, memories.

Well, what are you waiting for? Get going! Try it out!

Another Contest

It's that time again, all you groovy LOLcats 'n kittens out there on the interwebz. Cafe.com's got a new contest going, but this time things are a little different.

The challenge? Invite the most friends to Cafe in a two week period. The prize? a $500 gift certificate to Macy's (Not too shabby!). The rules? Get the full break down here. As an added bonus, even if you don't take the top prize you'll still recieve 250 free cafecoins for every friend who registers. And don't worry about having to sort through your contacts and social networks: Cafe.com has it all covered for you, and they make it really easy.

Man, $500 for Macy's? I was there last week, so I already know exactly what I'd spend that on! A new bottle of Dolce & Gabana cologne, some killer black suede boots, and that gorgeous brown (reversible!) wrap shawl that was on display near the Mac counter. You probably already have something in mind too, right? Well then what are you waiting for, get going! Start inviting your friends! There's a hip new outfit just waiting for you to come get it!

You like us! You really like us!

Wow, this has been a banner week for Cafe.com. First there was taking the gold at the Yahoo "Hack a Day" Conference, now its this sterling review over at Casualreview.com. Not bad!

On an unrelated note, it's come to our attention that there seems to be an issue on the cafe.com site that is causing some players difficulty when trying to get into a game room. Well, I just want to let you all know that we're aware of it and we're working to correct it as soon as possible. You can help out by reporting any problems or bugs to feedback@cafe.com. The more information we get on possible errors, the quicker we can get everything running smoothly and get you back into your game.

Cheers!

Yahoo! Open Hack 2008 Winners: Cafe.com!

Well now here's something you don't get to say every day! I'm proud to announce that the Cafe.com team took the top award for "Best Yahoo! Application" at the Yahoo! "Hack a Day" 2008 Conference in Sunnyvale, CA this past Saturday. 300 Silicon Valley developers participated in a 24-hour coding contest using Yahoo's new still-in-beta Open Strategy API (Y!OS).

The teams winning entry was a "My Yahoo Page" section that displayed all of a users friends with a list of newsfeeds (a la Facebook), their gaming status, a real Yahoo Map with all connected users to Cafe.com, and the ability to quickly join a game with any of them.

Awesome job guys! I can't wait until the API goes live.

If you'd like more information on the new Y!OS API, visit http://developer.yahoo.com/. If you'd more information on what the heck an API is, behold the power of Wikipedia.

 

Looking good boys! CEO Romain Nouzareth (center) and team accept their award

The Most Popular Game on Cafe.com?

I'm often asked by friends and readers, "what's the best game on Cafe.com?". Well, that's a matter of opinion, really (I go gaga for Absolute Solitaire and Together Jigsaw myself). But if you're judging by popularity, Temple of Mahjong is the clear winner, with a whopping 467,676 plays! The second most popular was my personal favorite Absolute Solitaire, played 102,550 times since its release at the end of June.

Want to see what all the fun is about? Head on over there!

Will Wright is my Master Now

Wahoo! Yesterday was a big day folks. The day we've hoped, salivated, and sacrificed small animals to: Sunday, September 7, 2008, finally saw the U.S. release of Sims creator Will Wright's long-anticipated game de resistance, Spore.

For those of you who are apparently Amish or living on another planet, the long-awaited Spore has been under development for a staggering eight years, and has been the subject of much speculation and excitement since it was revealed to the public during a speech at 2005's Game Developers Conference, and its official unveiling two months later at E3. Aside from the inherant coolness of the games concept - develop and take a species from microscopic organism to galactic conquest - the real ground-breaking draw of Spore is the subject of that first introductory speech: Procedural generation.

WARNING! COMPUTER GEEKERY AHEAD!

See, normally when a game calls for character customization, there are two basic ways to go about it: actually swap out pre-made parts and textures (this T-shirt, that skin color, one of these three heads, etc) as can be seen in most older games; or through on-the-fly changes methematically derived via set algorithms - i.e, procedural generation. This technology is not new, and is already well demonstrated in the character creation in Oblivion, or in Doom 3 where real-time lighting was used in place of pre-rendered light maps. So what makes Spore unique? Simple: rather than just being used for characters or environment elements, the entire game is based off of these mathematical algorithms, creating a truly unique experience from one player to the next, and providing nigh-infinite mutability to the game.

Still following? I can already sense I'm losing some of you. Ok, rather than continuing to listen to me wax poetic about my love affair with programming scripts (mostly because my own copy of Spore is sitting next to me, burning to be released from its plastic wrapping), if you'd like to know more I suggest you follow some of the links I've provided, as the information there is already superior to anything my poor words can conjur up (I ran out of coffee a few days ago).

Or better yet, try Spore for yourself.

Sudoku Tips and Tricks

Hey all you Sudoku maniacs out there. Yesterday I mentioned I'd be presenting some websites that would help you get a bit of a leg up on the competition, and here they are!

First, theres the tips over at Sudoku Essentials, who have a great break down on two basic approaches to the game, and strategies for going about them. Great for beginners, intermediates, anyone looking for that extra edge.

Second, for the extremely left-brained players, there's a step-by-step guide and tutorial to the mathematics of Sudoku from the Department of Theoretical Physics at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (phew!). An awesome resource for more advanced players who are concerned with the greatest depths of the game, or for anyone who's looking for better understanding to devise their own strategies.

Third? Sudoku Arena at Cafe.com of course (Duh, like you didn't see that coming). Once you've done your homework over at those sites its time to play for real, alone or against other would-be Sudoku champions. Speaking of which, the current high score - 19,620 - is held by Cafe fan Thanksalot. Brush up your skills and take her down!

Welcome Back!

Hey all! Welcome back from the long weekend. Depending on where you live, your Monday was either a washed-out hurricane, or a glorious final summer day: Hope it was the latter, and that it was filled with cook-outs and hiking and lounging by the pool!

Phew, I'll tell you, my brain is totally frazzled after these long weekends. To get back into the swing of things, I'm thinking tomorrow I'll post some great tips and resources for different games. I was thinking Sudoku or Brain Quiz, but if anyone's got a request, let me know by commenting!

I'll be back tomorrow with those tips. Peace!

(PS. For those of you in the USA, don't forget to follow the Republican National Convention going on this week in Minneapolis!)

(This comic is the property of funny man Randall Munroe over at XKCD)