2020-06-16 16:16:37 (edited by Dark 2023-10-20 11:35:55)

Welcome to part 2 of my alexa guide, m/Z
Unfortunately, with so many games and the forum's post count limit, the guide got rather too large for one topic, so it needed cutting in half. If you haven't seen part 1 already, you can find it here.

Nevertheless, on with the list.

Memory match

Play A single player game of Concentration with Alexa. the classic take two cards and match them game, all you need to do is tell Alexa the row and column of the cards you want.
A nice exercise, though I do wish you could change number of cards in the game, since right now it's always at twelve arranged in a 4 x 3 grid. A little odd since the symbols on cards are procedurally generated so you'd think there would be more options. Also, I do find it a bit harsh that if you match a pair you've already matched, Alexa counts it as an extra move so you end up with a low score if you can't recall the coordinates of the last card exactly and need to go through the board. Harder than you would think given you have no way to examine the board between moves.
It'd also be nice to have a multiplayer option for this, though hopefully it'll be expanded in the future..

Memory training recall

Similar to train my brain (I wonder if it's the same developer). You get a little story and are asked details about it. Actually a very cool idea and especially good if you like taking in audio information.
My one miner complaint is it seemed nearly impossible to get this ap to stop, or to get a score, but fun all the same.

Memory training

Has two exercises, a digits memory exercise which is like simon with numbers, and a phone exercise which works with simulated phone numbers with four or six digits.
A little irritating that you don't get any high score lists or other fun bits, indeed while I get that this is all about the brain training I was a bit disappointed the presentation was so dower and it wasn't made more of a game.

Millionaire quiz

A very accurate version of  THE quiz show who wants to be a millionair, though sadly without the actual money big_smile. Even down to  asked every time if "this is your final answer" and getting stalling comments from the host who isn't quite as irritating for this as Chris tarant used to be on the Uk version, but almost big_smile.

Mind maze

This one is a simple but unique brain teaser from the same devs as 6 swords. Make your way out of a maze starting in one corner and get to another. The problem however is  you can do mazes in more DIMENSIONS which  EFFECTIVELY MEAN more exit types. At the start you get basic 2d n s e w type affairs, add  third dimension and you get up and down, add another for in and out, and you can go up to six, all with coordinates.
The only miner thing I did notice is that for some reason in and out are the wrong way around, meaning you have to say out to go in and visa versa.

minny dungeon

This is another very short Cyoa style game for Alexa set in a dungeon choosing coloured doors and options. While it did only take me five minutes or so to finish, it actually had  room descriptions, a few different choices and some locked door puzzles too, plus no random instant death traps for no reason.

I really hope the developer makes longer games since unlike much of the other short Cyoa stuff this actually had potential to be interesting, worth a playthrough if you want a short adventure with some interesting locked door puzzles, also a dragon!

Minigames

A fun collection of games from Hugo Fm, makers of categories game and word tennis. Everything from guess the number sound snap game, to nuclear war, a funny strategy sim with wacky national leaders, sumo fighting and reindeer racing, all with great sounds and crazy voice acting. For more thoughts see Yonder topic
With detailed discussions on all the games in the collection.

music quiz

Not to be confused with the above mentioned song quiz. Answer multiple choice trivia questions on music. It has a nice selection, albeit it's one attempt at a classical question was rather pathetic and it seems slightly more geared towards the post 2010's. Still its worth a quick break if you want some extra trivia questions using the same question set as other trivia games.

My farm

Sort of a clicker incremental game about owning a farm where you start with one chicken, collect eggs to sell, buy other animals etc. Its got some nice touches such as a minigame where  find your cat and get paid for it,  farm workers and characters with different voices (I liked the Welsh chap who ran the market).
My only problem is that with no ability to click quickly, the game can get rather grindy. For example you can only sell eggs in batches of twelve, and to get an egg you first have to  feed the chickens then collect the egg. This means to get a second chicken you need to feed chickens and collect eggs twelve times, while to get a piglet (assuming you've maxed out your chicken production at three chickens), you need to feed chickens and collect eggs twenty times.
I really hope you get some auto clickers later, or at least the equivalent, still nice to spend some time with and see what you can buy, and of course there are more unlockables down the road too.

