I love puzzel games but this one was too slow for me.

I like this game. A great wind-down game after a big day at work. I have XP service pack 2 and have absolutely no problems with the install or functions of the game. :-)

I like this game. A great wind-down game after a big day at work.

This game didnot work on my computer,so I uninstalled it.The main problem was that I was unable to browse through menus to even start the game.

I enjoyed playing this game and I don't usually play games. It is quite addictive.

Wouldn't be good if you had RSI though - my wrist started to ache after a while from continually turning the wheel.

No problem downloading, installing nor playing, Vista Home Premium. I love match 3 games/puzzles and I appreciate GOTD for being so generous to give away free software. Thank you.

It's an okay puzzle game. I definite keeper. However, it takes too long to play a single board and doesn't hold a candle to other recent match 3 giveaways.

Well I downloaded this because of WhiteRabbit and at first I thought, too easy. I am going to delete the game. Little did I know the balls move from one level of one ring to the next. I was still playing the level till I quite the game. No I was not play for hours on the same level. But because of the balls moving I shall keep the game. Well worth the download to see if you like it.

Gripes,gripes..The game isn't good enough for me. It's a game...Want a Gripe...MY DOG JUST DIED>What's in a game??? tomorrow...my dog is still dead, you'll get another "FREE GAME"

Oh my goodness!!!!I just got Insaniquarium today!*Faints*Thanks PopCap for the cool offer!Ummm...Sorry about that, now I just wanted to say that the link for Chiko Accidental Alien should work.I'm sorry Blue Berry Pie if it didn't work you too Hitman but why do you want play this game if it doesn't have shooting,explosions or any blood and gore?!Don't worry if the link doesn't work for you just go to this website and look for the game there:
www.abc.net.au/rollercoaster/games

My review of The Cursed Wheel:

Yet another match-3, but rather original. Rather than simply switching pieces, the player has to rotate the three rings that the jewels/balls that fall into, lining them up with each other. It was actually a fun mental challenge when I first played it - until I realized that I could just spin the wheels randomly and the objects would invariably match. It really took the fun out of playing any of the three modes. Puzzle mode was annoying, since it inevitably resulted in dead ends. None of the difficulty levels felt like they were running at a normal speed - the orbs take five seconds to fall in Easy and less than one in Hard, with Normal feeling somehow uncomfortable in its own way.

The graphics are slightly dated, with the menu background very obviously saved as a GIF. The 3D models for the vines and idol appear to be on a different plane from the rest of the game, and the idol's animations were amateur-looking. The rest of the graphics are the standard Photoshop paintings that are the staple of casual game design.

The sounds are annoying, the worst being the "Ready? GO!" sample at the beginning of each level. It sounds like something out of Sesame Street. The rotating sounds resembled BBs in a can, and the soundtrack resembled classical music. I have techno on my computer that sounds more Meso-American. At least I could use said techno after converting it to OGG format.

The theme would have been very original, if it hadn't been used in Zuma. I could not find the game's release date anywhere, so I don't know if it was made first - but it's still a nice and rarely-used theme.

Overall, I give The Cursed Wheel a score of six out of ten(seven for gameplay, five for graphics, four for sound, and eight for theme). This innovative and original match-3 will be fun both to fans of the genre and to people looking for decent puzzling.

Small side note: The installer's default location is C:\Program Files\Cursed Weel - with the same misspelling used in the Start Menu folder, Desktop shortcut, and even the installer window itself.

>raylin

I have Vista Home Premium and it works fine. Maybe it's because I'm using my laptop's touchpad rather than a mouse.

I'm sure you'll enjoy it Stephen!

re #50..... crashed again with same amount of game-play.... had to get to "end task" worst than last time really.. froze everything.

Not bad at all... downloaded, installed and ran nicely on WinXP. Thank you!

I applaud the developer for putting a new "spin" on the line-up-three idea. However, puzzle mode was the only one I could develop enough interest in to give a decent try: It has a sensible goal--the removal of all the pieces. The other modes were to continue lining up pieces till you get too bored to continue. No weel of fortune, this. :)

Since I find puzzle mode somewhat interesting, I give the game a thumbs-up, but I wouldn't be willing to buy it yet.

Thanks ... the download and setup was very quick and no playing issues on Windows XP. After playing for about 10 minutes, I decided that this isn't a game for me. Thanks for the 'test-run' !

Dl and play for a while. Quite fun, graphics ok, music not so.. I am using WinXP Home. Thanks a lot GOTD. :)

Installed fine and played well. Good color and Graphics. Not my cup of tea. I normally will play 3-of-a-kind(match 3) games but this one is not ina format that is pleasing. Thanks for all that you offer GGOTD. Keep up the good work

I guess this won't show up because my post this morning didn't. In WinXP game crashes in puzzle mode right after the hint to buy the game so you can share scores on line comes up. Does not save game either. Fun game but that's a real bummer.

