Kindle Fire Angry Birds Seasons Review

Angry Birds Seasons Review- Review Introduction

This is a review of Angry Birds Seasons- Kindle Fire edition. Published by Rovio Entertainment, Ltd., Angry Birds Seasons is priced at $0.99 and is rated 3.0 stars with almost 500 customer reviews.

Angry Birds Seasons Review- Main Takeaways

A few days ago, tarzanphan and I covered the basics of how to play Angry Birds. Rather than cover again what we have discussed in our previous review, today we’re just going to discuss what the differences are between Angry Birds and Angry Birds Seasons.

Angry Birds Seasons is broken into two different years: 2011 and 2012. Every few months, the development team releases a new ‘Season” episode for us to play.

In 2011, they had many episodes to choose from:

  • Trick or Treat
  • Season’s Greedings
  • Hogs and Kisses
  • Go Green, Get Lucky
  • Easter Eggs
  • Summer Pignic
  • Moon Festival

In 2012, so far they have had fewer seasons, but have chosen different ones to highlight:

Ham’o'ween and Wreck the Halls

Year of the Dragon and Cherry Blossom

Each ‘Season’ is a standalone episode, with the same rules that apply to the regular Angry Birds games, with the same birds as in the regular games as well. You must complete each level to move on to the next. There are two exceptions to this rule:

  • Winter Holiday Seasons- Each winter holiday episode is special. Starting on December 1, a new level is unlocked each day. You do not have to have passed the previous level in order to move on to the next day’s level. However, this also means if you get 3 stars on the first level on December 1, you can’t move on to the next until it becomes available on December 2.
  • Year of the Dragon- In 2012′s Chinese New Year episode, they added an awesome feature- the Mighty Dragon. You can use the Mighty Dragon once per hour to ‘beat’ the level for you. You do not earn any stars for beating a level with the dragon, but you can move on to the next level. You also have the goal of earning 100% clearance by the dragon for alternate high scores on levels where you use it.

There is one Golden Egg in each individual season that you can unlock, and those will be shown on each Season’s page after you earn it. There are also specialty levels you can unlock at the end of each season by earning 3 stars on all levels in the episode.

Angry Birds Seasons Review- Conclusion and Overall Rating

While I like Angry Birds Seasons for the variety of challenges, this is probably my least favorite variation. Some of the levels are very difficult to beat, and I hate that I get stuck on them for so long. I think they got the right idea when they added the Mighty Dragon in for the Chinese New Year in 2012, but I wish they had continued that on. I’ll continue to play the Seasons, but they only get 3.5 stars from me.

Kindle Fire Angry Birds Review

Angry Birds Review- Review Introduction

This is a review of Angry Birds- Kindle Fire edition. Published by Rovio Entertainment, Ltd., Angry Birds HD is priced at $0.99 and is rated 4.0 stars with almost 500 customer reviews.

Angry Birds Review- Main Takeaways

I admit it. I’m an Angry Birds addict. It all started when my mom was out visiting me last summer. I’d heard so much about Angry Birds, but back then it was only available on i-devices. So when she came to visit, I took the chance to play it on her phone one day. Oh, so addictive. I had way too much fun playing, and was sad that I couldn’t play it after she left. Last fall I got a phone that could play Angry Birds, and it was the first game I downloaded. I quickly got back into playing it all the time and I was so excited to be able to play it in large format on my Kindle Fire after I received it as a Christmas gift.

This is Tarzanphan – Jen is my daughter and I can be blamed for letting her get addicted to Angry Birds and blessing her with the Kindle Fire. In return, she taught me how to play Angry Birds yesterday over skype and now I can blame her for addicting me.

I still play Angry Birds almost every single day. It is part of my time-killing routine, in doctor’s offices, waiting at the train tracks, while on hold on the phone, etc.

The premise of Angry Birds is very simple- launch the Angry Birds at the evil Green Pigs!

Ok – still trying to figure out why the pigs are green and how both pigs and birds can build slingshots and towers. 

