I'm enjoying this game so far, though I hope it gets more challenging. I played through 7 or 8 levels, up to where I got blue jewels. Game is unique and relaxing, easy to figure out the rules. I like the different culture in the story, a very nice change of pace. Fun "rebuilding" the village but would like to see some strategy or choices in this as well. Graphics are done very well, I like the music. Enjoyed the the mini-game where you match the bags by the music they make, I've never seen one like that before. Also very pleased with the small amount of hard drive space all this entertainment takes up. Runs great in Vista 32-bit. Many thanks for the chance to play it!

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

Thank you for your feedback Mr Dave

Have an option to make the pieces larger. It is very difficult to see the slots for older eyes. Allow the game to be saved after each section, not a whole level.

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

Thank you for your feedback Terri

Hi,
It downloaded quickly on windows 8. It took a little more time to open, but not too slow. Game play is easy and smooth. For me I found this very boring! I only played a few levels, maybe it changes later on, but just picking up a jewel and placing it on a board is very boring to me!! If I were creating it, I would put different types of matching in or allow the player more interaction with the building. Thanks for another game and have a great day!

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

Thank you for your feedback Lee

Nice on Windows 10. Only minor nag would be not having to click to set the piece in place. Some of this genre use the pick up & release method. Saves having to click twice.
Otherwise very clever little fun time killer. Won't play it too to avoid getting a sense of
'work'. Can easily feel like bricklaying or something. Imagine game can get difficult at the higher levels but until then a keeper. Haven't done a mini-game. Thanks GOTD.

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

Thank you for your feedback Sludge hound (like the name)

The trouble with this game is that on my 4k monitor the "full" screen mode is a window of approximately 1024 X 768 shows up in the middle of the screen and all the rest of the screen is black. It's too hard to see and I see no way to correct the problem.

Based on the (only three) comments I'd read before downloading it, I had the idea that we finally had a game that was not meant for little kids and might actually be fun/interesting/different. Okay, well it's different, but it's still a little kid game.

I played it a bit, and then clicked on my magnifier to move it to the side (it's usually across the top) -- and magnifier changed! First it became a huge window... then I dragged it to undock and it became a narrow, tall window, but
it was not all the way on the right; it was a bit left of that, and I was unable to move it further to the right. It was as though a region the same size and shape of my magnifier were reserved on the right, and the magnifier were put next to it. When I tried again to dock it all the way to the right, I lost ANOTHER narrow rectangle of real estate and this time, the magnifier was cutting into the game.

I'd like to play it at least to get into a minigame, but I can't handle the problems it's having with magnifier.

Win10 Home 64bit. Downloaded and played fine. No worries there. I was disappointed I could cheat on the part where you can get the game without having to go through Facebook or email. Is this new or not?

too many jewels - can't handle that
srsly, jewel games, ugh. sorry

Downloaded, installed, and runs fine on an aging Vista system. Quite addictive, though I can foresee higher levels becoming too hectic for my tastes (so will most likely reach a certain point and start over). FWIW, I will probably buy this one.

I do not mind MPC getting credit for a hit to their site each time I play, I just wish they didn't have to fire up my browser to do it (Firefox, with all the plugins and addons I use, takes a couple of minutes to load; when in a hurry I don't even use it, preferring K-meleon, which is up and running in ten seconds). I propose MPC consider a system used by some freeware wherein they display a stream of ads in a pane at the bottom of the window without opening the browser; so we could exit the game without our default browser being opened but MPC would still get a hit.

Treasures of the Serengeti,
A quick and easy install on Win10 Pro x64, as usual from MPC, and a very different M3 from the usual fare, as instead of matching like tiles, you have to uncover them. Also mini games between levels that are actually fun and unusual. Not a lot of play yet, but this one will get more time over the colder months coming ;)

btw someone wrote that they cannot choose where to install, if you watch carefully during the installation it does give an option for a drive, as I also run a SSD and a platter drive, and install on the platter. Yes it puts the links on your desktop, but it takes a few seconds to delete them, and it's a small price to pay for the homepage of MPC to open after play...doesn't bother me at all, and I leave it as thanks for them giving us working and fun games!