My pet rock

An alexa version of everyone's favourite Tamagotchi random pet care game. Log in each day to play with your rock, feed it, take it for walks and teach it new tricks.
The tricks are sort of amusing but I do wish this one had a little more by sounds and random descriptions to it, then again my rock is only a baby so far so maybe it'll get more descriptions later big_smile.

Mystery room

Supposedly a maze game with monsters, in actual fact a less than exciting cyoa style game where your asked to pick numbered doors. No description at all, a completely static maze and no gameplay other than try the alternatives until you win make this one very dull indeed.

Number tennis

Similar to word tennis from Hugo fm (see below), though play with numbers.
What is cool in this one is the mechanics.

Count up to 21, with a rule, EG say strawberry for each multiple of 3, so after 5 say strawbery.
Second time round, another rule is added, EG say onion for multiples of five, so for 15 you must say strawberry onion, (and yes they must be in that order).

Earn more points for saying groups of three numbers at a time, and play with 1-6 players.

The only downer on this one is that sometimes Alexa doesn't understand what's said, even when you get the right answer.
Also it has an annoying payment mechanic where if it doesn't understand you you can "challenge", and get a right answer, but having more than one challenge a day costs money.
Effectively having the player need to play for Alexa's lapse in hearing.

A fun game nevertheless, albeit I wish the voice recognition was improved and the payment system was a bit farer.

Official Harry Potter quiz

This is the officially licensed Harry potter quiz from Pottermore and audible and such. It has several good points, and some bad ones. The good points are that each day you get three Hp related questions. You can choose either multiple choice (O.w.l” or giving answers “N.E.W.T.” level.
If you get all questions right you get a bonus question. The questions use actual audio samples from the Stephen Fry readings of the Hp books which it is nice to hear, also fun for someone whose read the Potter books waaaay more than he should’ve done, some of the bonus questions particularly are rather tricky.
You can earn points for a Hogwarts house, though what getting house points does I’m not sure exactly.

Now on to the bad stuff, this ap was firstly intended for kids, and secondly intended to make money off them.
The  first is obvious because there are a lot of annoying design choices, EG having to reconfirm your settings each and every time.
The second problem is that while Stephen Fry sound s amazing as usual, the woman whose voice they recorded for the main host of the ap is patronising as hell! Especially the way she exclaims every time you get a question right.

The second problem, is that the ap is so obviously a money spinner its not funny. While its nice to hear Stephen fry, whenever you finish the questions Alexa automatically tries to direct you to audible to buy the books, (then in our case it complains because I don’t have an audible account).

Also, as a miner point, yee gods this one needs John Williams music since what is there is just generic and annoying. So, is it worth playing? Probably. Is it worth playing every day? , possibly not.

Pointless

Thanks to Aaron for pointing this out (ha ha). A game based on the quiz show. Get three questions each day with the same format as the tv program, that is they ask 100 people a question with possible multiple answers such as “Name a word ending in K E T” or “name a football team with an L” and you need to find the answers that the fewest people gave. If you can, find the pointless answer that nobody gave. The only miner problem with this one, is that unless you pay a subscription, you'll eventually run out of questions and start getting too many repeated categories, making it mildly irritating to play on a daily basis.

The game is fun, and has different daily questions, plus unlike the tv show its completely accessible because there are no pictorial rounds.

Puzzle machine

Be asked a random riddle by the puzzle machine, then get the answer if you can't work it out.
Riddles tend to be brain teasers such as "In what  sport do the losers advance and the winners go backwards!"

My only miner complaint is that there is no way of keeping track of what riddles you've been asked since the game doesn't rank your answer, also the syntax for getting the game to tell you the answer either to check your correct or if your stumped is a little floofy.