The levels start out simple, with the red bird and a basic structure protecting a few pigs. You have to carefully launch the birds to destroy the structure and kill the pigs. The fewer birds you use, the better. Destroying all the pigs automatically earns you one star, and you can earn more points by destroying more of the structure, using fewer birds, and demolishing ‘extra’ items in the scene, with the goal of earning 3 stars on every level.

Game In Play- Angry Birds Level 1 End

It’s a good thing it started out simple or I would have never got addicted.  Having Jen tell me about pinching the screen helped a lot. No wonder I failed miserably when I tried to play the game a year ago!I have to admit it was kind of fun being able to destroy things.  Good way to release frustration- as long as I stayed ahead of the frustration that a few of the levels caused me.

As you progress through the game, you unlock more birds with special skills, such as the blue ice bird, that turns into 3 little birds when you tap the screen and can destroy three times as many blocks and pigs, or the bomb bird, which is fairly self-explanatory.

You must kill all the pigs on a level to be able to move on to the next level, which is challenging at times. However, once you beat the first few levels in the initial section, the remaining level sets open up and you can start to play through those as well when you get stuck.

I’m sure I was very entertaining to watch as I learned to play this game.  Am I the only one who ends up yelling at the screen and cursing the structures? And how come tilting the Kindle Fire screen doesn’t make the structures tumble down a little faster?  Guess I’ll have to keep playing to figure it all out.

There are 8 sets of levels currently in Angry Birds, with some fun titles and themes; Poached Eggs, Mighty Hoax, Danger Above, The Big Setup, Ham ‘Em High, Mine and Dine, Birdday Party, and Surf and Turf. There is also a special section called Gold Eggs, where you can access levels that you have unlocked by finding ‘hidden eggs’ in various levels throughout the game.

Some tips and tricks for making it easier to play the game:

  • If you pinch the screen, you can zoom out or zoom in so that you can see the entire playing area at once.
  • After you launch your first bird on each level, you can see the path it flew. It’s easy to adjust your flight path for your remaining birds based on that track.
  • Don’t be afraid to restart a level! If you hit the pause button in the top left corner, a menu pops out giving you the choice to restart, go back to menu, or continue playing. Sometimes it’s easier to just restart, rather than keep hoping you’ll magically kill all the pigs with one last bird.
  • Remember each bird has a different weight, and a different trajectory, so adjust as you throw them.
  • Experiment! Sometimes the best way to get to the pigs isn’t the obvious path. Launch the birds higher up, try knocking blocks out from under them.

Restarting was good. Sometimes – if I got stuck on a level I would just practice with the birds to figure out how to beat the level.  Other times – I would go play a difference set for a few games, then come back and attack the level that blocked me before.

Angry Birds Review- Conclusion and Overall Rating

If you couldn’t already guess, I give this app 4.5 stars. The only reason I dock points from it is that I wish you could skip a level, or rearrange the birds at least to make playing easier. I’ve been stuck on a couple levels for a few weeks now, and I’m so close to being able to get that all coveted 3-star score if I could just rearrange the order! Don’t blame me if you get addicted- blame Tarzanphan!

Word Search, Hangman – Word Games Pack by 7 Dragons Available for Kindle Fire

Word Search, Hangman – Word Games Pack by 7 Dragons is now available for Kindle Fire in the Amazon Android App store for the introductory price of $1.00.  (Note: We are the developers of this app).

What do you get for your $1.00? You get two great games in one terrific app – Word Search and Hangman (with a twist).

What is Word Search?

Word Search is a word game that provides you with a list of words hidden vertically, horizontally and/or diagonally in a letter grid. The goal is to find all the words in the list.

How to play Word Search – Basic

A puzzle grid is generated with twelve letters across and twelve letters down. Within this list are hidden several words (nine words on the easy level and ten or twelve words on medium or hard – based upon selections on the main screen). Below the puzzle grid is a list of words based upon the puzzle title and category. These words are displayed alphabetically going down in columns starting at the left side.

Note: More advanced game modes allow for only showing the first letter of each word or no letters of the word and having characters indicated with asterisks.

Words can be hidden in the puzzle horizontally (across), vertically (down) or diagonally (angled). On the easy level there are fewer diagonal words or words displayed backwards or upside down. The harder levels add more complexity.