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

Thank you for your feedback, appreciated.

Don't know why you've not received a reply from them. Could be a lot of community members have contacted them with the same problem and are slowly working through them? Don't give up though as it's actually quite a good game considering how cheap it is.

For me, the game downloaded and installed without issues, but the screen went black as soon as I launched it and I had to restart the computer to get out of that problem. I immediately right-clicked on the shortcut and chose to run the compatibility troubleshooter, which took several attempts at testing different changes before the game stopped freezing and giving a black screen. The solution (found automatically by the troubleshooter) was related to the DPI scaling, so I imagine when using newer computers with very high resolution video cards the game may need a bit of tweaking to run correctly. I was eventually able to play without additional problems and accepted the changes made by the troubleshooting app. The clear graphics, interesting music, building options, and unusual mini-games make this a charming and enjoyable way to relax for a short while. Although it's not a game I can play for hours, it is definitely something I would do again for short periods at a time. Thanks to GGOTD ad MyPlayCity for an interesting game, and to WhiteRabbit-UK as always for your thorough and helpful review.

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

Hi Buster

Thanks for the heads up on the fix. This is quite an old game so you are almost certainly right about the monitor resolution. :)

Game does not install after downloading

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

It may be your security blocking the installation. I had to turn off my anti-malware suite to get it to install. check your event logs to see if any messages related to the install have been posted. You'll find the logs by typing Event viewer in your search field.

Once again problems dowloading. The "email" button will not work for those of us who do not use Facebook. Even with the firewall turned off, the button is dead in the water.

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

Hi Cait

I'm not using Facebook either so have to use the email option and it worked for me. Please contact support with this problem. I've posted a link to the contact form in my review above.

It's a fun game.
Really different and YES quite challenging.
If it were offered through a private game source, I would definitely buy it.
It installed easily and ran well.
However the addition of other game links from MYPLAYCITY to ones' desk top is very annoying as well as the link to their site. I understand why GGOTD is using this site, but it's a real deterrent.

I have no issue with steam games but I also understand others' reluctance to their modus operandi.

So no go for me. thanks anyway!

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

Hi Merri

The shortcuts can be deleted with no effect to the game. MyPlayCity and other free game sites can only give these games away for free by earning income. That is done by downloading more games. Each game you play, and every time you play it, they earn cash when your browser is opened to their site. The less money they earn the fewer games they will be able to give away for free becasue they have to pay the developers for the privilege of giving them away.

Not a huge fan of Match3 games here simply because I find them to get too repetitive. I tried this one because it looked interesting and somewhat different. Downloaded and installed without issue on a Win10x64 machine. Rather than getting a field filled with items you are trying to clear, as with most M3 games, here your field is empty and you have to fill up. The concept is a nice change; the graphics simple but nice and the music very atmospheric. The M3 play does get a bit repetitive with level after level of doing the same thing but fans of the genre may not be bothered by that. I did like the mini-games in between the M3s. The 2 that I have hit so far have been original and fun and they are the reason I will continue playing this.

Thank you to the GGOTD team, MPC and Whiterabbit-uk.

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

Thankyou for your feedbackjboy, appreciated.

What would keep the download box from turning green after I've opened and closed facebook? It's happening on both my vista and windows 10 computers. I dont' get email links either and I use real emails. I'd really like this game. Had the problem for a month now. Any help would be greatfully appreciated.

Downloaded and runs fine on Win7/64. It's a fun, engaging game with a gameplay I haven't seen before, and will definitely get more challenging as you progress. A keeper for me.

My real comment is to/about My Play City. Their constant aggressive and borderline deceitful promotion is a real turn-off to me. Things like: the webpage that appears after a download that declares "you're almost done -- click here". (No, you ARE done and that's just trying to trick you into installing something else.) And the bogus "Loading..." screen that appears when you start a game. (No, nothing's loading, that's just an ad. The game will start loading after the ad has displayed for a while.) (BTW, you don't have to wait -- just close the ad window and the game will load.)

