Quite good the first few times you play it. After which, you can work out the thinking of the AI. The hardest level is the easiest AI to work out, very predictable and once you've worked out how to manipulate it somewhat, the challenge is gone and you can win four out of five times. The easy AI is also somewhat easy to manipulate. The medium level AI is the most unpredictable.
If the AI was more able to see the bigger picture it may be more challenging.
Good for almost mindless time-wasting.
Thank you.


..........................Moderator Comment..........................


Thank you for your feedback Steve

Hi!
I've downloaded this game in the spring, and registered to User "Giveawayoftheday". Now as I open the game, it says that a new version is available, so I need your advice - shall I upgrade? Will the new version automatically be registered as the one I have? I don't want to lose it, so I'd rather keep an older version than get a new one only for a month...
Thanks :)



...........................Moderator Comment....................


No, I wouldn't advise that. Usually when you upgrade a giveaway it invalidates the licence and reverts to a demo. It's up to you whether you want to risk it. It may work it may not. Let us know if you do and the outcome. ;-)

What an enjoyable little gem this game is. Very similar to Patolli (another oldie). Love this genre of games...wish for more!
I appear to have a problem when playing this game with the sound on. It locks up/freezes ~ computer and game so I have to manually shut down everything and reboot. No problem without the sound. I have the latest Java 7 installed. The only thing that comes to mind is that I installed to another folder instead of Programs and could that be the issue? Any suggestions? Thanks for all the great games!

........................Moderator comment........................

Hello Lilypooch, you can change the instal path to anything and it shouldn't affect game play. I never install to the path directed to by the giveaway project.

Try updating your audio drivers. If you've not updated them in a long time it could be causing the problem. To find out which drivers you need go to the Start Menu and type in dxdiag (in the search field, or in the run command for Win XP). This opens up the direct X diagnostics pane. Click on the Sond tabs (there's usually a couple) you should see what audio card/chip you are using.

Nice game! Glad to have something different from the usual categories. I find play is more interesting if you play with at least 2 computer opponents. Also, make sure to try some of the other boards for variety; I didn't see them for quite awhile.
Suggestions: 1-Shouldn't have to set level of computer opponent (bronze, silver, gold) every time; it should stay where you choose until you manually change it.)
2-Some of the boards are inherently unfair; some players have further to go to get "home" than others. When the game chooses the color for your computer opponent, it should choose one that is the same distance from "home" as you are.

..........................Moderator comment.............................

Thank you for your comment.

Another nice one! On our first try, my six-year-old daughter and I had a very challenging game. She picked it up right away, and really enjoyed it! Nice that you can have up to 4 players, simple premise, definite strategy involved. And a board editor, too? Very nice overall!! I can't think of anything to improve - it all works for me. Thank you so much GGotD, and great job to the developer!!

@DataPoint Systems: Almost EVERYTHING uses Java, even cell phones. You can't run from it and won't be able to do much w/o it. Unless you're really really into Windows Solitaire, you're gonna be really bored....

Stephen,

Thanks for your earlier reply, but you never did explain what 'dlc' means. ;)


...........................Moderator Comment........................

sorry, dlc means ....... DownLoadable Content.

I think the most important comment I can give about the game is that is great to see something DIFFERENT on the market. I've grown so tired of match 3, hidden object, time management, etc games that I can't bear to play them anymore. Ok, I realize this is old board game so you can't really call it "new", but it is different. Sadly, I don't think the general public is "into" games like this, but hopefully sales of the game are beating my expectations. :-)

Ok, some serious feedback:

1) The game REALLY needs a volume control. I have my system volume set so that all the other applications are at a comfortable level, but this game nearly blew my eardrums out with the music and sound effects. For example, inside the volume control in Win 7 my other apps are anywhere between 50-100. I had to put this game down to five for it to be comfortable. Really, its LOUD. You might ask why the game needs a volume control when Win 7 does it for me, but other platforms might not. Still, I should have to risk deafness the first time I start the game up.

2) Sometimes I am having problems picking up or dropping a marble. Probably 1 out of 20 times, I have to click at the very bottom of the circle (instead of the center) for the action to register.

3) Some of the sound effects are a bit cheesy. In particular, the "ow" on capture seems a bit childish and the gong when placing a barricade is a bit jarring. I'm not really sure what I would recommend, but I think simple would be better.

4) I can't really say that the graphics are bad as the marbles and the board do have nice textures, but there is still something a bit "crude" about the look. You can see pixelation between the marbles and the board. Sadly I don't know enough about game design, but the game would look better if there were a way to anti-alias edges of the marbles. I could be wrong, but it also seems like you are using 8 bit images. If you (or somebody you know) could photoshop or 3D render some of the graphics, it would give it more of a polished retail look.

5) I'm not familiar with the rules of the original, but the game allows you to put barricades on the colored circle outside the homebase (where you would land on a roll of one from your first move). It seems like blocking in somebody's homebase is a powerful move and can be especially unbalanced if the first player rolls a five on the first or second move. Is this supposed to be allowed?