When you find a word you can select it by dragging your finger from the first to the last letter or the last to the first letter. You can also tap on the first and last letters to select a word. The tapping first and last letter method is strongly recommended for diagonal words.

Solving Methods:

  • Visually scan back and forth and up and down to find obvious words and select and eliminate them.
  • Go through the puzzle left to right/top to bottom (or vice versa) looking for the first letter of a word. When you find this letter, look in the 8 letters surrounding the letter to see if the second letter is there. Use this method to find all the words on the list.
  • Look for outstanding letters such as Q,O,U,X or Z that are in the word list and use them to help find the words they are contained in.

How to play Word Search – Advanced

From the Categories list page, select a category and a puzzle to play by scrolling up and down the page and tapping the puzzle name. With 50 categories available and randomly generated word lists based upon the difficulty levels, there are literally thousands of different puzzles available to play.

Once the puzzle is generated, the timer starts on your game. A randomly generated list of theme-related words is provided below the grid (between 9-12 words depending upon the difficulty level selected).

Search through the grid to find the words in the list that are hidden in the puzzle. When you find a word you can tap the first and last letter of the word to mark it (in either order). You can also drag your finger along the word to mark it. Please note: This is more difficult for diagonal words. Tapping first and last letters for diagonal words is recommended.

If you get stuck you can tap the ‘Hint’ button to show a word.

As words are successfully marked in the grid, they are highlighted in the word list so that you can see the progress made.

Upon completion of the puzzle, you will be provided a success message. This message will also indicate if this is a new best time for the current puzzle and difficulty level.

Word Search Game Menu Items

Restart This Game: Restarts the current game and resets the timer.

New Game: Removes the current game and starts a new game with randomly generated words.

Game Mode: Allows you to choose from three game modes:

  • Visible Words Mode – All letters of the words in the word list are visible. (Easiest mode)
  • First Letter Visible Mode – The first letters of each word in the list are shown and the remaining letters of the words in the word list are indicated with the number of characters by asterisks. As words are marked, they show in the list to allow you to determine where additional words fit alphabetically.
  • Invisible Words Mode – All letters of the words in the word list are indicated with the number of characters by asterisks. As words are marked, they show in the list to allow you to determine where additional words fit alphabetically. (Hardest mode)

Strikethrough On/Off: Turns on (or off) the strikethrough of marked words in the grid.

Back to Categories: Returns you to the Categories list page.

Close: Closes the Menu and returns you to the current game.

Word Search Main Page Menu Items

Play Word Search: Takes you to the Categories list page where you can select to continue a puzzle or start a new puzzle.

Level: Displays the currently selected level of difficulty. Tap the button to select between Easy, Medium and Hard difficulty levels. You can also choose the Game Mode on this selection screen.

Stats & Trophies: Takes you to the Statistics and Trophies page. Try to improve your statistics and earn all the trophies available.

Settings: Allows you to choose between including 10 Words or 12 Words in Medium and Hard Levels. Also allows for resetting the Stats & Trophies. (Make sure you want to do this before approving this move as all Word Search Stats & Trophies will be cleared out.

Help: Opens this Help file.

Back: Returns you to the Word Games Pack Home screen.

What is Hangman?

Hangman is a word game where you guess letters in order to try to guess a word or phrase in a given category. Incorrect guesses result in details being added to the Hangman drawing. The goal is to correctly guess the answer before the Hangman drawing is complete.

How to play Hangman – Basic

A puzzle grid is generated with blocks to indicate the characters in a word or phrase. Note: Some words may wrap from the end of the first line to the second line. The category is listed at the top of the screen for easy reference. Guess one letter at a time by selecting the desired choice on the game keyboard. Correct guesses will result in that letter being placed in all locations it appears in the word or phrase. Incorrect guesses will be crossed out and an additional feature will be placed in the Hangman drawing.

If you get stuck you can tap the ‘Hint’ button one time per game to reveal a letter. The Hint is guaranteed to provide you with a correct letter. Be sure and use your Hint wisely.