T0 #46 ... I avoid the ie crapshoot by always using right-click open in new tab function which has helped me avoid most (not all) ie specific issues .... if a site really insists on you using ie then its time to re-evaluate the site or give the webmaster heck =P by telling them that their site is not compliant. Thats sometimes helps....

When I went to install this, it went fine, but when I went to play it, it woudl not show up and all I got was the music, so had to uninstall it. I was very disappointed as it looks like fun. This seems to happen a lot.

Thsit installed fine, but when Iwent to play it, all I got was music, and it never showed up. In otherwise, it just stayed black, so had touninstall it. I was disappointed. This happens a lot. game looks like fun but when I tried to downoad it,

Downloaded and installed with no problem, except that it turned off the colour scheme that I was using, apparently. Not sure what the implications of that are....

Also, why does the download insist, as they all do, on opening Internet Explorer, a browser which I do not use? Why does it not open my default browser?

If I can install it, in my computer semi-literate state it must work easily with XP.
Just stumbled on GOTD. Super stuff. Thanks. Will be back.

I installed it on a Sony Vaio UX running Vista Business edition. The mouse works fine even with a touch screen.

The screen shot looks just like a puzzle in an RPG I played. Thanks.

Very nice game... thank you. :)

Installed fine, and plays fine, too. No mouse issues. (WinXP Pro w/ SP2). DirectX version 9.0c. Seems okay for match 3. Doesn't beat Zuma in my opinion, but then I'm an addict. :)

TY for all your free games and hard work. Hope you enjoyed your day off.
This game is not relaxing enough even on easy.... for me..... however, I had no problems downloading or with game play. Seems to be a very nice game for someone interested in this type. Not my idea of a good match three and I am addicted to all match 3's. Had to give is a thumbs down. Sorry

I’ve never had a problem unzipping games or installing them from this GGOTD.

I´m installed... and unistalled Cursed Wheel in five minutes. The music and the art is good but the game don´t is fun. Thanks GGOTD.

Merscom games are pretty good and I thank them for allowing us to try them out through GGOTD. I've gotten WWII Tank Commander and eXtinction by Merscom on GGOTD and my grandson loves them so much I bought them for his Christmas presents so he can play them on his machine at home. Merscom not only sent them out immediately, they included a certificate for a discount on a future purchase, and even sent a bonus of CD's with some more games on them! They're good people and have good products, even if some of the offers aren't your particular cup of tea!
I really appreciate all the folks that started this website. First thing when I wake up, before even having my cup of coffee, I have to see what that days offer is!! Some I download, some I don't, but I have been introduced to a LOT of valuable programs that I would never have known about. So it does help the makers of the games and us! I've lost count of how many people I've told about this website...
Have a great day everyone!!
From the mountains of North Carolina!

This game is OK, but it's not worth $19.95. I had to give thumbs down for this.

Golly.... such an INNOVATIVE concept

a MATCH THREE game ( rolls on the floor laughing )

I thought it was ok but I rate it a thumbs down. I like word and educational games.

Thank you GOTD and Stephen - Zenerchi was an amazing game and have not tried this one yet, but if it is similiar - I will really enjoy it.

I had problems with some of the games I have installed from this site. I run XP Pro, but I discovered through experimentation that, the games that froze while playing or loading, did so only when my add-on RAM management program was running. If I exited the RAM program before I started the games, they would perform flawlessly. Just a thought for some of the possible problems.

Downloaded and installed ok, I can get the opening black screen and menu
options but it words overlap in places cant play the game tho, even the quit button would'nt work. Had to unistall. I was looking forward to playing this.
:-(
I am using XP service pack 2.

Slow game.

Well said Bluhoteyes :lol:

p.s. To Crystal comment #24, The later version, Professor Fizzwizzle and the Molten Mystery is better than the original game (though there's not much difference). Both come with levels editors. My son is really into that particular game at the moment and has made over 70 custom made levels, some of which I've found very challenging. There's probably a fan site, but I've not bothered checking yet. :) I didn't find it all that easy. Though I suppose it depends upon how awake you are and what difficulty setting you play it on. I do think this is a worthwhile game to have in your games folder though as it's deceptively harder than it seems and for that alone it's worth keeping for the challenge.

Thanks for the link Smarty comment #18 I'll check that out later. :lol:

To comment #3 by unknown, keep checking back as the giveaway team do get old of the occasional games that you may like (micro cars and Trabi Racer from a few moths ago)

I posted a link to a particular site over in the forums, which has full version racing games such as Mad Truckers, Crazy Racing Cars, KGB Hunter, Real Racing, Need for Extreme and others including the first two Grand Theft auto Games (that are now abandon ware) Most of these are top down or isometric views, but are very playable There are other action games such as Air Assault (HitMan comment #16 you'll love this one as there are loads of explosions in it), and others as well:

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/1990



You can play loads of online action games for free by following the link below, though I can't guarantee the link as I don't have my site advisor installed at the moment.