Puzzle of the day.

Do a cross word puzzle every day with six clues, all of them revealing a final word, earn points for each clue you get right, then bet them on the final word.

words are fairly easy, but interesting, though user submitted puzzles can be a bit annoying.
the only problem with this skill is that you can't spell your answers, and sometimes Alexa just plane doesn't hear you, meaning you can't complete the puzzle.

The Premium mode at £5 a month is imho a bit expensive as it only gives you one additional puzzle per day.
Also the presentation we found a bit patronising, with the Sesame  street sounding music, and the constant "this is a hard crossword so don't get discouraged", as well as the repeated asking if we're ready to play.

Nice if you like word puzzles all the same.

Puzzler

This one gives you a daily crossword each day, you can spell your answers and your position is timed for competition.
the only sad thing, is the daily crosswords are super short, usually composed of one or two sillable words, so don'tt really give much challenge.

the premium version (available for £3 a month), is much btetter, with longer crosswords up to 15 or 20 clues, sometimes involving long or obscure words, and once again giving competition.
Also, no  daily limits on premium crosswords, you can play as often as you like.

The only problem with this one is voice recognition can get really bad, and Alexa pretty sluggish, so much so I'm not sure how often the game's been updated, or whether the developers are still maintaining it. A shame, since there are some fun questions, at least in the premium mode.

Question of the day


Thanks to orko for pointing out this one. A daily multiple choice trivia question, though also with badges to earn, bonus questions and point ranking if you link your account with Amazon (my lady and I are often in the top ten and have been first on occasion). There is a really nice selection of question subjects and difficulties, plus they give you information about the answers if you're wrong or write.

There is a paid subscription, but since this gets you an extra three questions a day, it's actually pretty good if you enjoy the game.
Rather fun, especially  what percentage of players got the  answer right or wrong (I was rather appalled to find out 11 percent of people did not! know who wrote a Christmas Carol), this is one my lady and I have taken to doing daily.

The only miner issue, is that since the three questions you get each day with a paid account are random, and can give different amounts of points, it's quite possible to answer them all right, and still lose rankings depending upon what questions other people got, which is a little disappointing, but hay.

Quiz champion

Another game from the makers of trivia hero and trivia daily.
A really nice idea in principle, but an execution with a miner problem.
This is another daily quiz game, however one with world-wide competition. Several rounds where you earn more points, I particularly like the second round where you can earn more points by choosing to have either a split answer, (two alternatives), a multi answer (four alternatives), or a direct answer, just answer yourself.
There is also a cool final round, where you can bet any of your existing score against a bonus question. achievements to earn, and a somewhat random scoreboard for each tournament, plus a subscription mode for extra questions.
What is especially nice, is that like question of the day, you get more information on each question's answer, so you learn something, and since there is a really unique, and often quite cunning selection of question, this makes the skill interesting.

The only problem, is that rather than working by a midnight clock, this one works on a 24 hour timer.
What I mean is, if you play the game at 8 AM one day, you cannot play again before! 8 AM the next day. This also means, if you’re a bit late the next day and play at 9 AM, your suddenly playing later all the time, up to the point it gets so late you miss days and need to try again, which is irritating.

Quiz master

Another quiz game with multiple choice questions and categories. Questions are a little more well written, but getting the options and choices in this game to work was a right pain. A shame since there are many categories of question here and the questions themselves are well written.

Rock, paper, scissors

The game I first knew as "scissors paper stone" can be played with Alexa. Sort of amusing given that when my lady and I are trying to decide things like who is making the coffee each morning we usually come down to playing this, it'll be sort of entertaining to have Alexa try it too.
No sfx though I do like the use of extra verbs when you win, e.g "scissors cuts paper, scissors slices paper, sissors chops paper" etc.

Rock, paper, scissors, Lizard spock

Five symbols to choose from with amusing interactions, for example paper disproves spock, but spokc vaporises scissors, while scissors decapitate lizard but lizard eats paper.