6) AI could use some work. Even on "gold" I've seen the computer do stupid things like place a blockade ahead of one of its own marbles. There are also times when the computer has a choice of two moves which provide equal progress up the board, but one has a capture and the other doesn't; it will turn down the capture.

Still, a great game and well worth the low price tag you've put on it.

Came across a very peculiar problem
While installing antivirus flagged off a message "trying to create a regkey.....allow ?
regkey was " Key:
hklm\SOFTWARE\CLASSES\LNKFILE\SHELLEX\CONTEXTMENUHANDLERS\KASPERSKY ANTI-VIRUS "
parameter Supress shell context menu
didnt no what to do so disallowed
after that the game try to open nokia ovi suite & message comes ovi suite is trying to send hidden data through net
After that the game on clicking the icon opens up Ovi suite
I beleive that all games here are vetted by the board for any illegitimate behaviour including trying to collect user data without its consent.
Please let me know how do i interpret this & move ahead


...........................Moderator comment.....................

one other community member appears to have had a similar problem, tohugh no AV software was involved It just involved his Nokia suite. To be honest I really don't know what to say. As you so rightly point out the giveaway team do check these games throughly. There has been thousand downloads with no anti-maware activity reported, so I would tend to err on the side of the majority, but in the end its up to you to make the decision and as to how much you want to check this game out. cannot make security decisions for you, epecially as i'm not there to see exactly whats going on.

I've installed the software on three of my coputers (mainly for test purposes and have seen no security warnings pop up. Though I have no Nokia software.

Please read the suggestion I made to that user above. Thank you.

sorry I couldn't be more positive.

Very nice game! Thanks gotd! Game editor, love editors!
Question about freebies from Alawar? Looked web page over -
Is thre a url to free game from alawar? Like url from
Realone - http://www.realore.com/games/free_game/
Gotd is greatest!

This game is great...didn't want to stop playing to come back and leave feedback. I had no problems installing on Win 7, 32 bit. No Java problems or anything. I did however have an instant where the game board sort of "flashed", but it kept going so hopefully was nothing serious??????. Great game! Thanks guys!
(Rabbit - wish your bunny (did ya get that?) a Happy Mother's Day for me....even if it's already over....better late than never.)

Deleted Zip and unzipped files. Re-downloaded zipped file and unzipped. This time I was able to install the game. However, at the last step, where it is supposed to lauch the game..... nothing happens. If you double click on the shortcut, the following error message pops up, "This file does not have a program associated with it for performing this action. Create an association in the Set Associations control panel."

In the game folder there is no application file other than the "uninstall.exe." Where is the game exe file?


................................Moderator comment..........................

I really cannot figure what's happening. There are thousands of positive downloads with no one such a problem such a problem before, so ca only suggest there is something wrong with your connection. Try rebooting your modem and/or router. Failing that, delete the internet cookies linked to the giveawayoftheday project and redownload aain

Got an "error launching installer" on Windows Vista Home edition. What to do?

For all those that use WIN 7 64 bit you need to install the 64 bit version of Java to get the game to work.

I'm usually here looking for games for my daughter. This one is mine. I can try out many variations before constructing a physical copy. The official version seems to create a limited strategy for the end game.

hey moderator. i was 'surfing' (sorry if inaccurate) thru and noted your
query re Java. i will tell you why i will not let it in my life again:
it (somewhere along the line) put an 'update checker' on my system that would NOT deactivate. According to their site, you can uncheck the poc.
But it throws up a notice advising you not to, lets you uncheck it, cancel it, and then, tomorrow, jumps back up in your face... i too would be inclined to use expletives (make that invective expletives) regarding this poc software from Oracle no less. Best Regards, ejs.


........................Moderator Comment..............................

Thank you

Tried but Win 7 s64 a no go. First game couldn't find Java 7 on PC so let it bring down Java 6. Ran then but won't take any input, just stayed on first board. So have 2 Javas showing and will leave them for heck of it. Ran Your Unin-staller prg and as that did its thing the D: drive went away that game was on. Cleared that up. Didn't try DEP or such since not my tea cup. Thanks anyway.

Success!!! had to uninstall and reinstall new java 6 -31 then move from program folder reinstall game to A \Games folder one machine C: drive second machine on Second drive V(ideo):\Games folder. notsure if it would access out of default location but they both work, run good now, just have to learn the game, just getting clobbered!! ha ha . first java game in a while. Thankyou GOTD and Publisher.

@18 and 22:

I experienced something similar, got it "fixed" by changing the shortcut to "C:\Program Files\Java\jre7\bin\java.exe" -jar "C:\Program Files\Barricade 3.5.1\barricade.jar".

Note: The file paths above are the 'default' paths for pre-Vista machines, they might be slightly different on your computer. For me, this way of starting the program finally prevented Nokia Suite to start (on one computer) and finally got the game started (on the second computer).




..........................Moderator Comment.........................