It makes me very wary about ever visiting their website.

Downloaded and installed fine on Win 8.1. Just played for a little while, so it's still super-easy but pleasant; I can see how it could get hard fast :). So far okay. While I'd be satisfied with an adventure/puzzle/hidden object game every time, this is a nice break from the usual type of game (i.e. Match 3, which I enjoy, but how many variations can you do on that?) Uses a bit different part of the old noggin.

BTW, I especially like about the MPC offers here that you can install into a custom directory, which you can't do if you download directly from MPC (or at least I haven't found out how.) And I like that we still are being offered games that don't require Steam or contests or jumping through hoops, which I avoid. Thanks!

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

Thank you for your feedback neme, much appreciated. Yes I agree re: the installation. I don't like installing anything to my C drive as it's a SSD, so all games are usually installed to a separate hard rive as are applications. I don't install many MPC games now, but when I do (usually to write a review for gamegiveaway) I always cut and paste them to where I want them once they have been installed. It's mildly annoying that you don't have the facility to change the install path.

Downloaded without any problems but it wont do the setup.
Activation successfully, i click on close it goes to the website https://game.giveawayoftheday.com/treasures-of-the-serengeti/?activate
and thats it ! setup has stopped. What am i doing wrong?

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

Check to see if your security is blocking the installation. Mine did and I had to turn it off temporarily to get the game to download. Also check your event logs via the event viewer (type event viewer in the search field to open the event viewer window. Finally, check the FAQ's thread over in the forums. I've linked to the thread in my review.

Successfully downloaded and installed in the place where I wanted with win8.1
First look: unusual to collect puzzle pieces. But I like it. First two levels are easy. I'll continue later... ;-)

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

The first stage introduces you to the various aspects of the game. I definitely gets harder as you progress, with puzzle pieces that have to be exact, the playing field moving slowly to the left and getting the correct number of colored gems. I finally failed on level eight becasue I'd not been watching the sacks of gems I'd collected and failed to collect one particular color. Definitely a keeper for me. It's several years old and I've never seen it before. Good game. :) Mini games are also excellent. I thought the matching bags one was going to be really easy and boring, but with the African music notes you got from each bag, I found it mildly entertaining.

Please only post comments about the game being given away today; other comments either not appropriate, or not about the game will be deleted; however a little light banter among community members and with the moderator to keep this a friendly place to visit will be allowed, and will be judged by the moderator as to whether it is suitable or not to be left.

I am posting this in light of the massive increase in negative comments and spam that have occurred over the past several months since the site was updated and in particular since the site started to give away games from the Steam world. I truly believe that if we get lots of decent feedback about the games we get here, more developers will be happy to give away their games. Seeing lots of complaints instead of feedback about the game will not persuade developers to give their games away for free. So please bear this in mind when posting your comments. Negative feedback about the game is welcomed as that can also be very constructive for developers, however, complaining about the way the site is operating or problems about downloading or installing the games should be directed to the giveawayoftheday contact form which I've linked to HERE. Often, such problems are related to your computers set up. i.e. your security may block the installation (for example today's game was blocked by my Zemana Antimalware suite) Also please read the moderation policy which can be found HERE and/or the FAQ's thread HERE

There will be another MyPlayCity game tomorrow plus a Steam game on Monday with limited numbers of keys (sadly only 30 keys were available)

regards Whiterabbit

In Brief

An unusual color matching game with jigsaw like pieces and an African flavour plus decent mini games.. Well worth downloading

Whether you like or dislike Treasures of the Serengeti please give some feedback about your opinion of the game, for example, what you liked or disliked about the game, and how it could be improved from your point of view. If you don't like this genre at all, please explain why. What improvements would change your opinion? There are thousands of subscribers to the game giveaway of the day every weekend which makes this an ideal forum for giving developers ideas as to what their consumers (i.e you) would like to see in a game. For example, you could suggest extra content such as better or more original mini games, or a level editor that you would like to see that would make it more appealing to you. Maybe you think the graphics are a little dated and are in need of re skinning, or maybe you've just had enough of the genre and want to see something different or something with more originality?Giving such feedback instead of saying nothing or just saying this game is rubbish may bring more developers to the site, which could mean more and better games. Would you give away thousands of copies of a game (or extra content for a game) away to a community that complains all the time instead of giving useful feedback? It only takes a few moments of your time. This site could be transformed if only the community would be more forthcoming in their opinions of the games they are getting for free.