Only one problem? So buggy it won't start! grrr! hopefully it'll be fixed soon.

Say boom!

From Verto lab who make the categories game as well as some other things. This is a really simple game that makes you think on your feet, actually its very similar to a game my maths teacher was quite fond of.
Count through the numbers and Say booom! (I love the way Alexa says boom), when you hit something with a seven in it, be that a multiple or the digit, so twelve, thirteen, boom, fifteen, sixteen, boom etc.

the cool thing is that Alexa will randomly change both the word you have to say, and the number at any time, while you start off booming on 7, you could then be boinging on 7, then perhaps boinging on 8, or woofing on six etc, so you always have to think fast and count. Five strikes and your out.

I often talk about games where you have to use your judgement in a situation, this is one of the simplest and most brilliant examples I've seen and one  I think my lady and I will enjoy.


Shadow realm

From Daisfly, the same developers as escape room. Another and longer interactive fiction game. The writing in this one actually is QUITE atmospheric, albeit I got slightly stuck and the free version doesn't have hints big_smile.
to get the paid version you have to go to the website and make an account, though it's just three dollars, though whether I'll do that probably will depend upon me making a bit more progress in the free game.

song quiz

This is the regular version of the holiday song quiz previously mentioned from Volley.
Each round you get a song and have to name title and artist, it can be played with multiple people at one device or if your on your own, Alexa will connect to someone else and let you play head to head with someone across the world.

I only have two issues with this one. Firstly the scoring is craaaaazy! each round you get increasingly more points for title with an extra ten points for the artist from ten to 50 points, then! there is a bonus question for 100 points.
This means you could  four out of five questions correct and be beaten by someone who just got the bonus which is nuts!

The game also lets you play with music from a specific decade from the 60s to the 2010s, the problem though is it won't do a random selection or let you have more than one decade, this means if we play 80s Mrs. Dark destroys! me since her knowledge of 80s pop music is extensive indeed, where as my knowledge of pop music generally is sketchy at bestD.
It'd be nice to vary the selection a little so my lady doesn't have things so! easy big_smile.

Stinky pinky

A silly name for a very fun game. Another from Drew Cosgrove.

A stinky pinky is not actually a smelly finger, in this context it means a rhyming descriptive phrase, for example a small wall, or a rude dude

The game is composed of three rounds, each round a player gets a cryptic phrase, for example if the answer was “A small wall” the phrase to guess might be “A tiny building support.”

Guess in thirty seconds to get it right, otherwise it passes to the next player.
Lots of fun, especially when your playing with another person who will laugh at the idea of a sweaty yetty  big_smile.


Space express

This is another Drew Cosgrove skill, like Animal letters and Harry Potter letters and actually is pretty cool if limited. Flying a spaceship you must deliver packages to different planets. Planets are located on a basic 2d map, meaning at each planet you can  blast off in one of four basic directions. Each planet has something to visit which can  give you some directions or ask for an item, for example you might be asked to take medicine to a hospital.

Occasionally   there are hazards between you and where you must go, meaning you need to obtain weapons to go there which you can get by exchanging something you get from another planet.

The game is rather fun, I particularly like all the different locations sfx and messages, and the galactic news or other info you get while flying.
The problem is its really easy, anyone who has done a basic delivery quest in any mud or other 2d navigation game will find this familiar indeed. I also really wish there was a way to skip through some of the sequences if you’ve heard them before, though you can always interrupt Alexa with the wakeup word.

While the game is intended for fun, and possibly aimed at kids, I will say the sheer number of samples and destinations and goods is pretty huge.

There are three galaxies so far, with hopefully more on the way and while the game is fairly simple it’s a fun way to spend a random half hour and likely more challenging to people who don’t have as much experience memorising 2d maps.