Thank you for your feedback

Nicely done game. Played it once, and I beat the computer. Whoo hoo!

One suggestion for improvement: Check the person's mouse button settings. I run my mouse with my left hand, and have switched the button settings. But - the game still expects the default settings. So I need to 'pinky click' to choose the marble to move. (and then when the game puts up a dialog window - the window *does* respect my settings - so I have to remember to NOT pinky click. Life is Sooo hard.)



..........................Moderator Comment.........................

Thankyou for your feedback

A very nice game concept. There are a lot of board variations, and even a board editor, which should have made this lasting fun. Perhaps it will even be lasting fun against human opponents, using the networking feature. Not many people on the public server, perhaps I chose a bad time to check though.

The game is marred by poor AI, at least on the official layout which is the one I've played two times now, once against a single bronze opponent and once against three gold opponents. I suppose the bronze doesn't really count, but I saw the same flaws both times.

Two concrete suggestions for improving the AI:

When the AI is ahead now, it will protect its forward stones with hedging barricades directly behind, which is good. But except for the very first move, it never seems to consider blocking the approach paths, which is a critical flaw. Instead, once there is a front runner, the AI seems to mindlessly plug the 4th or even 11th stone into the front runner's path. This means there will always be a mass of opponent stones rushing up the completely empty path from the start to overtake the front position. Once there are three barricades on the front runner, there will be ample time to put more before it can smash its way through, so they will be better spent elsewhere.

When some player has an overwhelming advantage with two or more protected stones chewing their way through the string of barricades to the end goal, the other AIs should consider opponent stones as temporary allies, allow each other to live and cooperate in knocking away the protecting hedges to get at the main threat. Currently they will rather bicker among themselves, which works to the leader's advantage.


..........................Moderator Comment.........................

Thank you for your excellent feedback Bovi.

Thanks to GGOTD. Two games in a row that I downloaded. I like it. I like the idea of creating your own levels but most of all you can network the game. My kids have their own computers so we can play networked games. Also it is good to see thinking games that are not always about graphics. Now don't get me wrong. I do favour graphics. I do remember a time when game play and not graphics were the thing. Of course in my day, computers couldn't do the graphics so it was game play or nothing. Ah the good old days of computer games. Thank the good Lord that those days are over. :-)

Whiterabbit thank you for the links to get "4 Elements" and a new one "Finding Doggy". I like the idea where there is a set path so you can't just create one like in "4 Elements".

Enjoy the day with your family. Mind you the day is over for you and my is in the middle. Let me know what you did so I can get ideas for our Mother's day which is in May.


...........................Moderator Comment.....................


I agree with you wholeheartedly on that. I too love graphic intensive game play; for example there's nothing like wandering around the amazing detailed environemtns in ArmA II, Skyrim, Just Cause II or even older games such as Battlefield 2 (2005) and Oblivion (2006) or some of the beautifully textured games such as Trine; but i never forget that game play is also so important. There have been sseveral highly detailed RPG's released over the last few years such as Fable III and Risen that flopped on release, simply because the game play wasn't up to scratch. One of my favorite games of all time is a game released back in 1992 called Darklands. The graphics are very basic, but it's one of the most detailed (gameplay wize) RPG's I've ever played (GOG have just started to sell it which is annoying as you could get it for free until they put it on their books{as they have done with quite a few of their older games})

re: mothers Day, the children prepared home made presents plus i got them some gift tokens so that my wife could buy herself something nice (though it was labelled from the children). Basically we made sure she didn't have to lift a finger to do anythig including the meals. Ialso asked the children not to argue at all which they just about manage. As I mention in my review, both of them did presentations that included a video with loads of images of the family with quotes and messages of thanks for being a fantastic mother and a power point presentation with loads of interactive stuff included. all in all a successful day, tohugh i'm totally shattered now. This has been one of the buisiest days i've had in a long time. i've had to take three losts of breakthrough meds to cope, but it's taking its toll now. Thankfully I've just got the kids off to bed aft6er a good session of homework.

Dear Stephen,

With reference to your "Extra Stuff:"

1) I bet GOG means GOOD Old Games and not GOD Old Games as you stated. ;)

2) What on earth does 'dlc' mean? Please remember that not all of us who visit GGOTD are 'hard-core' game site visitors like yourself, therefore abbreviations like 'dlc' are rather baffling to us!


........................Moderator Comment............................

Haha, that was typed while I was in a rush. It's been a really busy day trying to get the kids to do the things my wife usually does so that she could have a special Mothers day. :) The kids were brilliant. My son had made a video using some software he bought with his spending money that is usually used to create interesting introductions to You Tube videos. He made a fantastic presentation on how much he appreciates his mom and my daughter did a power point presentation on the same theme (Cal wouldn't let his siter use the software to create one herself, but her Power Point was still brilliant - they both spent days preparing for the day). Both did really well. However I've had to direct them for most of the day. Cal even made our lunch. :)

This reminds me of a game I played as a kid, Aggravation , but on steroids. It's a simple concept but can be very challenging. The barricades can be frustrating but I really like this game and will be keeping it in my games folder for a long time I am sure. :lol:

There is a bug in the skins, I suppose Vantentine would be Valentine? A very good game, no enough time to test it, anywhere thank you!