It's free - http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/2251

This is a nice twist to the match 3 games. I've only played one level in Puzzle mode to be sure it works but it's rather nice.

I noticed several comments about downloading. I have always had trouble downloading from the main link. I suspect it's because I use Firefox. However, the problem is NOT a corrupted download. It never gets started. I download from the mirror link and it downloads fast. I barely click download and the little slide-up of "Download Complete" is visible. For unzipping, I use 7-zip's "Extract Here" and it always works.

It installed fine on my Vista Ultimate 23 bit. I had no problems with the mouse. I have it in windowed mode and it looks and works fine. I noticed that there is no resolution option, just music, sound and full/windowed environment.

I have noticed one thing. Every time we get a game (or utility) that has the combined setup/activate, the IE window it pops up for activation is just a smaller window. If it has the separate activate step, the window comes up in whatever it was last set (full screen for me). Why the difference? Why can't the combined install/activation use what you set it as. I always have to manually expand the window before I close it to avoid resetting the "last used" point.

I did note the missing "h". The shortcut group (no option available to specify it's placement), the shortcut itself and the program folder all have the missing "h". That has got to be a minor typo in the install setup. I fixed two out of 3 but it's too much of a pain to fix the program folder. Somehow the name change affected the shortcut icon but I got that fixed, too. This game has it's setup fouled up but the problems are solvable with a little knowledge and work and the game does work! No typo in the actual executable, though. It's just called tcw (obviously The Cursed Wheeel").

The game does not say it will play on Vista so all these negative comments really are not deserved. Did any of you even try to use the Windows Compatibility Wizard?

The most common problem with a floating mouse is from a USB mouse. You could try using a wired mouse to see if it helps.

I agree with #24 and would love to see the Professor Fizzwizzle games at GGOTD. Thank you for another wonderful freebie.

If you don't want to read the blurb below then a 20 second review would be, 8 out of 10, go get it now as it's not your usual match three game and has three distint modes of play. - Brilliant giveaway. :lol:






Installation:

Installation is straight forwards. The zip file unzips two files, the read me and a dual activation and set up file. Once the game is installed you have access to the game via the start menu or the desktop short cut

Introduction & Game info:

The option menu is very simple with only sound and music sliders and a window toggle. There appears to be no help menu, but when you click on the start button you get four choices one of which is a basic tutorial level:

• Tutorial – Several windows pop up giving you pictorial prompts, as well as a few tips
• Puzzle Mode - This is an un-timed mode. You are given in game tips as you progress initially.
• Maze Mode - You have to avoid the guardians of the maze, collect items and get to the treasure chamber without being caught
• Arcade Mode - This is a single level that ends when you are unable to match any more gems together. It becomes increasingly difficult as you progress through the level


Check out the screen captures by following the links below. There are over 40. Most of which show the various in game tips. If I have time later I will upload them to my filefront account where you could then download then and place them in the games folder to use as a help file (It’s getting really late, so I’ll post the link to the page where you should find the screen captures when I post them. (it may be later today, or tomorrow).

Here’s the link to my main page, so if you wish you can check it out anytime. Ignore most of the files as they are specific to the game Battlefield 2, and contain load of maps to use in the main game. (You’re welcome to download any of these if you have the game though):

http://hosted.filefront.com/WhiteRabbit01



Screen captures:


All on one page:

http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n61/Whiterabbit_01/gaotd/Cursed%20Wheel/?start=all


As a Slideshow:

http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n61/Whiterabbit_01/gaotd/Cursed%20Wheel/?albumview=slideshow


Maze Mode:

The Maze mode is similar in game play to the Arcade mode, but is distinctly different tto the Puzzle mode. I spent more time on the maze mode as I was intrigued by the level selection, which is basically a hidden maze that as you progress through it the tiles next to the level you previously chose will appear. If you come to a branch in the maze all possible routes will be shown, but only the beginning of each. At the start of the Maze game you only have one tile to choose from, the rest o the maze is blank. There are blind ends which are shown as red tiles. Do not try to move further along a blind end (you will be given the choice when you’ve finished that particular level) because if you do, the game ends. Somewhere within the maze is a map that will reveal all of the maze and enables you to finish the maze game quicker if you wish. I’ve taken several screen captures of the maze as I progressed through the game, but have deleted the particular screen capture that shows the whereabouts of the map, though if you really want to know where it is, a careful look at all the appropriate screen captures will give you a clue as to where it is. :lol:

Marbles fall at a pre determined speed which depends upon which difficulty level you chose. There are four difficulty settings, Easy, Normal, Hard and Extreme. You have to move the rings so as to capture the marbles. You must ensure that the topmost space on the outer ring (that is the one at 12 – o – clock) is always empty, otherwise when the next marble falls the game will end.