Enjoy beating the Hangman on your own or play with family and friends for enjoyable group entertainment.

Solving Methods:

  • Start guessing with vowels (A,E,I,O,U) to fill in critical letters. In English, almost every word has at least one vowel.
  • Try using the 12 most commonly used letters in the English language. In descending order, they are E,T,A,O,I,N,S,H,R,D,L,U.

Upon completion of the puzzle, you will be provided a success message. This message will also indicate if this is a new best time for the current puzzle and difficulty level.

Use the Pause/Play option to pause (or cancel the pause) the game if you are interrupted. ‘Next Word’ allows you to skip the current word or phrase. ‘Exit’ returns you to the Hangman Categories screen.

Hangman Main Page Menu Items

Play Hangman: Takes you to the Categories list page where you can select a game category. On the Categories page you can also change the Difficulty of game play between Easy and Hard. Note: There are different words/phrases in each level of difficulty.

Settings:
Allows you to choose between 7 or 9 incorrect guesses per game.


Choose which character you want to save. Select between a randomly generated character or a specific character.


The Settings screen also allows for resetting the Stats & Trophies. (Make sure you want to do this before approving this move as all Word Search Stats & Trophies will be cleared out.

Help: Opens this Help file.

Stats & Trophies: Takes you to the Statistics and Trophies page.

Exit: Returns you to the Word Games Pack Home screen.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please leave a comment on this post or contact us directly at booksummit@ymail.com

Solitaire Magic by 7 Dragons Available for Kindle Fire

Solitaire Magic by 7 Dragons is now available in the Android App Store for Kindle Fire devices. Please Note: We are the developers of this app.  Solitaire Magic provides countless hours of fun for the low introductory price of just $1.00.  This app is suitable for all ages.

What do you get for your $1.00?  You get three solitaire games in one simple app, plus a bonus game to extend your gaming fun.  Choose from Solitaire, Mahjong Solitaire, and Spider Solitaire.

Each game has both detailed Help files as well as “How to Play” sections.  Collects Stats & Trophies for game play.  Enjoy the optional background music and game sounds or turn them off in Settings.

Solitaire

Solitaire is also commonly known as Klondike or Canfield.

Features in Solitaire include:

  • Draw 3 and Draw 1 modes
  • 11 backgrounds
  • 13 deck backs
  • 6 deck fronts including 2 large font decks for easy viewing
  • Scoring, Timer, Undo, Restart, New Game, Hints
  • Extensive “How to Play” and Help files to make it easy to learn to play Solitaire if you are new to the game.

Initial Layout:
A single deck of cards is shuffled and dealt in seven columns to form the tableau. From left to right, one card is placed face up in the leftmost column, then six cards face down in each column to the right. Another card is placed face up on the leftmost column with a card face down and then remaining columns have a card dealt face down on them. This continues until the final column has a card dealt face up.

The remaining cards are placed in a stock pile in the upper right-hand corner.

Object of the Game:
The object of the game is to move the four aces to the foundation piles at the left of the game board and build up each suit from ace to king. Once all four foundation piles are complete, the game is won.

Game Play:
The tableau piles are built down in alternating colors (black can be placed on red and red on black). An empty tableau pile can be filled with a King or with a pile of cards starting with a King. To move the cards, drag a card (or pile of cards) from one pile to the desired pile. Double tap on any qualifying card to move it to a foundation pile.

Cards dealt from the stock pile can be used to fill in spots in the tableau piles or in the foundation piles.

As an added method for ease in completing a game, once all cards are face up (no face down cards in the tableau or cards remaining in the deck) and in tableau piles or foundation piles the game will auto complete for you and move the remaining cards to their foundation piles.

Time: Tracks the time in play for the current game.

Score: Your score for the current game.
10 points are awarded for moving a card to a foundation pile.
5 points are awarded for moving a card from the deck to a tableau pile.
5 points are awarded for turning over a card in a tableau pile.
15 points are deducted for moving a card from a foundation pile back to a tableau pile.
2 points are deducted for every 10 seconds of play.
In the Draw Three option, 20 points are deducted each time you go through the deck after the third time.
In the Draw One option, 100 points are deducted each time you go through the deck after the first time.