Tried to install it, but my Nokia Suite wil starts.
I'm not going to remove my Nokia suite for a game.
Next game but try again?


.........................Moderator comment...........................

Try using Game Booster from IOBit. You can configure it to turn your Nokia suite off during gameplay, then when you're done click on the Game Booster button to restart all the services that were turned off. The program comes pre-configured to turn off Windows services that aren't needed during gameplay; you have to manually configure the program to turn off non Windows programs.

It's great for sorting out programs that conflict with the game you want to play as well as freeing up memory during memory intensvive operations such as playing games like Crysis (one of the earliest of the most recent graphically impressive games to be released back in 2008 and the most recenty released hi definition games). It will free up around 40% of your system resources with no configuring at all and more with some easy to do tweaks.

You can download Game Booster via the following link:

http://www.iobit.com/gamebooster.html

Interesting game. Took a little playing around verses the computer to understand how the game works. This game needs some more popularity - no one to play with online... :P

The game against the computer makes four very fun.

The team mode also makes it really fun, above all if you can rip off the same 2 computers with it. :-)

But if you over local area network (probably via the Internet) wants to play with someone else who has the Giveawayoftheday version, then this is unfortunately only in shareware mode. So you can only play 2 boards with your friends Giveawayoftheday. I find that very sad.

The translation of the German language is sometimes very bad, but still understandable. (My english is probably not much better, but that's tuned because I have translated my German text with English in the google.)

On my Windows 7 64-bit PC, I've encountered a little graphic problem. And indeed it happens, are selecting that with the selection board, the preview image after your board is one. Been remedied, if we consider the game window just above the imaginary image. Has anyone else the same problem and maybe a better solution?

Finally, a suggestion that I miss even in the original PC game Malefiz from Ravensburger. It would be very nice if there would be an option, one has only won when you have brought all of his characters in the target.

In conclusion, I would just like to say thumbs up that's a good game.

PS: I found the funniest translation of the "Update". The author writes "Updatung". This word I have ever read in any language. Correctly would have been "Aktualisieren". One would, however, the translation of the word can save update, because that's Germanized so much that I think everyone knows what is meant. Even in the German version of Windows is finally spoken of "Windows Update".



................................Moderator comment............................

Thank you for your excellent feedback pizzamampf

I've not yet installed the game, but having checked out the developer's site about it, I think a small correction is in order unless today's GOTD version is different than the one described on the game's site.
According to the developer, the game is cross-platform (Windows, Linux and Mac OS X) thanks to it being written (coded) in Java. This means, the Java requirement is not limited to the network portion of the game. It's required to run the game in the first place. I guess most people already have Java installed, so it won't make any difference.

It also has a free version which has a few limitations - just follow the link to the game's site given here and you can read all about it.

As for some people's refusal to install Java (and there's certainly more appropriate language to express it), though it may limit you from a number of apps and games, it's understandable to a degree - Java adds to the software you have to watch for security updates. For a number of people, a game is not motive enough to keep Java installed and up to date.

Finally, for those installing Java just to get today's game to run, please note that the latest version of Java Runtime Environment(JRE)is 7 which you should install for security reasons, even if the game runs with a previous version.

Thanks,
Kate D.



................................Moderator comment............................

Thank you for your feedback Kate.

Must be doing something wrong here. have java runtime, but game won't open/run. on two machines ,one says access denied other opens all the files in un-archiver. but I don't see how to make it go !! something about those .jar files..

Looks like an interesting game - I'll give it a try. =)

Nice little game with simple graphics. It would be nice to see some of these days a checkers game. I am very fond of them.

Nice game with many options. I suggest starting with the "Small" board since it is easier and quicker for learning to play. Also, a small board can be enlarged more for easier visibility. The game play is somewhat similar to Pachisi.

Thanks Mathieu Rossignol and GOTD for offering it. I probably never would have heard of it otherwise.

I would describe this game to others as saying it is a mix of checkers, Chinese checkers, Sorry, and Pachisi. Its checkers with a race to the end.

I enjoyed playing this simple game. I didn't experience any glitches.

I did not try any mode outside of a single PC AI and me (head to head/player vs PC). But from my trail run, I would rate the game 4/5.

1 star taken simply because I do believe the game could have been programed to have extra modes that added to replay and entertainment value. Perhaps a mode that replaces the balls with animated guys that battle or make faces at the opposing pieces like in battle chess.



................................Moderator comment............................

Thank you for your feedback

I'm afraid LAN options are very limited with this license (i.e. both copies registered to the same name, Giveawayoftheday).