Star commander

A Cyoa style game where you’re the captain of a star ship which crashes.
This one has an extensive number of sounds which make it quite atmospheric, especially with the Alexa sounding rather like the enterprise Computer. On the other hand deaths are rather random and don’t always make sense, for example on one occasion when I’m told the ship’s reactor is overheating and had to run to the other end of the ship to shut it down as quickly as possible, I got killed for not waiting for the computer to scan the safety of the route, then slightly later got killed because I took the time to put on a radiation suit first.

Then again, since dying just puts you back to the last decision rather than requiring you to solve the adventure again random death isn’t too bad.

The skill thus far has two short missions, but hopefully more will be added in the future which continue the story.

Starfinder, dead suns

Part interactive audio drama adventure, part simulation of an rpg with full on tabletop combat. Great voice acting, a very unique world, and come on, it has space goblins! How cool is that!
Also, unlike dungeon adventure, it’s not too slow to play, even in the combat sequences.
A great demo story, then several long adventures adding up to a quite respectable playing time, with more on the way.

My only really major problem here is that once all six parts are finished, I’m not sure whether we’ll be seeing more of this, since it’s essentially a very extended demonstration of a tabletop game from the people who make pathfinder, which is less good if you don’t have anyone to do tabletop gaming with.
Still absolutely recommended to all rpg fans, after all, space Goblins

Starlanes

A Mmorpg for the alexa by the same dev as 6 swords resembling trade wars where you fight for two factions by flying to different star systems and dropping drones off. Again, a game with a lot to it that I'm just trying to work out, but potentially fun, especially for strategy fans.

Stone game

Okay this one is a major bust, it's the sticks game from crazy party, the one where each player needs to take one two or three sticks from a pile and the one with the last stick loses. Only problem? The game is %100 fixed  the computer's favour. if you know the formula for winning you can see from the first move your doomed, and with neither the order of players nore number of stones changeable it's pretty pointless.

Strange halls

A maze game, but one with surreal descriptions of your surroundings. What I particularly like here is that you choose the colour of what door to go through rather than a number or direction, which makes it more of a memory test. I thought this one was a simple Cyoa affair, then when I tried it second time I realize  the maze is different each time you play which is always nice, albeit there is no combat or such in this one, just tracking your way out of said maze.

Sub war

Another game from the creator of 6 swords. Sort of a mix of classic battleships and a lone wolf style sub combat game. listen for enemy subs  and sink them with your torps. Actually rather fun for a quick burst, though I'm trying to work out tactics at the moment.

The magic door

This  is an amusing cyoa style game with a fairy tale atmosphere.  I suspect it's nominally aimed at kids but the descriptions are nice, and they produce more adventures and content on a regular basis. Actually the shear amount of content in this one is quite surprising. I also like the way you get progress over multiple adventures with characters you've met in one turning up in another etc. The use of sounds is nice too even if some characters like the fairies themselves have voices so cute I wanted to strangle them big_smile.

Trivia crack

I got  excited initially with this one, since I thought it was an Alexa version of the sadly now inaccessible Iphone game. unfortunately it seems not. Start a quiz in  easy, medium or hard with multiple choice questions.
Unfortunately the game is quite buggy and I suspect programmed by a none native English speaker, not the least because some of the questions are phrased rather oddly.
You need to be very precise in what you say, eg you actually need to phrase your instructions "begin a quiz in medium difficulty" no variation will do.
The quizzes comprise just three questions and then the program says goodbye and shuts down. when you answer  a question, The game gives you no information, just says "answer correct or incorrect",  indeed sometimes I'm not  sure whether it registered the right number answer or not. And the most major issue is that  for some odd reason, Alexa's speaking speed slows right down in this skill.

Very disappointing and not one I'd recommend which is a shame.

The valley of the ivory dragon

This seems to be a homage to legend of the green dragon on alexa. You go to a village to slay a dragon, can look for trouble in  forest, enter the healers hut and battle monsters and get random encounters (it even has silver and gems as currency and a format for its monsters of "you have encountered x which lunges at you with Y").