Mahjong Solitaire

Mahjong Solitaire is a traditional tile matching game. 

Features in Mahjong Solitaire include:

  • 3 Difficulty Levels - Easy, Medium and Hard
  • 19 layouts to choose from13 deck backs including a custom spider deck back
  • 3 tile designs including Traditional, Flower, and Fishes
  • 3 tile colors to choose from
  • Scoring, Timer, # of Available Matches, Undo, Restart, New Game, Hints, Show Available Tiles
  • Extensive “How to Play” and Help files to make it easy to learn to play Mahjong Solitaire if you are new to the game.

Selecting a Layout:
Nineteen different layouts are available to choose from. Layouts are divided between Easy, Medium and Hard options. Tap on the image above the desired layout name. The selected puzzle will be indicated by a Buddha image. Upon successful completion of a puzzle, the image will change to a pagoda view.

Initial Layout:
Tiles are randomly arranged face-up in the selected layout with some tiles covered by others. Tiles are available for play when they are “free”. A free tile is a tile that has no other tiles on top of it and can be slid out to either the left or the right.

Object of the Game:

The object of the game is to match pairs of free tiles until the board is cleared. In the traditional design, cards with pipes, buttons and numbers on them will match with an identical tile. In the fishes and flower design, cards not designated as Season or Flower tiles will also match an identical tile. Season tiles can match other season tiles and are indicated with a sun in the upper right hand corner. Flower tiles can match other flower tiles and are indicated by a leaf or flower in the upper right hand corner.

Game Play:
Tap on a free tile and then tap on a matching free tile to create a match and remove the tiles from the board. The tiles must be the same or the match will not occur. Because there are multiple items of each image (traditionally four of each tile), matching the wrong pair may result in the board getting blocked. The current number of Matches available is shown in the Matches window.

Note – Flower tiles match other Flower tiles regardless of the image on the tile. Season tiles match other Season tiles regardless of the image on the tile.

  • Traditional Tile Set: Flower tiles are indicated by a pink tulip in the upper right-hand corner. Season tiles are indicated by a sun in the upper right-hand corner.
  • Flower Tile Set: Flower tiles are indicated by an orange flower in the upper right-hand corner. Season tiles are indicated by a snowflake in the upper right-hand corner.
  • Fishes Tile Set: Flower tiles are indicated by a pink pearl in the upper right-hand corner. Season tiles are indicated by a starfish in the upper right-hand corner.

Different strategies may be employed depending upon your favorite method of game play, but typically users remove the topmost tile in a stack and outer tiles in order to free up more tiles as the game progresses.

The game is won when all matching tiles are successfully removed from the grid. The game is over when there are no more free tiles that can be matched successfully.

Upon successfully clearing the board, you will be automatically moved to the next layout. To select a different layout, do so by choosing Menu and then Layout.

Time: Tracks the time in play for the current game.

Score: Your score for the current game.

Spider Solitaire

Spider Solitaire is a version of Solitaire that involves a bit of luck and planning. 

Features in Spider Solitaire include:

  • 3 Difficulties – Easy (1 suit), Medium (2 suits) and Hard (4 suits)
  • 10 backgrounds including custom designed spider backgrounds
  • 13 deck backs including a custom spider deck back
  • 8 deck fronts including 2 spider themed deck fronts
  • Scoring, Timer, Undo, Restart, New Game, Hints
  • Extensive “How to Play” and Help files to make it easy to learn to play Spider Solitaire if you are new to the game.


Initial Layout:
Two decks of cards are shuffled and dealt in ten piles to form the tableau. From left to right, the first four piles contain six cards each and the last six piles contain five cards each. The top card in each pile is dealt face up; the remaining cards in each pile are dealt face down.

The remaining cards are placed in a stock pile in the lower right-hand corner.

Object of the Game:
The object of the game is to form eight sets of cards of the same suit descending from King to Ace within a column. Once all eight sets of cards are complete, the game is won.