Two free games in two days! This is a lot of fun, and the graphics are really great. Thanks again, GOATD

Thanks for this one! Love these sort of games, and the board editor is a great added bonus. Sure some will like the online play feature too. nice one! :)

Installed, registered and ran fine on Vista64.

This may be the most fun I have had with a strategy game since the Bagh Chal (Tigers and Goats) giveaway a while back. the movement guide made reading the instructions unnecessary after a few turns.

It appears to be a pretty decent value when you consider the network multi-player and board management systems.

Installed on Win 7 X64 but, for some reason, will not run. Perhaps others will have this issue. No vote up or down.

Fun little game, thanks Barricade and GOTD.

Quick to learn and fun to play against the computer because there's a good chance of actually beating it, unlike a lot of other games. Lots of choice of board layout, colours and music. All in all a really good game.

Whabbit,
I've just read your post. So glad you didn't have much time. :D

This game looks like the game you see played in the Arab countries;
simple dimples in the sand and bottle tops and sticks for pawns. A very early form of Checkers.
Interesting.

Wow, this is a classical game. I really love it. I played it with family and friends thousands of times and I bare great rememberences of it.

Actually I think this game ougt to be played on a cardboard aharing the same table to enjoy it fully. But playing a computer version adds smoe to it. You can play it with family or friends oversees when you want. I would preference sharing the same table though.

This is a game where you can make up a real stategy or team up with other players against an other. I simply love it.

And I like it even better because it starts windowed.
Get this one, I haven't seen it before.

Required an update to Java 5, which it did automatically. Showed many (too many) folders created (ex several pointing to user/myname/roaming/appdata/progams/start menu/...

Nice that shows possible move spots, including backwards

Thank you -- a different and fun game

Requires Java Runtime Environment 5 or better. Too bad .. I won't put that ................inappropriate word removed.................... on my system.


.........................Moderator Comment..............................

There's no need to use inappropriate words to descrige your feelings. JAVA is required for the online portion of the game. Can you tell me why you are so against JAVA? Not installing it precludes the use of many applications and games by not using the software.

Thanks. I loved this game when i was younger(35 years ago).

UnfortunatelyI've not had time to test this game out fully and today is a special day in the UK (Mothers Day) so I won't have time to write a decent review on the game. From my brief foray into game play it's a decent enough puzzle board game well worth downloading unless you have a predilection for hating installable extras such as JAVA. The game requires it to work. This is becasue the game has an online element. JAVA is the software that enables you to play with others on the internet.

In Shortl>:

Barricade, is a strategy board game; gaining its inspiration from the "pawn race" type of game. It is a simple game that can be played by the whole family or against up to three computer generated opponents. You can also play on a Local Area Network or online with other human players or from the same computer..






InstallationL>


The downloaded zip file is 15.8MB in size and unpacks to the usual dual activation and set up file together with a read me with the terms and conditions of the giveaway. There's no shortcuts installed to the desktop but you do get one installed to the Start Menu/Programs list, where you'll also find a n uninstaller link as well. You can create a shortcut from the Start menu shortcut if you prefer a desktop shortcut or go directly to where the game is installed to:



C:\Program Files (x86)\Barricade 3.5.1 (64bit)

or

C:\Program Files\Barricade 3.5.1 (32bit)




The installed game is 14.7MB in size. The game works on XP, Vista and Win 7.

IntroductionL>


Barricade, also known as Malefiz, is inspired from the famous board game of type "pawn race" which is a turn based game. It is a simple game that can be played by the whole family, from parents to children.

If it is simple, it is however captivating because it requires a good strategy : you need to make a smart balance between :
Blocking the enemies
Attacking the enemies
Protecting your pawns
Moves quickness
Grouping your pawns for a higher power

Barricade can be played alone against the computer or with 2, 3, 4 players..., depending on the game board. It can be played on the same machine, on the local network (LAN) or through the internet. With more than 2 players, it is even more distracting because of the temporary alliances than can be established and stopped during the game : no matter the method, you need to prevent the others from arriving to the final square before you! A board editor is also available and you can share your creations from the boards catalog of the official site.



Reference accessed HERE 18th March 2012


Please notel>:

Java 5 or higher is required to be installed on your system for the game to work. To download and install java, please go to: http://www.java.com

VideoL>:

Using the board editorL>:

You can see a video of how to use the board editor HERE


Creating a game serverL>:

You can find a couple of videos on how to create a geme server HERE and HERE and for gameplay at least 10 more videos HERE

Aim of the GameL>:



Be the first player to reach the "final" square, with one of his pawns, after having taken a hard road.


Game componentsL>:



The black pawns also known as the "barricades".
The colored pawns, with :
The same number of colored pawns for each player.
One color per player.
The game board with :
The "home bases" of the players, made of squares colored with the same color as the pawns of the player. This is where the players start.
The move squares on which the players' pawns move and the barricades are. The squares on which the barricades are placed at the beginning of the game are black.
The "final" square, which is white.
A dice to make the moves.


