Lumosity – all in one timewaster and brain exerciser

If you need to take a break and the usual distractions won’t do (email, twitter, Google Reader, IM) you can try Lumosity, a brain fitness program that let’s you waste time but still feel good while you’re doing it.

Lumosity, designed by neuroscientists, is scientifically demonstrated to improve your memory, attention and processing speed. Not bad huh? The best part is, it’s very addictive – like gaming – you will want to increase your scores.

You can check your Lumos IQ without signing in but if you get hooked and want to try more exercises you will have to register. If you do sign up, you will go through a brain fitness program over the course of 30 sessions where the sessions are 15 minutes.

The exercises are free while the Lumos site is still in beta, but it won’t be free forever.

source [downloadsquad]

Game – Flash Element TD

I’ve seen games like Flash Element TD before and haven’t been overwhelmed, but after playing this one for about 45 minutes, and then realizing I had been playing it for 45 minutes, I realized it’s a keeper. It’s of the “tower defense” genre, wherein you have to protect against wave after wave of baddies by building towers. Each tower has strengths and weaknesses against different enemies, which get progressively tougher. For each enemy you kill you get gold, which you can use to buy more towers, and for every seventh wave you get wood, which you can spend to unlock new types of towers. At the beginning of the game you have 20 lives, and you lose one life for every enemy you let pass. While nothing about Flash Element TD stands out too far at first blush, but after playing a few levels I was completely addicted. Check it out.

Update: Strategy guide can be found here.

Update2: Watch him score 200k+

source [downloadsqure]

Game – Christmas Sudoku

Today’s Mac timewaster is Dracosoft’s Christmas Sudoku. I’m not usually a big fan of Sudoko, personally. I don’t need to spend my free time looking at numbers in a grid. Isn’t that what Excel is for? The folks at Dracosoft, though, replaced the traditional numbers with colorful Christmas icons. That I can get into. If you’re already into Sudoku, the three levels of gameplay should provide hours of fun. If you’re not hooked yet, this may just be the thing that drives you over the edge into obsession. The price tag is $5.99, with a one-hour free trial.

source [downloadsquad]

Game – Christmas Tale

Are you ready to help Santa Claus make holiday celebration unique and outstanding? Christmas Tale is a brainwashing logic game which takes you in alluring journey where you have to light Christmas trees, and by avoid fun different obstacles. This is a usual situation we encounter every year, while hardly working to dress Christmass tree in our houses, thus you will find game atmosphere and objectives very close and fun to your own life at Christmas!

Download Christmas Game (1.5 Mb)

 

source [alivegames]

Gift Wrapped – Holiday Time Waster

Ooh, a holiday-themed Time Waster that doesn’t suck! Gift Wrapped is a great Flash hair-puller from Nitrome. The premise is thin and actually doesn’t sound that promising–you have to find your gifts among the pile of wrapped presents by shape alone, based on the picture shown in the box at the top. At the beginning the game is really easy and I was prepared for a letdown. However, it gets harder fast, as first it starts changing the orientation of the wrapped presents and then adding more similar-shaped gifts to the pile and using more of the same giftwrap patterns, all of which make it harder to find the gift you’re looking for. You start out the game with 30 seconds on the clock, which steadily ticks down, and bonus time gets added for each gift you pick correctly, and when your time really starts running out is when the hair-pulling begins. Like I said, I wasn’t expecting much, but Gift Wrapped turns out to be a pretty fun, addictive little game. Post your high scores in the comments–I’m only up to 470.

source [downloadsquad]

Sudoku Slam – Today’s Time Waster

I’ve fallen more or less out of my Sudoku obsession, but Sudoku Slam brings something new to the table. Sudoku Slam is a free web-based version of Sudoku, and has a “Traditional” mode that acts like most web-based Sudoku games. But it also has a “Sumo” mode that, for jaded, impatient Sudoku players like me, takes some of the tedium out of the game. Sudoku purists might call it cheating, but what Sumo mode does is automatically fill in all the “candidate” numbers at the beginning of the game and automatically eliminate candidates as you solve the puzzle. Sudoku Slam also has some other welcome features, like the ability to undo any mistakes you might have made, full keyboard control, and the ability to save and load games, as well as print them out. There’s also a Smart Hint option in case you get stumped, and four different difficulty levels. Definitely worth checking out if other Sudoku sites have fallen short of your expectations.

source [downloadsquad]

Flash-based Game – Warp Forest

To say the amount of time I killed yesterday playing Warp Forest is embarrassing would be an understatement. This action puzzler is, I think, the best Flash-based specimen of the genre I have ever played. In Warp Forest you drive a little car around a forest, and the goal of each level is to collect all of the keys on the screen and then return to the exit. Of course, it's not nearly as simple as that, because you have obstacles, locked gates, and hostile baddies to contend with, which make some of the levels mind-bogglingly difficult. As expected, most of the levels require you to do things in a very specific sequence, but what set this apart is the more action-y parts that demand quick, precise movements. On top of the rock-solid gameplay, nice graphis, and original puzzles, the game has a few nice touches rare among Flash games, including five game save slots and the ability to turn off the music or sound independently. Now, can anybody tell me how to beat level 24?

source post [Jay is Games]

101 Free Games at 1Up.com

Over at 1UP.com they're running a great list of 101 Free Games that has me itching to stop writing this post and start playing. The list is a great mix of games across all types and genres, from Flash puzzle games to full-fledged MMORPGs to cross-platform, er, platformers. And, as the name implies, every last one of them is free. There goes the rest of my week!

 

 

source post [download squad] 

Hapland 3

There's no way we could let a new Hapland game come out without putting our Time Waster stamp of approval on it. Hapland 3 is the newest game in the popular Flash series, and puzzle fans won't be disappointed. It's bigger, tougher, and even the artwork has taken a big step forward. If you get stumped and need a walkthrough, head over to the comments at Jay is Games. Now excuse my while I kill the rest of my afternoon playing this.

source post [download squad] 

Tennis – Today’s Time Waster

From the brilliant game designers showing their stuff over at Gamedesign, here’s Tennis. This game couldn’t be simpler, essentially aping the controls on my old copy of Mario Tennis for the Game Boy Color. Use the arrow keys to move, the space bar to swing. As with the best games, the controls are simple, it’s easy to get started, and then the pain begins. This is not an easy game to win, but a lot of fun to play. Some deride the graphics, but I think everything is put together extremely well. Great for a match or two in exhibition mode, or do more in tournament. By the way, Gamedesign has a ton of stuff like this.

source post [download squad]