My Science School

The game Snakes and Ladders was invented in India in the century by the poet saint Gyandev, and was called Moksha Patam. The ladders represented the virtues while the snakes indicated vices. The game was designed around the concept that good deeds take you to heaven while bad deeds take you to hell.

Our favorite Snakes and Ladders was earlier known as Mokshapat, Moksha Patamu, or Gyan Chaupar (the game of knowledge). It was not just a game but a way of understanding life and its values. 

Its origin is still unclear, but some historians believe that the game is as old as the 2nd century BC, while others believe that it was invented in the 13th century by an Indian poet, Saint Gyandev.

The game served as a teaching tool to embrace and reinforce the Hindu philosophies of Karma and Samskara in students. Unlike the snakes and ladders we know now, the original game had squares in the range of 72-124 that symbolized the journey of life. Every square enlightened a positive or negative aspect of life. 

Mokshapat had more snakes than ladders representing various evils on the path to attaining salvation. It also depicted that the path to salvation is more difficult than the path to evil. 

The squares that contained the bottom of the ladder symbolized a good deed or good karma, and the top of the ladder symbolized a heavenly place. The squares where the mouth of the snakes was placed were a sign of evil or bad karma. The goal was to reach the end square that signified salvation or Moksha.

The astounding fact about the old version of the game is that the game focused on developing the necessary values in people rather than focusing on competition.

Credit : ED Times

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Become a budding journalist

The board game's name Man Bites Dog is intriguing and stands true to the motive of the game. In true media style, it's all about coming up with the catchiest headlines using random cards you draw from a set. It sounds like it would be good fun with points for creativity, but it turns out that luck is probably all that matters. At least, even if you're losing, you can still laugh at awkward headlines like 'Angry Dog Runs Off With Urologist' or 'Brave Family Attacks Devoted Cop'.

Much ado about nothing?

When you see the name Morron Terror, don't expect some Jumanji style action and panic. A character made of cardboard, Freddy, needs to be dressed up. The twist in the game is that you need to listen to an audio cassette and follow the instructions carefully to dress Freddy in the correct combination. The player who does it correctly wins. And that's it. The only terror, as far as this game is concerned, is that it might bore you to death after two minutes!

Non-athletic tennis

Are you fond of tennis but think it would be great to play it while slouching on a couch? There's a game exclusively for such enthusiasts. Roll the dice to decide what kind of move you get to make - a short lob, a passing shot, etc., on a net-free board. Why actually physically try these manoeuvres when you can close your eyes and imagine yourself on a Wimbledon court playing classy shots! The game ends when someone wins or falls asleep.

Farmville on a board

Not keen on a game that will make you sweat in anxiety and pace? Then Squatter is just for you. The first player to collect a total of 6000 sheep wins the game. The perils you encounter on the board are aplenty. Here's one a poisonous plant consumed by the stud ram could cause your sheep population to plummet steeply. Enjoy this Australian game of sheep-herding as it proceeds in its leisurely pace of buying and selling sheep.

Fun can be hard work

What stands out about this game is its insistence on participation of both genders. Roll the dice and pick a card from the landing square. Then, you do the stunt mentioned on the card to earn points for yourself and your partner. The purpose of a board game seems to be to settle down in a cosy spot and roll dice. However, this game is intent on making you run around accomplishing tedious tasks like opening and shutting all the doors in the house before a sand timer runs out, or embarrassing (and possibly unsanitary) ones like kissing a door knob four times!

Rendezvous with Big Foot

The game starts with a mistake right in the name -Big Foot: The Giant Suow Monster Game. Wasn't the snow monster called 'Yeti'? Anyway, the other problem is the deceptive box illustration showing an amicable Big Foot sitting with children. However, when you play the game, you clearly see that Bigfoot isn't the benevolent character he is made out to be on the box cover. You can load discs (some blanks and some footprints) into the plastic figurine of Big Foot which plays a major role in the game.

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The objective of this addictive game is to get to the finish line without hitting any of the obstacles. But you have to do it by drawing lines for the ball to bounce off. The challenge is for the line to be angled at an orientation that will move the ball forward without it hitting the wall. Free for iOS and Android.

The game is divided into more than a hundred different levels that gradually increase in difficulty, adding a multitude of traps and obstacles as you go. As you continue to beat levels, you'll also unlock new content. You can get new balls and new visual themes.

One More Bounce is an original and fun arcade game with a perfect gameplay for touchscreens. It has a level of difficulty that manages to be addictive without being frustrating. It's another excellent game from SMG Studio, creators of One More Line and One More Dash, among other great games.

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Prune is an artistic game about cultivating trees in a hostile world. You plant a seed in the ground, choose the direction of its growth, and the tree starts growing. You must cut certain branches away to let other parts of the tree grow larger. The goal is to have the branches reach a given level's field of sunlight so that a certain number of flowers can grow along the branches and fill your quota. Along the way, you must deal with obstacles such as wind. eclipses, and suns that will either accelerate or corrupt your tree's growth. The more complicated stages will have you growing massive, twisted trees that seem to defy nature. Available on iOS.