Game mechanismL>:



Barricade is a turn based game. The players ordering is decided once for all at the beginning of the game and is unchanged until the end of the game. The players play one after each others until one of them succeeds in landing one of his pawns on the "final" square. Once he does, this player is declared the winner of the game. A turn in the game is as follows :The player :
Rolls the dice.
Moves one of his pawns on the board, following the moving rules
Whenever in his turn, a player may decide to pass his turn and to not move a pawn (for instance if he thinks the dice value is not satisfying).

Skins

Moving rules and actionsL>:


The moving rules and possible actions are as follows :
A pawn moves using a number of squares as told by the dice value. The original square of the pawn is not taken into account.
A pawn moves using a path of squares that are horizontally or vertically direct neighbors, but never diagonal neighbors.
A square path of a pawn never directly comes back to a square where the pawn just passed.
When a pawn is in his home base, the square number one is the bicolor square just in front of the home base.
A pawn can go across other pawns (friends' pawns or opponents' pawns), but never across barricades. A barricade is like a wall and one cannot go through. To go to the other side of a barricade, the barricade must be broken (taken).
When a pawn walks through his path according to the dice value, he can only arrive on a square :
Which is empty
On which there is a barricade
On which there is an opponent's pawn
A barricade is taken when a pawn ends his path (according to the dice value) on the square where the barricade is. A taken barricade must immediately be replaced on any empty square of the board, but a home base square. It is advised to place the barricades where they prevent opponents' pawns to progress, or where they protect the friendly pawns from enemies' pawns.
An opponent's pawn is taken when a pawn ends his path (according to the dice value) on the square where the opponent's pawn is. A taken opponent's pawn must be placed back to his home base.
No pawn goes out of the board during the whole game.


Team gameL>:


To play a team game, you need at least 3 players. A team is made of at least 1 player (2 vs 2, 1 vs 3, ...etc). A player cannot :
Play a pawn of a team mate.
Take a pawn of a team mate.
A team is the winner team when a player of the team is the first to reach the "final" square with one of his pawns.



Uploading custom made boards and getting moreL>:


If the game is registered, you can create your own boards thanks to the board editor. You can also share your creations with other players by uploading your boards (.brd files) onto the boards catalog on this site. You can also download some boards created by other players from this catalog.


You can upload your own creations HERE and you can get others HERE

FeaturesL>:

23 additional boards + catalog's boards
Board editor
Network game
Save and reload a game
Team game (local machine or network)
7 additional skins tracks




ConclusionL>:

No conclusions today. Its Mothers Day here in the UK so i'm devoting my whole day (apart from moderating) to helping my children give their mom a very peacful day. :) all of the above information has been taken from the developers website which you can access HERE

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Additional stuffl>:




More GamesL>



Up until a few weeks ago I'd stopped posting links to MyPlayCity games because you were required to install toolbars and have your home page hijacked before you could play any of their games. It seems that they have changed their policy yet again and removed that requirement. You will still get the check-boxes so you need to make sure the boxes have been unchecked before installing the game. also they have a very large collection approaching 600 premium quality arcade games ranging from Match 3, Time Management and Hidden Object games, Action and Adventure games to Shooters, Flying, Car, Brain Teasers, Board games, Mahjong, Games for Girls, Card games, Sport, Arcade and several more categories (most can be found in more than one category.), so make sure you do check becasue they may not have removed all of the negative stuff yet.


Some more good news, if you remember i used to post links to another free site called FreeGamePick, but stopped for the same reason I stopped posting links to MyPlayCity. They have also stopped the practice of forcing you to install toolbars etc. You can get the previous weeks games such as Helic and two of its sister games from FreeGamePick, though it's called Helicopter Wars and the other two are called Sky Battle and Sky Battle: WWII. Helicopter Wars and other previous game giveaways are also available from MyPlayCity.

You can find more games over on FreeGamePick HERE




Apparently Gametop has gone the other way and now forces you to install toolbars etc.I can't confirm this as I haven't checked in a few weeks. they certainly didn't a few weeks ago, but I read in the forums that they had last week.

With respect to all of these free game sites including Jenkat Games always make sure you uncheck the toolbars and home page changers. If they wont let you, it means you'll have to mess around recovering your home page. when this happened to me several months ago via MyPlayCity it took me ages to get rid of the extra browser that went straight to Ask.com.








If today's game doesn't take your fancy then check out the game discussion forums and the free games synopsis. We’ve posted a couple of thousand free games over the last three years, many of which are excellent alternatives to their commercial cousins.

Recent additions include a first person spooky walkthrough called The Stairwell, Retroblazer an FPS, another FPS called Open Arena, an update to the flight simulator Flight Gear, a free FPS game called Red Eclipse, an Experimental Puzzle called Cut & Paste (from the Indievania site I've mentioned further down this section). An update to a game posted over 2 years ago called open Transport Tycoon, Mari0 (a portal like version of Mario); there's also another Doom port called DoomRL (roguelike FPS) and finally from week 177 an adventure game called The Journey Down. I was going to post Space Quest II: Vohaul's Revenge, which was freely available until GOG hoovered it up (like they have with many older games over the last few years for example Darklands, Decent and many more decent oldies). Actually I've just found a legal fan remake of Space Quest II: Vohaul's Revenge that is free which I will be posting details of soon. :)



All of the major game distributors such as Steam, Impulse and GOG all have some sales with savings as good as 75% in some cases.