This one previously was almost unplayable due to an annoying encounter where you’d lose most of your hp and almost all of your silver, and a complete inability to save.
Now however, there have been major updates, including lots more monsters, combat which is actually possible, and best of all, saving your progress.
Even the annoying encounter is gone, or at least, you only get it if you attack when the sun has gone down. The game I believe also finally includes ability to enter the village, though I’m guessing you need to play on several rl days to get that option working.
Either way, a nice idea, and potentially a fun smack monsters game in the best Logd tradition.

Train your brain


A short quiz with teasers, maths problems, number sequences. I like the fact that with this one you are deliberately supposed to answer quickly and can't repeat the question.
Only two problems, firstly the game sometimes doesn't recognize input and marks questions down for no reason, and secondly if your two quick with the answers and don't wait for the ding you actually crash the game big_smile.

Train your brain, odd one out

Not sure if this is related to the other train your brain skill. Get a list of four words and pick the odd one out, for example Pius, Ascetic, Hermit and mendicant. What’s interesting with this one is that some of the choices require a little knowledge, for example one I got wrong three were capitals of Indian Provinces and one wasn’t.

There are only two problems, firstly, the game does not stop or give you a high score, it just goes on asking questions, and secondly, the game often repeats questions (I saw one about mole hills three times in about 20 answers).

Trivia blast

A trivia skill in which your asked questions until you Lose. Has a rather amusing quiz show host with an Australian accent,  some of the questions were a little American. Still, it has lots of extra sounds and the speech recognition seems pretty good.

Trivia hero

This is one from the same developer as true or false (see below), that Mrs. Dark and I are really enjoying. have a 60 second round against the clock to answer as many questions as you can. Really awesome when played in competition, and even awesommer when your significant other gets annoyed since she keeps getting obscure film questions which cause you to win big_smile.

The speech recognition here is particularly good, though we did laugh when my  lady didn't know what the Ninja turtle's favourite food was, said "pass" and was interpreted as saying "pizza"

The only thing is you get 250 questions at the start for free, and another 250 when you link your account. I am guessing you'll have to buy questions after that, but exactly how much they cost I don't know at the second. Still 250 questions, being that one round is usually around 10 questions is still quite a lot, and with all the noises and the time limit the game is lots of fun.

Trivial pursuit tap

Okay this is the first skill that takes echo buttons, of which we have two. The buttons act like buzzers on a quiz show with fastest finger first which makes the game quite a lot of fun, even if sometimes recognition of buzzer presses can be a bit wonky.

Also like the categories in this one, and the fact that questions are interesting as well as moderately hard, as well  being nicely varied in subject.

True or false

Absolutely what it says on the tin. Five true or false questions with stat tracking and regular updates, nice for their descriptions and extra facts. Possible to play with more than one player, which Mrs. Dark and I liked.

Trump against humanity

Warning! if you are a Donald trump fan this is not for you.
if however your opinion of Donald trump's is like Mrs. Dark's then you would find it amusing.

Distinguish the real vs fake tweets  from his   trumpesty, and earn  inspirational messages from everyone's favourite American president.
Very well put together, and only included on this games list by virtue of actually being a game, but very very funny if your humour is inclined that way.

Btw, I asked my lady if her opinion of Donald Trump was lower than her opinion of Cockroaches, she said it was probably a close thing since Trump wouldn't make her want to stand on a table and scream, but probably would! cause her to vigorously employ a fly swatter if he were in her immediate vicinity big_smile.

Unofficial eight pages

Recommendation by Cyko. This is similar to the Slenderman lost vision audiogame. Wander around creepy locations looking for pages while being chased by a creature who distorts sounds (I think it's slenderman, though it's not named in the game).
On the plus side, speech recognition was flawless in this one and the sounds are damn creepy!
On the minus side, the game plays very slowly, some of the commands are just plane odd, eg, @turn around the old truck 2@ to search, and while the sounds are creepy, hearing a long burst of them everytime you move quickly loses their appeal, as do the generic Alexa responses such as @there there” or “now now” you get when you do something.