Game Play:
The columns are built down in any suit. An empty column can be filled with any card or a moveable sequence of cards. A moveable sequence of cards consists of cards of the same suit in descending sequence (such as 5, 4, 3, 2 of spades). To move the cards, drag a card (or pile of cards) from one pile to the desired pile. When a set of cards of the same suit from King to Ace is complete it is automatically removed to the lower left-hand corner.

The columns can be built down in one or more suits. (If you are playing on the Easy difficulty, there is only one suit available). You can move one card or a moveable sequence of cards from one pile to another. A moveable sequence of cards consists of cards of the same suit in descending sequence (such as 8, 7, 6 of diamonds). When all face up cards in a column are removed, the next face down card will be turned face up.

Once a pile is emptied, it is eligible to have other cards moved onto it. Any card (or a moveable sequence of cards) can be moved to an empty tableau pile. Use empty tableau piles as a method of helping shift cards.

Clicking on the stock pile deals one card face up on the end of each column. All columns must contain a card before more cards can be dealt from the stock.

The game is incrementally more difficult as you shift from one suit, to two suits, to four suits. We recommend you learn the game on Easy difficulty and work your way up to the hardest difficulty.

Time: Tracks the time in play for the current game.

Score: Your score for the current game.
500 points are awarded initially.
1 point is deducted for moving a card or set of cards from one pile to another.
100 points are awarded for completing a set of cards of the same suit from King to Ace and removing them from game play.

Stats & Trophies

The Stats & Trophies button from the Solitaire Magic main screen allows you to view your High Scores, Best Times and Games Won for all the included games. 

The Trophies button will show you the trophies that have been won for completing various tasks:

Trophies are awarded in Solitaire for winning a Draw 1 game, winning a Draw 3 game, and getting a base score greater than 650.  Trophies are awarded in Mahjong Solitaire for winning any 5 different levels, winning any 10 different levels and winning any 15 different levels. Trophies are awarded in Spider Solitaire for winning a game on Easy difficulty, winning a game on Medium difficulty and winning a game on Hard difficulty.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions for Solitaire Magic, please leave a comment on this post or contact us via email at booksummit@ymail.com.

Kindle Fire Fruit Ninja Review

Fruit Ninja Review – Review Introduction

This is a review of Fruit Ninja – the well-known card game adapted for Kindle Fire by Halfbrick Studios Pty Ltd.  It is available for $0.99 in the Amazon Android store. It is suitable for children and older and is rated 4 stars on 346 customer reviews. Also available inthe Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots version as the free Amazon Android App of the  Day until Midnight tonight (12/27/2011). 4.5 stars on 48 customer reviews. Suitable for children. Regular price of $0.99.

Note: I tried to take screenshots while slicing fruit – but they didn’t turn out very well and were more grainy than I cared to post.

Fruit Ninja Review – Main Takeaways

Slice through fruit with your finger as fast as you can and avoid the bombs.  Sounds simple and it starts out that way – but gets complicated quickly.  This is a really fun game.  There are even fruit lessons when you lose. Does that count as eating my fruit each day?

Kindle Fire Fruit Ninja - mode selection screen

Try the different game modes: Arcade, Classic and Zen Mode. I tried them all and found each different and entertaining.

Fruit Ninja: Puss In Boots Review – Main Takeaways

Bandido mode has been added to this version. Slice through a series of increasingly exciting challenges in the all-new Bandito Mode, and become the greatest Fruit Ninja warrior of all time. Each stage thrusts you into never-before-seen fruit frenzy adventure. Face massive fruit from the Giant’s castle, precision and timing challenges, and all-out fruit onslaughts with new obstacles. Plus, for the first time ever, throw down against the much-requested tomato!

Kindle Fire Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots - Bandido Mode selector

I had a blast in Bandido mode – even when I lost. The different challenges were very enjoyable.

Fruit Ninja Review – Conclusion and Overall Rating

I would give Fruit Ninja a rating of 4.5 stars.  I’ve only played these games for an hour – but loved slicing the fruit and avoiding the bombs. I was really glad I wasn’t seen in public playing this – but think both games are a great deal and a great deal of fun.

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