For example GOG (Good Old Games) has 50% off 'Rise of the Triad', 'Duke Nukem': 'Manhatten Project', 'Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition' (yet another game that GOG has hooverd up that used to be freely available on most good abandonware sites), and the two Blake Stone games 'Planet Strike' and 'Aliens of Gold', all for $2.99/£1.88 each.

Steam has 50% off Dungeon Defenders plus all dlc (all 15 of them though 3 are free). Anno 2070 has 40% off (though the dlc is excluded from the sale). There's also another free weekend for Dungeon Defenders till Sunday evening, so go download it for free and play for the next 36 hours totally for free. Todays 24hour deal is both Peggle games Peggle and Peggle night. If you've never played either of them nows your chane to get the games for a knock down price. At only $3.39/£2.27 each or for both together as Peggle complete $5.09/£4.75 for even more savings. That's 66% off the usual price. I've had both games since they were originally released and have played them through several tims. If you don't know anything about them they are based on Pachinko. If you don't know what Pachinko is check the wiki for it via the following link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pachinko

Pachinko is extremely popular in Japan. It's estimated that the income from Pachinko is four times that of the worlds gambling casinos income. I can see why they are so popular. Peggle is amazingly addictive. plus the graphics and extra game modes makes for a game well worth the money. Not only that it's an ideal family game. :)

Gamestop also has some excellent deals with anything from 33% to 75% off and more for the likes of Battlefield 3 which has just won three BAFTA's in the UK.

Gamersgate has even more sales and Greenman Gaming (GMG) has some deals to offer as well, though not many at the moment; you will have to Google GMG as they aren't included on Didimatic

You can check out all of the main distributors deals via the Didematic Site

There are some 'no strings attached' freebies from Alawar and Realore (well you do have to install Alawar's gamebox and register a free account over at Realore, but there's nothing in game to disturb your gameplay). You can get 'Magus: In Search of Adventure' from Alawar and 'Janes Reality' (last week it was Turtle Odyssey 2) from Realore. The Alawar freebie is usually available for around a month (it's just changed this week) and the Realore game changes every Friday. At the moment I think you can get still get 'Awakening: The Dreamless Castle' game for free from Big Fish Games though you will need to visit Freestufftimes to find the coupon code to get it free. It's a puzzle HOG. (You'll need to look back at least 10 days to find the coupon).

If you are interested in Indie Games check out the Idievania site for great deals (and some freebies to) on obscure and new indie developers who've put there games up for sale. All money goes to the developers. Included on the Indievania site are alpha stage games like Kenshi which are well worth buying at a lower price than the eventual release price. (There's nearly 240 obscure and little known indie games, though some may be familiar like 'Xotic' and 'Inside a Star Filled Sky', both of which are now available on Steam. You could also visit Kickstarter that highlights new projects. At the moment there are a couple of up and coming games that still require funding such as 'Wastelands 2', 'Bacillus' and 'Kenshi', plus there are several other projects hanging around that are still in alpha such as 'Driftmoon', 'Tomes of Mephistopheles', 'Double Fine Adventure' and 'Code Hero' to name just a few.

http://www.kickstarter.com/

Oh yeah, nearly forgot, the next Indie Royale bundle is now available. for those who are not familiar with the concept, its a pay what you want (almost) deal. The bundle is the St Patricks bundle and includes five games, three of which include Steam keys, all are downloadable for a DRM free version and four have Desura keys included. The gaes you get with the bundle are Hard Reset, Lair of the Evildoer, DLC Quest, Jolly Roger and Vertex Dispenser, plus if you donate above the average donation which is around $3 or $4 you get a sound track as well (can't remember what it is as i've not downloaded it yet). Just the three steam games would cost you 3p short of £24 thats approx $36 on top of that you get two non Steam games. As i said above you also get DRM free downloads of the game as well. You can check the Indie Royale site out via the following link:

http://www.indievania.com/games

Theres a couple more bundle offers still valid which you can check out via this link:


http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/10915

for example theres one from Milkstone studios that has three games called Zombie Football Carnage, Infinity Danger and Motor Heat. I think you'll find those via the indievania site (see second link above).

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Problems installing, activating and running today’s game:

If you have difficulty downloading or activating the game you can try again later or do one of the following - for example once downloaded when you click on the dual activation and set up file you may get the message “Failed to connect. Please try again later” Check to see if your internet explorer isn't offline (thanks to MrSnoozles/Mike and GMMan for that fix). If the previous suggestion doesn't work go check out previous comments from the last several weeks and look for comments from GMMan and Mike. They have also posted their possible fixes for this problem.