There was also little to no description, and to even get directions of what is around you on the map you needed to say help each move. It was also physically impossible to actually die, since if you run into a square with the creature, your asked if you want to go back, and then can take the same direction again with no trouble. The creature also doesn't interupt while your random searching, which unfortunately you do lots and lots and lots! of, indeed after looking for the last page for a solid half hour I actually gave up with this.
A potentially nice idea but not a game I would recommend I'm afraid.

volley family trivia game

Similar to True or false in that it has true or false questions, but slightly different in it's stat tracking and that . also where true or false works by having rounds and seeing who gets the most, Volley family trivia works by sudden death.

volley trivia head to head show down

Same as above, however instead of playing with one or more players live, you play against actual humans across the internet, also rather than being sudden death, the game has 7 questions and you earn points.

volley daily trivia

Seven new trivia questions each day with percentage tracking vs you and all other players, one Mrs. Dark and I do each day, also comes with cool music and some rather fun win or loss messages. Questions can be a little Us specific, though not imho as bad for this as some other games (Jeopardy is much worse), then again I'm probably only saying that because Mrs. Dark and I tend to do very well with this one.

Voice duel

A streight up numeric duel for Alexa with different skills of opponents, experience, stat boosters, turn based combat and global rankings.
A neat idea (even though the amount of descriptive or atmospheric text here is minimal), however the fact  the stat
boosters you get to raise your stats on levelling up don't actually work makes this one a bit pointless.

Voice arcade

Basically a launcher program for daily quiz, true or false and trivia hero, nice games but as they’re still possible to launch on their own, I’m not really sure what the point of this is.

The vortex

Okay this one is pretty bloody awesome! You start off in a cryo pod on a spaceship where you are still frozen but can interact with the ship’s systems through a neural link, this includes robots and computers. You do this with voice commands, instructing robots to do things like “Examine the rope”, or “look around the cargo bay”
There are however two things that make this really different to your usual interactive fiction/coya game, and not just the sound or the really intelligent use of Alexa voices.
Lots of tasks take time, that is real world time. Send a robot to look for supplies it’ll be back in 6 hours, ask a robot to hack the computer? It’ll take four hours, with a notification when they’re done.

Some tasks use multijell, that is robot fuel, which you can find by salvaging the ship, you can use multijell to create overdrive batteries and speed matters up, but obviously you have a limited amount.

More tasks to get multijell appear every real world 8 hours.

So, this is sort of like land of livia in space, with multiple robots instead of one hero, accept for one other thing.
Personality. All the robots have slightly different personalities, from poppas Beta to snarky alpha. They also use the default Alexa voices for different English languages, for example Gamma is the Australian female, whilst Beta is the English male. Oddly enough this makes things really atmospheric, and also gives you an amazingly nice sense of the different robots tasks and priorities.

I have heard some people say you can pay to buy multijell rather than grind from daily tasks, but I’ve not seen options for that as yet, which possibly means its not available in the Uk. Either way this is one I’ll be playing for a while I expect, and nice to find a longer game on the Alexa for a change.

Word chain

the chain link game, where you start a word ending with the last letter of the previous word in a given category. Being as this is a game Mrs. Dark and I used to play together ourselves, having a version with alexa was nice. I particularly like that you can actually add Alexa as a player and see how long you can go  cooperatively, as well as play until one person is eliminated.


Word games - anagrams, hang man and more

This is an idea which is really good but an execution with problems.
Hear an anagram and solve, with progressive difficulty, stat tracking, increasing scores and even I believe more games.
one problem? The voice recognition was very ropy. Mrs.  Dark said alexa didn't like her, and judging on this she's sort of right, since the game didn't understand her  and we kept being docked points for wrong guesses.
It did work for me, so I don't know if Alexa is just not good at having two people use one device, though being as we didn't have the same problem in other trivia games I suspect this is an issue with the word games.