If you miss today's game giveaway you can always get the game via MyPlayCity 24/7 HERE.

The game downloads to a 76.4 MB zip file that unzips to four files, (a setup.gcd security wrapper, the set up file and a read me). Those with multiple hard drives are able to save games on any drive they wish. The newly installed game is 94.5 MB in size. The game installs to the following path by default, but can be changed by the user if you prefer:

C:\Program Files (x86)\MyPlayCity.com\Treasures of the Serengeti

Four shortcuts are installed to the desktop. three of which can be safely deleted (Play Online Games, MyPlayCity Games and shortcuts to a free online game which vary each week). Also, if you don't like icons installed to the quick launch task bar, make sure you uncheck the box when the additional tasks window appears (after the Select Start Menu Folder window). Some security programs may block the installation due to MPC's habit of installing adware, which has been disabled in the giveaway version. Though you will still have your browser opened to the MPC web site when closing the game down. Everytime this happens MPC earns cash, part of which goes to the developer of the game, which is why we can get them for free.

Collect precious gems to rebuild a destroyed village in the amazing game Treasures of the Serengeti! Are you fond of travelling? Here you will find a unique opportunity to explore Africa! I bet you have never dreamt going there! But with the game Treasures of the Serengeti you will see all the beauties of the Seregneti with your own eyes. Now it’s a popular ecosystem that is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Africa but we’ll travel to the ancient times! Join a young shaman Asha from the Tany Village and help her rebuild her destroyed homeland. While Asha was travelling and gaining experience, her native village was flooded with heavy rain and then turned to the ground by the herd of enraged elephants. Of course, the natives were totally disappointed to lose all their harvest and left this place. Ombiasa, the chief, was left there alone and he would help you to restore the village. Enjoy the wonderful mix of match 3 and jigsaw puzzle and cope with interesting tasks! Restore the houses, Sugar Beans and Baibo Wheat Fields and the Hall of Elders. Why didn’t the Spirits protect the village from animals and elements? The gods may be angry with the arrogant tribe, so you’ll have to propitiate gods and rebuild the village to return people. The main aim of the game is to match the gems of the same color in chains to restore the bar below and have an opportunity to build the dwellings. But you won’t be able to cope with everything alone: Varatra, the chef of the neighbor tribe will help you in exchange of the gems! Keep in mind that the longer the gem chains are, the more gems you’ll collect. If you are stuck, use power-ups and bonuses. All kinds of players both professionals and amateurs will appreciate the dynamic gameplay in the game Treasures of the Serengeti! Have fun while matching the gems and unlock the Sacred Grove by winning a mini-game. Lots of them await you, so don’t miss a chance to rack your brains in the colorful game Treasures of the Serengeti!

Reference accessed HERE. Dec 3rd 2016

If you have a problem installing or activating or getting Treasures of the Serengeti to work please visit the problems section, which I've now incorporated into the FAQ's thread, and which you can find HERE

It’s hard to imagine the dry, grassy plains of the Serengeti would be a particularly hospitable location to settle, and it’s certainly not the kind of place where you’d expect to encounter a land rich with colorful gems ripe for the plucking. Treasures of the Serengeti may take more than a few liberties with its premise, but the tribal setting provides a nice backdrop for an unusual blend of traditional jigsaw puzzle and fast-paced gem matching gameplay.

The puzzle adventure picks up just as disaster befalls the village of Tany in the Serengeti. Leaving her home for several months, Asha, the young shaman of the village, embarked a pilgrimage deep into the desert to commune with the spirits of her ancestors. With her quest complete, she began the return trek but was delayed by heavy rains and a massive flood. When she finally did arrive, she learned the entire village had been destroyed by a rampaging herd of enraged elephants. Believing their home was cursed, all of her people had fled except for the chief. Your task is to help Asha rebuild Tany piece-by-piece, by collecting large quantities of four different gem resources and restoring important structures in the village.