Mike suggests that you check to see if Internet Explorer is offline (even if you use firefox). If it is make sure that it's online thn try again. I’ve always tried re-booting my modem and/or router with some success, though Mike has said that doing that does nothing. Still, it’s worth a try if all else fails.


If you are getting the black screen problem right click on the games executable and select properties then click on the compatibility mode and select the disable visual themes. This should fix the problem, if not try disabling the display scaling on higher dpi settings and disabling the desktop composition. You can also try compatibility modes for XP, epecially if the game is quite old.

Other fixes include changing your screen resolution, installing the latest direct X (remember that XP uses DX 9 or earlier only, Vista uses DX 10 or before and Win 7 DX11 or before). Also try updating your graphics drivers. The main two chip manufacturers are NVIDIA and ATI (now AMD) both of which offer driver downloads for free. Just go to the respective manufactures home page and you'll find a link to the driver download page. To find out which graphic card or graphics chip your computer uses type in Dxdiag in the search field (Vista or Win 7) or the run command (XP); this opens up the DirectX diagnostics panel. click on the display tab and look to the left panel. You should easily see what graphics card or chip you are using. (This is required information when selecting the correct download from the developers site).

If you are asked to turn off your Data Execution Prevention for this game to run. You can create an exception so that the game will run without having to turn DEP off. Please bear in mind it's rare that anyone even mentioned getting a DEP warning. If you are not sure how to create an exception read THIS article, which tells you how to do it.


If you are having problems unzipping the game giveaways zip file, for example getting a message saying the file is invalid try using a different file archiver such as 7-Zip, J-Zip, CAM UnZip, Hamster Free Zip Archiver, GZip, B Zip2, peazip, ZipUnzip, FreeRAR Extract Frog, RAR File Open Knife, ALZip, The Extractor, RarZilla Free Unrar

Okay, that should be enough. There are actually many more free versions available. also there are other commercial titles such as the well-known WinRAR, Stuffit, WinAce, NXPowerlite and Corel Winzip Pro, but IMO 7-Zip is probably one of the better freebies. I did purchase a copy of Stuffit when it was on sale a few years ago and recently repurchased a more up to date version when it was o offer via BitsDuJour, but didn't like the interface for some reason, so hardly ever use it.

In response to the following problem“the file is in use of another process” –
I suggested that you try rebooting your computer. If that doesn't work, check what programs are running in the background and turn off those that you know are not needed as there may be a conflict with something (Game Booster is a useful free program that will automatically turn off all unnecessary windows programs and you can add others to the mix via a configuration screen. Once done you can then switch everything back on via a single button.

you can download Game Booster from IOBit:

http://www.iobit.com/gamebooster.html

Also try clearing out your internet cache and refresh the page (F5).

W.r.t. Netbooks and problems with resolution, Markus posted a possible fix via registry editing. He said the following:

"If you install the latest Intel GFX driver and
1) Run regedit2) Search and modify all values “Display1_DownScalingSupported” from “0″ to “1″3) Restart the system
New resolution 1024×768 will be available then.#"

If you are posting requests for help late in the day I would suggest posting in the main giveaway forums in the game Game Discussion . If you’ve installed the game but it won’t work for some reason, it should still be registered, so someone may be able to help at another time. Unfortunately if your problem is actually installing it then once the giveaway period is over there’s nothing that can be done until the game is given away again (though that isn’t guaranteed. It’s always worth checking out the free games sites as sometimes the games we get here are also available for free from them as well.

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Developers rely on good feedback to improve their games. If you download this game PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE take some time once you’ve played it a while to leave some constructive feedback either positive or negative. The more constructive feedback we get, the more likely developers are to give more games away. The giveaway site already has a very good standing with search engines like Google. Developers want their products out there on the WWW, this site has the potential to do that. The game giveaway project gives away on average between 9 to 17 thousand downloads for each game depending upon what genre and how obscure the game is. That’s a lot of homes these games are being downloaded into and a lot of potential cash that’s being lost by the developers. If we get better games because of better feedback, the community are likely to continue to benefit from the generosity of the developers. Satisfied community members are then more likely to visit the home sites of those developers and purchase games that they may not have bothered with before they discovered the developer via the game giveaway site, thus giving the developers more incentives to give away more decent games to draw more users to their site. There are a lot of game sites and they all want your business. I really do think if we can improve on the quality and numbers of users leaving suitable feedback more developers will join the project. It's a great environment to recruit beta testers as well; giving the community the opportunity to try out games that aren't on general release yet.

Again PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE leave some suitable feedback once you’ve played the game for an hour or so. It can be positive or negative, but please explain your reasons for the feedback you post. It doesn't need to be a dissertation, just a paragraph or two explaining what you think could improve the game and maybe what you didn't like about the game with suggestions to replace the negative area's. Thank you in advance to all those who take the time to post a constructive comment. It will be very much appreciated by the developer, the giveaway team and me. Thank you.

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