Arcade Mode:

The arcade mode is a single random level the gets harder as you progress. There are four difficult;ty settings for the mode as well and are the same as those you get for the maze mode. The game play is basically the same as the Maze mode apart from the fact that it’s an endless puzzle as opposed to completing different levels.

Puzzle Mode:

In the Puzzle mode the game board is already full of. The aim is to empty the three rings of marbles. You do this by matching up sets of three. This game is times, but I didn’t get the time to see how long a level lasted. Playing on normal I’d been playing for over nine minutes, but taking a Screen capture crashed the game. As I’m already nearly an hour over my deadline you will have to discover that aspect yourself. There were no difficulty settings in this mode as far as I could see. You can move any combination of rings to make a match of three marbles. While moving the ring you may find that you create more than one group of three. You’ll see what I, mean when you play the game. Right clicking your mouse button will cause a marble to drop from the dispenser at the top of the playing field. As with the other two modes you can see up to ten marbles, so it is possible to plan your move ahead a little, though not too far ahead as the way this game works when the rings are relatively full of marbles it’s easy to make matches. Once a space has been created by matching three marbles (at which point they disappear) moving either og the middle or outer ring will cause the first marble to be placed over the gap to drop down into the space in the central ring. The aim of this mode is to clear all the marbles from the board (I think, though that’s an assumption as the help menus are not very clear) so before you move either of the outer rings (in relation to the innermost ring) move that ring so that the space is filled (though this may cause a marble from a space elsewhere to be filled)

Looking in the games folder it appears that there are 10 different mazes to work through.



System Requirements:



Conclusion:

This game is really cool. All three modes are enjoyable and in my opinion this game will give many hours of entertainment. It’s easily worth 7.9 and maybe even an 8 as I think if I lose this one I’d be tempted to buy it. It’s not like your usual match three games and I take my hat off (not that I wear one) to the developer for coming up with such a great take on the match three genre. To have three modes is even better.

The only down side is that there is no easily accessible help menu, which would make this game complete, though there is a basic tutorial level that takes you on a short pictorial journey through the simple moves. There are also quite a few in game tips that cover such things as bonus marbles such as color changers and bombs. I would suggest to the developer that he adds a comprehensive help menu to the main menu which could include all the in game tips and a list of all the bonus marble as well as a description of each game mode, though I realize there is a very brief description of each game mode, which is accessible by holding your mouse pointer over the game mode, but a more in depth description would be much more welcome placed in a help menu via the main menu. You could also add a slider for controlling the speed at which the marbles drop in the maze and arcade modes. This could even be placed in the level itself, so that if you find the level too slow or too fast you can adjust it more easily.




Notes:

If you don’t like the music, you can change it by going into the sound folder and replacing the correct files with something you like though you will need to convert the piece to an ogg file and rename it to the one you are changing. I would suggest that you create a backup folder and place those files you intend to change into that rather than overwriting them. You can download a suitable audio converter from the freeware library.:

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/freeware/2007/07/30/free-mp3-wma-wav-converter/



If you like the circular concept then try Zenerchi, which is a much more polished looking game, though it doesn’t have as many game modes to play with:

You can play it free online by following the link below. Also check out the screen shots:

Online game:


http://www.shockwave.com/gamelanding/zenerchi.jsp


Images and info:

http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&q=Zenerchi&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2

http://flashgamesite.com/download/new/913-Zenerchi

Thank you Merscom LCC and the GameGiveaway team for a great game.

Not sure why all the bad reviews i have to say it is challenging and will give it more of a try after i finish a few other games that have me absorbed:) Please ppl if you don't like a game because of its genre just move on til tomorrow when you might find something you like but all the negativity is quite pathetic. Thank you GGAOTD and Merscom for another interesting game we do appreciate it:)

This is a neat game, and a little more interesting than the standard match 3 game. It doesn't take too much thought to win. I'd love it if GGOTD would offer Professor Fizzwizzle from this publisher.

#3, I'm afraid you have come to the wrong place.

Downloaded it twice! Got twice the message: this is not a valid archive. On several computers same message. And that's it. Pity.

I used to have problems unzipping when I downloaded from AOL. Now I download directly from Internet Explorer. No Problems.

downloaded and played with no problems (vista home premium). Funny game, thanks as always GAOTD. You guys rock!

Not my type of game. ButI am looking on the bright side there is still 256 more days this year,so I will be back everyday to look and see ust what you have for that day. Thanks and keep up the good work!!!!!!