Though Treasures of the Serengeti is a gem matching game at its heart, it’s completely different from the typical match-three game variations many casual players are already familiar with. Each level contains a network of grid-shaped baskets that you must fill with interlocking puzzle pieces in order to clear them from the screen. The different kinds of jigsaw puzzles pieces you can pick from to accomplish this goal appear in a column on the right side of the screen, and every piece contains a gem imbued with one of four colors (red, green, blue, and purple).

You’ll use the mouse to pluck pieces, drag them to the baskets, rotate them to fit, and drop them into place. Once all of the slots in a given basket are filled, it will disappear and the gem colors you placed will be added to your totals. There’s a specific quota for each color gem that must be met in a level before you can proceed. Also, the entire playing field slowly inches towards the left side of the screen, and you’ll lose if any gem baskets touch the edge. This forces you to think quickly and clear baskets as fast as possible. The pace is slower early-in in the game when there are only a few factors to worry about, but the intensity gradually increases as new twists on the formula are thrown into the mix.

For example, some baskets can only be filled with specific colored gems. Others require puzzle pieces to be fitted with exact precision, both on the inside and outside edges of the basket. There are also rune pieces that give extra gems if you can attach them to the proper color and other unique elements that force you to strain your brain a little harder on the fly. Making sure you also end each stage with the required quota of each gem type in your coffers is also challenging. You’ll eventually earn some helpful items like a hammer that destroys poorly placed pieces, a universal puzzle piece that fits in any slot, and even an hourglass that temporarily stops time.

In between every level you can spend your hard-earned gems to restore areas of the village. This sometimes opens up fun musical mini-games focused on completing unique puzzles to recover the village’s missing musical instruments. In once instance you’ll tap sacks hanging from trees to match them based on the sounds they make, and another has you placing rocks in baskets to change the pitch of a large stringed instrument to match a certain melody. These diversions are sporadically placed to change things up slightly every so often.

Beautifully crafted, both visually and in terms of the gameplay itself, Treasures of the Serengeti takes an unusual set of ideas and really runs with them. The game’s familiar puzzle concepts are blended in such a fresh and interesting way that it’s impossible not to get hooked once you start playing. Early levels ease you into learning how the game works, though things really get challenging and frantic as you progress deeper into the adventure. This keeps the gameplay from growing dull. What a pleasant surprise this one turned out to be.

Reference accessed HERE. 2016

You can see community reviews of Treasures of the Serengeti HERE and more information in the Big fish forums HERE

if you want to see some game play you can see some videos of game play HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE. You can also see a slideshow of over 80 images HERE

An excellent puzzle piece that I highly recommend for the whole family. With an unusual slant on the match three theme and with some twists of tried and tested mini games, this promises to be an arcade game well worth downloading.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank MyPlayCity for giving away Treasures of the Serengeti minus the usual MPC check-boxes and also to the game giveaway team, as always, for securing other ways to get free games, in this case Steam keys.

The problems section that used to be posted here in the Game review is now included in the Game Discussion FAQ's thread; which you can find HERE.

I've updated the games section that used to be posted with the review. The thread is now called 'Weekly round up of game deals', formerly the games section of the weekly reviews. You can find the new thread (which I've posted in the sticky section of the game discussion forums to make it easier to find if you are perusing the game discussion forums) HERE.

If today's game was not to your liking, you may find other games either free or for less than the price of a cup of coffee (from your favorite coffee house) via the 'Weekly Roundup of Game Deals' thread which I've posted a link to above, or HERE.

The latest free game over on Origin is Dungeon Keeper You can get it HERE. Please note that you do require the Origin game platform to be able to download and install the game. The 30th anniversary giveaways from Ubisooft are almost over. FarCry 3: Blood Dragon is still available, but the giveaway will end very soon. You do require a ubisoft account, and the Ubisoft client called uPlay to get the game, which you will find HERE.