Also lots! of game crashes in this one which was irritating, since the principle of the thing is such a good one.

Word of the day quiz


Gives you an unusual word each day (the first one I tried was Salebrosity), and asks you a quiz about that word.
there is a connected flash briefing to hear the word of the day, and then word of the day quiz where you can answer questions.

Rather nice for having a quiz show host and some fairly funny humour, indeed I confess to enjoying this one more on the second or third go due to me getting a little more used to the announcer's voice which I initially found offputting.

The audio prizes you get for logging in each day are also fun, methinks Mrs. Dark and I will enjoy this one.

Word Tennis

This is another word game similar to the categories game. Alexa names a category  such as fruits and  Vegetables, countries, olimpic sports activities  or world capitals then says an item in that category. You hear the sound of a tennis ball bounce, and have to return the serve to Alexa by saying something in the same category, only problem is it can't be an item that's already been used. At the end you get a ralley which is your score.

The only problem with this one is that usually games end when Alexa doesn't recognise something and decides you've made a mistake. For example after a  long 41 word ralley inn countries, Mrs. Dark lost out because Alexa planely hadn't heard of Greenland, and Alexa arbitrarily decided to make me lose when she forgot that  Paris is a world capital.

A fun game, if a little unfair due to the bugs.

World detective


Credit to Psycho for this one.
A trivia/geography game in which you must  track down a criminal or missing person through clues about what countries they're visiting, eg, if your told a person admires the work of Chopin the answer would be poland.
A nice test of general knowledge and geography in an entertaining setting, albeit when i tried the voice recognition did manage to confuse Belgium and Brazil which was sort of amusing, if a little irritating.
I also like the fact that the dramatic English male voice rather than Alexa's standard female one is used for this game.

Uk Treasurehunt

This one is a rather cool game similar to world detective. You are told a treasure is in a Uk city and have to find it within a time limit. Asking various helpers such as professor, librarian or police officer tells you a clue to a Uk city, you then need to fly there to continue and get clues to the next location. The more clues you get the more time passes, likewise if you wind up at the wrong place and need to backtrack it'll take time. Too much time and you lose the treasure. This one is actually very fun and rather tough, and highly recommended if you like trivia games.

Apparently there is an Us based one and it wouldn't surprise me if there are ones for other countries.

Yes Majesty

Okay, a kind person would say this is a homage to yes sire (see below), an unkind person would say it’s a rip off. On the other hand, while the rules are exactly the same the game has utterly different scenarios, (it seemed rather easier to me), and what’s more has lots of sounds and portentous quotes.

So, if you like Yes sire (as indeed I do), you will probably like this.

Yes sire

This one really is a favourite of mine .
From the same developer as the Volley trivia games and word of the day, You are a lord put in charge of a kingdom and need to keep things running. Your adviser will ask you for your opinion on various matters and you just say yes or no. Depending upon how things work out your influence and wealth will either go up or down. Obviously if your influence or wealth go to low, you lose, however the problem is if they go too high the king will see you as a threat and have you executed (this King obviously follows the George R R Martin school of political theory).
So you actually have to occasionally be randomly nasty to lower your influence or throw money at a bad job which is sort of fun.

Lots of different events in this one, all of them with amusing descriptions and  unpredictable results, and fairly frequent updates with new events plus what is doubly cool is  Alexa's voice changes to a dramatic sounding English chap for the duration of the game big_smile.
The game is free, but you can pay for effectively extra lives by having the cardinal or banker step in if you lose. There is also an extra expantion of questions to buy as well.

Also annoyingly, apparently there is a @yes Mr. President@ version of this game,  once again isn't available in the Uk grrrr!

Zombie racing

Basically Reindeer racing from the Hugo fm minigames collection, but with zombies.

Pick a zombie, see if it wins, if it does, get awarded zombie brains, the more brains you have, the higher on the leader board.
I personally preferd the zombie racing to the reindeer racing, probably because I'm a grim and morbid person, or maybe because I found it less patronising.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)