All right, you win.\u00a0 We give in.\u00a0 Yes, you’re interested in browser standards and security protocol and upgrades to scripting languages and all of that.\u00a0 You’re also interested in blowing up pigs with a group of cheesed off birds.\u00a0 Who isn’t?<\/p>\n
We’re going to take a time out today from our usual serious discussion of what is new in the wacky world of web hosting and computer tech and talk about the important stuff: getting high scores.\u00a0 Here are some of our favorite iPad<\/a> time wasters.<\/p>\n Angry Birds<\/strong><\/p>\n We’re going into this article under the assumption that you are behind the times on simple PC and tablet games.\u00a0 For this opening, we have to.\u00a0 Angry Birds<\/a> has taken the browser gaming world by storm.\u00a0 With more than a 1\/3 billion downloads in total, it has been called \u201cthe largest mobile app success the world has seen so far.\u201d<\/p>\n You are a bird.\u00a0 You are angry.\u00a0 You are angry because your eggs have been stolen by some particularly rude pigs.\u00a0 You are going to show them a lesson by launching yourself by slingshot into their house of walls, bricks, and other miscellaneous construction material.\u00a0 If you can kill them all somehow (falling, crushing them under a wall, blowing them up, etc.), you move on.\u00a0 The game has already spawned the \u201cSeasons\u201d and \u201cRio\u201d sequels, with \u201cMagic\u201d coming out soon.<\/p>\n Doodle God<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n This just might be one of the most zen games ever made.\u00a0 You’ve been upgraded from bird to God in this one.\u00a0 Your goal is to make the world.\u00a0 Your supplies are the 4 elements.\u00a0 But wait: if you combine fire and earth, you make lava!\u00a0 Now, what can you combine with lava?\u00a0 Not all combinations do something interesting, though, so you need to think through your alchemy.\u00a0 If you get stuck, a hint is provided to you after a certain amount of time.<\/p>\n Now God can’t exactly have all the fun, can he?\u00a0 Doodle Devil lets him have his due.\u00a0 Other Doodle God sequels include one that apparently has you saving the princess (don’t all games eventually come down to that?) and Doodle Farm, which is on the way.<\/p>\n Plants vs. Zombies<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n If you somehow managed to miss this one you’re in for a true undead delight.\u00a0 Your house is under attack.\u00a0 You are ready with your defensive stockpile of \u2026 plants.\u00a0 A peashooter takes out the first wave. \u00a0Later levels add more plants to your arsenal such as the cherry bomb (boom!), the squash (like it sounds), and potato mines (again, boom!).\u00a0 Ah, but the zombies are getting meaner, too.\u00a0 They get wise to your defenses and wear \u2026 traffic cones.\u00a0 Next are metal buckets.\u00a0 OK: they get tougher, but they don’t really get much brighter.<\/p>\n This game was a massive hit upon release, and PopCap Games has kept the interest up with new editions and varieties.\u00a0 The music is criminally catchy.\u00a0 Yes, it’s been out for a few years now.\u00a0 We’re still not tired of popping zombie heads.<\/p>\n Hole in the Wall<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n You Tetris nuts have been waiting for some new game to scratch your itch.\u00a0 You’ve got it.\u00a0 This puzzle game takes things in reverse: instead of the piece rushing down, the wall that the piece must go through comes to you.\u00a0 Your block is a 3D piece, and can be rotated in all 3 dimensions.\u00a0 You need to find the right orientation to squeeze it through the wall.\u00a0 The game comes with the requisite power-ups and the ability to purchase additional levels.<\/p>\n Air Hockey Gold<\/strong><\/p>\n For such a simple concept, simulators have sure down a lousy job of making a game that matches the feel of actual air hockey.\u00a0 This app finally breaks through that.\u00a0 Air Hockey Gold<\/a> was rated by Tech Radar the #1 free game for the iPad.\u00a0 The physics are real-feeling, and combined with well-done sound effects you feel like you’re in an old style arcade again.\u00a0 You can play against a human or the computer with varying difficulty levels and you can even add a second puck.\u00a0 It is missing one feature, though: you can’t throw your mallet at your opponent when you lose.<\/p>\n Paper Toss<\/strong><\/p>\n Let’s get out of the way that as you play this game, you may just wonder how far from the real world you’ve gotten.\u00a0 This isn’t exactly something that costs much in real life to play.\u00a0 But then again, your wastebasket doesn’t come with an automatic score board and high score keeper.<\/p>\n There is the original Paper Toss, which has a number of levels outside the office including Restroom and Bar.\u00a0 Once you’ve mastered those, you can load up Paper Toss: World Tour.\u00a0 After all, if you were standing in a volcano or at the Taj Mahal, this is the first thing anyone would want to do.<\/p>\n 10 Pin Shuffle Lite<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Talk about a game that mixes it all together!\u00a0 The original 10 Pin Shuffle combined ten-pin bowling and shuffleboard.\u00a0 You shot your puck down the alley and went for a strike.\u00a0 One of its three game modes, 10 Pin Shuffle Lite, combines that with a poker game.\u00a0 Get a spare and you get one card.\u00a0 Get a strike and you get two.\u00a0 After the tenth frame, best hand wins.\u00a0 I’m surprised they didn’t manage to work pinball in there somehow.<\/p>\n