It's the perfect game to pass the time in stressful situations, or to calm yourself down. If you make the wrong cut it doesn't really matter; just grow another tree and begin again. The act of pruning your tree and shaping it correctly is calming, and the levels slowly introduce new ideas and challenges as you master the game.

It's a great way to spend four dollars, and the central idea of the game is important: You have to focus your attention on what's important and cut away the rest. You can only do so much, and growing in certain areas, or too many, can actually be a detriment. This is one of those rare games that costs a single price, takes full advantage of its platform and feels completely harmonious. 

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The gameplay in Skyward is centred on a single disc that alternates colour from red to blue as you step upward through a maze of planes that are constantly changing. You have to step to the next plane before your disc disappears. The controls are simple; just tap the screen to advance. Some planes change the property of your counters; if your disc lands on a lightning bolt, it picks up speed, meaning you have less time to plan your move. Land on an hourglass? You've got more time to make your next move. There are also conveyors, stairs, dizzy roads, gates, alley ways and a host of other modifiers that you'll encounter as you progress. A fun, challenging game requiring concentration and skill. Free for OS and Android.

Skyward is played over several rounds. Each round starts with The Split, followed by individual player turns. The goal of the game is to launch a combination of buildings that yield the most Victory Points. The end game is triggered when any player launches their 6th building or the central deck is emptied. Complete the current round as you would normally, then complete one final split. The player with the most Victory Points wins the game.

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In this physics-based puzzle game, your job is to guide the jabbering group of goo balls to the end of a level without killing too many of them in the process. The millions of goo balls who live in the World of Goo are curious to explore – drag and drop squirming, talking globs of goo to build structures, bridges, cannonballs, zeppelins and giant tongues! Each level is strange and introduces new puzzles, areas and the creatures that live in them and undiscovered new species of Goo Ball, each with unique abilities. Available for iOS and Android.

The main objective of the game is to get a requisite number of goo balls to a pipe designed to represent the exit. In order to do so, the player must use the goo balls to construct bridges, towers, and other structures to overcome gravity and various terrain difficulties such as chasms, hills, spikes, windmills, or cliffs. There are several types of goo balls in the game, each of which has unique properties. The player must exploit combinations of these goo balls in order to complete each level. Extra goos recovered in the pipe are pumped through to the World of Goo Corporation, a sandbox area where the objective is to compete with other players worldwide by building the tallest tower possible. Players can also try to achieve the "Obsessive Completion Distinction Flag" for each level by completing the level under more stringent criteria, such as collecting a larger number of Goo balls, finishing under a set amount of time or using as few moves as possible.

The WiiWare version includes multiplayer with up to four people on the same Wii. This facility is also available, albeit unsupported, in the Linux port.

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The game is centred around letting you build your ultimate football dream team of players from the world's biggest soccer leagues, including MLS, La Liga, Bundesliga and the English Premier League. Earn, trade, and collect superstars like Lionel Messi to create your own fantasy team. Choose your play style, formation, kits, and more. Once you've built your team, designate a play style and manage team details like substitutions and player chemistry and compete in matches against other teams in the league. The Matches of the Week mode lets you take part in your favourite team's next fixture, plus 3 other major match-ups happening around the world. Free game for iOS, Android and Windows Phone.

Ever imagine starting FIFA 15 Ultimate Team with one of the world’s best forwards? With the new loan player feature in FIFA 15 Ultimate Team you can! Exclusive to the FIFA 15 Ultimate Team Edition, try out Lionel Messi in FIFA 15 Ultimate Team and play with him right away for a limited amount of matches. Afterwards, you’ll be able to unlock more players from the EA SPORTS Football Club Catalogue using football club credits.

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Haste is a word game that pits users against the clock, as they race to find as many words as possible hidden among a grid of letters. Each letter is assigned a point value, and creating words with bonuses earns extra points. Users can play against random opponents or connect through Facebook to play against friends. Free for iOS.

The default routing that most ISPs utilize is pretty inefficient. In most cases, your network provider chooses a network or connection path that’s the cheapest, traffic friendly and with the most available bandwidth.

This means the connection hops from route to route like a lost toddler in a toy store. It’s unstable and slow. Even worse, despite your ISP’s attempts to get you the best connection with its limited infrastructure, in most cases, your connection will still run into some congestion.

This results in lag on your end. However, Haste claims that it can neaten up the tangle of your internet traffic and optimize it. Haste has maps of the best connection paths and can lower the risk of lag and latency. It’s like Google Maps for network connections.

Haste has its own network infrastructure. If it should encounter any congestion or trouble, Haste will switch routes almost instantly to avoid any noticeable lag on your end. Haste achieves this dynamism through the use of its custom network infrastructure, routing and multipathing algorithms and protocols.

Credit : Game Gavel 

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