I've always felt all this nine-to-five punchclock stuff is for chumps. I've said it before and I'll say it again: be like me and pursue the lucrative career of "Canadian housewife". Little did I know that I was not setting my parasitic sights high enough. I should have emulated the hero of the physics puzzle game from Eugene Karataev, Sticks, who literally sits around and lets the money just roll to him. It's good work if you can get it. Of course, it does require some kind of omnipotent "player" force to conjure wooden sticks from nothing to guide the coins to you. A small detail.

Sadly, you are the player and not the hero of Sticks, so you're going to be providing the labor instead of enjoying the fruits thereof. The main part of the game is using the mouse to draw sticks. These humble sticks can serve many purposes, from ramps, to baskets, to pokers, to launch pads, depending on your own ingenuity. In the upper left corner, you'll see a meter that shows how much wood you have left to build, and also how many coins you need to beat the level. (You don't always need to save every coin.) Sticks that overlay each other will be connected by a joint. If you place a stick in the wrong place, double click it to remove it. To clear the entire board, click the rewind button in the upper right. Once you think you've gotten things the way you like, hit [spacebar] or click on the play button in the lower right to see how things play out. If it works, wonderful. If it doesn't, hit [spacebar] again or the stop button in the lower right and fiddle around.

Eugene Karataev is best known for Wake Up the Box, and this game shows the same whimsical art and music, as well as a similar focus on building simple machines. While not breaking too much new ground, the 30 levels should please phuzzle fans and provide a welcome coffee break distraction.

Play Sticks