Pong was an amazing and innovative game in its time. Unfortunately, after the novelty wore off there just wasn't much gameplay left to hold our interest. And by today's standards, it's just too simple a game to be much fun anymore.
GameLab leverages the simplicity of Pong, as well as that of several other ultra-easy old-school games, and combines them all into one. Sound bizarre? Certainly. But does it work? Surprisingly well.
Arcadia is a Shockwave action arcade game in which you must keep four (4) games going simultaneously by clicking the mouse in each window when appropriate. The free Web version contains just the four games you see in the screen shot, though a full version of the game offers eight (8) different games to choose from, as well as other additional features.
You can play the free version at Shockwave.com after a short advertisement. Then just follow the on-screen instructions. Gamelab included an excellent tutorial mode that gets you going with the game quickly when choosing to start an easy game.
And speaking of gameLab, the New York Times today published an article about the increasing popularity and success of casual games. They highlighted gameLab as one game developer that is raking in the cash in the casual games market, especially with their latest game, Diner Dash. You can play a demo version of Diner Dash at and even download the full version to play for 60 minutes for free.
Be sure to check out other gameLab games previously reviewed here: Blix, Loop, and Junkbot.
Hi Jay -- I'm very excited to see a mention of Diner Dash on your blog. You have one of my favorite blogs for casual games. I think this is a great space to be in. I work for PlayFirst and we were very happy with the NY times article. Diner Dash is a success for everyone involved and it's a great game.
Yikes, I shouldn't have picked easy mode. I finally lost at 2.4 quadrillion points.
Arcadia is mesmerizing and great fun. GameLab definately has a handle on the often elusive "fun factor".
Kayvaan - thanks for that, and I agree that it's a great space to be in. I'll have to look into getting a promo copy of Diner Dash from you folks to review here sometime.
ACLS - lol! I should have mentioned that in the write-up. And I thought my 580 billion was excessive!
Aaron - yes, and it seems rare to find it coming consistently from a single developer, too. GameLab is the one to watch in this casual games market.
i don't like a lot diner dash but arcadia is simply awesome and i think it would be perfect on a system like nintendo ds!
i don't know what it is about diner dash.. but i'm totally addicted.. i even tried the 60 minute trial.. and i was so disappointed when my time ran out.. great game. keep bringing more ways for me to procrastinate jay! haha
on arcadia i got about 112,000,000,000 when i died because i accidentally right clicked and that little right click menu froze there and covered up the entire connect three board causing me to die at 112 billion.
Yah.. I've got 113,174,664,837,696 with 99 lives on pong, 16 on the racing game, 8 on connect four, and 61 on jumpy mcjumper.
I'm working on beating the high score of 494,651,690,000,000. I'm close, but not close enough.
Looks like I'm a little late to the game this time, but man, what a great idea. Can't believe I haven't seen Arcadia until now.
Brilliant. I love old school, but crave challenges more than Jungle Hunt (which I have beaten countless times). So, the only logical thing to do was to freakin confuse me by putting four games in at once. High five to you for finding this awesome game Jay.
Final Score-291,981,591,000
lost on Strathreego (tic-tac-toe). Had a bazillion lifes on Pong and Jumpy McJump, but struggled witht the car one.
Normal mode is too friggin easy.
Stratego was definitely the hardest to keep going.
Finally just quit though.
Woot!
Lost on stupid stratheego lol.
I'm level 14: Wizard in Training.
1,706,107,817,700.
That's one billion, seven hundred and six thousand million, eight hundred and seventeen thousand seven hundred.
i use the english ones because i am english :P
i still had ALOT of lives in every game when i quit
i could've gone on for another 2 hours if i wasn't so bored with it
great game overall though =D
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