I’m not one for playing a lot of games on the phone. But I do like playing some type of games. One of the games I have got hooked to recently is 2048.

This at first glance is a rather simple game. The objective is to achieve the number 2048 by adding equal numbers. The board is a 4×4 grid and the game gives you 2’s and 4’s for every move you make.

You can move up, down, right and left. If there is are same numbers next to each other when you move, they get added up. So, 2 and 2 gets added to 4. If you have a 4 and 4 lined up they will add up to 8.

You will then need to 8’s to make 16 and so on until you arrive at 2048. If the board fills up and you can’t move around anymore, it’s game over.

Getting to 2048 is fairly simple, once you get a knack for the game but the game doesn’t end there. You can continue doubling numbers until you max out the board at 131072 (or 217). The maximum possible score is 3,932,156 and the maximum number of moves is 131,038. After this there are no more moves possible in the 4×4 board.

I haven’t managed to get to 131072 yet. My highest is 65536 until now. Or rather it was until a month ago when I changed my phone and lost all game history. Now I need to start again from 2. 😀

The original 2048 is a single-player game created by Gabriele Cirulli, a 19-year old Italian developer. Cirulli created the game over a single weekend in March 2014. The game was a clone of Veewo Studios’ app 1024 and inspired by Sami “Saming” Romdhana’s clone 2048. Currently a lot of 2048 clones are available on the store which offer variations on the original.

This is a highly addictive game once you get a hang of it. It’s my favourite game on the pot in the mornings. 😀 The Wall Street Journal has described 2048 as “almost like Candy Crush for math geeks” and I completely agree with them except for the math geeks part.

I’ve found that all age groups love the game and get hooked to it. You should see my Mom at it. If you haven’t tried 2048 yet, you should! It’s available on the Android store, the iOS store and even online. Get it now!!!

The whole of last week I’ve been playing ‘Where’s My Water?’ every spare minute I got. I don’t usually get hooked to games so this was a pleasant surprise. I first played ‘Where’s My Water?’ on a friends tablet and enjoyed it so much that I got the free version for my Android Nexus One. I finished the free version in no time at all and paid for the full version.

So what’s the game about? The game requires getting Swampy the alligator enough water to have a shower. Each level has obstacles of different kinds (algae, purple poison, green ooze, etc.) and you have to figure out the best way to guide the water across to Swampy in the least amount of time. Each level also has three rubber ducks to be got that unlock new levels and some levels have collectibles that unlock bonus games.

Before I go into all I liked about the game, here are a few things I didn’t like –
My Nexus One has a small screen (well, smaller than the new phones coming out) and some levels are really tough to play on it. I’m yet to finish level 18 in the ‘Boiling Point’ chapter. It requires some precision and on a small screen its difficult to get it right. The other thing is that playing for extended periods gave me a headache. Also the game seems to eat up battery like crazy even with the sound and music off.

I like challenging games and this one challenges in two ways. One its logical, I had to think and plan each level out to get it right. The other is that playing requires precision work and even multiple finger movement. The graphics of the game are great with little stories at the start of each chapter. The game is all about movement of fluids and the physics of that has been dealt with really well – it does move like water. 🙂 This is one addictive game!

Currently there are 10 chapters with 20 levels each.
Meet Swampy
Troubled Waters
Under Pressure
Sink or Swim
Change is Good
Boiling Point
Stretched Thin
Caution to the Wind
Rising Tide
Out to Dry

Each chapter has 6 collectibles that unlock two bonus levels per chapter. These bonus levels use the motion of the phone to move the water and complete the level. There are also 86 achievements to be won. Most of them are fairly easy and can be got as you play the game. Here are the ones I found tricky to find and finish.

Embarrassed – Make Swampy hide behind the shower curtain. (Click on Swampy during the levels to make him do different action. One of them is hiding behind the curtain.)
Quick Finish – Finish Level 3-17 with at least 430 Time Bonus Points.
Confidence – Finish Level 2-7 with a single, uninterrupted cut.
Good to the Last Drop – Complete Level 2-9 without losing any water.
Tri-Duck Dash – Tri-Duck Level 5-17 with at least 430 Time Bonus points.
Out of this World – Find the Planetarium. (In the Achievements section pull down on the screen so the frames move towards the bottom. Tap on the Saturn doodle with your other finger.)
Quick Finish 2 – Finish Level C1-5 with at least 500 Time Bonus Points.
Taste for Destruction – Find the Mining Laser.
Tri-Ducked “10 Days of Swampy” – Complete all levels with 3-ducks in “10 Days of Swampy”.
Tri-Ducked “Hearts and Crafts” – Complete all levels with 3-ducks in “Hearts and Crafts”.
Played for 10 Days – Play the game on 10 consecutive days.
Tri-Ducked “Days of Summer” – Complete all levels with 3-ducks in “Days of Summer”.

Read more about the game here.
You can find tips, tricks and cheats to the game here.

Since I’ve finished all chapters as of now, the challenge remaining is to complete all achievements. Then of course there are more games to be played from Disney – The Lost Levels, Cranky’s Story, Mystery Duck and Where’s My Perry.

Have you played Where’s my Water? If you haven’t you should try it out, its fun. Way more fun than Angry Birds 😀 What are you playing on your Android?

Photo Credits: Wikipedia and Disney

About six months ago I got my first Android phone the Samsung Galaxy 3 and it changed the way I used my phone. I had used smart phones before this but the Android just made everything so simple. It wasn’t long before I moved onto the Android Nexus One. With a little bit of initial hard work to set-up the phone you have a little buddy who does almost all you need (just wish there was an app to wash vessels :D)

Here are a few work and fun apps I have come to love; starting with the ones from Google.

Gmail

If you have set-up up your Gmail account right with Labels and Filters, email on the go becomes so easy. Set-up your contacts well on Gmail; this takes time but once done you know that you will never lose it. You may lose your phone but never your data; to me this is the best part of the Android. All your data is on the cloud so you can feel free to lose your phone 😀

Setting up your contacts has other benefits as the phone can then sync with Gmail, Facebook and Twitter to give you photos and updates from them in the contacts list.

Google offers other apps too like Calendar which syncs with your Google calendar, which in turn can sync with your Outlook Calendar. (Mobile GA) Google Analytics on the go, the recent Google Reader which does a neat job with RSS feeds. Google Latitude to map and track your friends and Google Sky Map for those nights when you’re camping out.

Hootsuite

If you use Hootsuite for Twitter, the app does a great job of syncing with the online version and staying updated. Though I have had issues with scheduling updates on the phone, I like the amount of options and data it provides from twitter. The app recreates most of the online experience and hence makes transition between computer and phone very easy.

Seesmic

Hootsuite has always been my first choice but Seemic’s latest update has given me second thoughts. If you have a Facebook Page (not Facebook Profile) the Facebook app is no great help as it does not offer page access. However Seemic now supports Facebook in a way that gives access to Pages. The interface is clean and easy to navigate. Now you can follow conversations on your page and even leave comments without breaking a sweat.

The Seesmic app also now allows multiple widgets so you can get updates from more than one social account on your home screen. Seesmic seems to be supporting the most number of social networks currently.

Facebook

For personal use this app is great. With each update it seems to get cleaner and better. You can view news feed, photos, friends, groups, messages and even chat. But if you are marketing on Facebook with Pages, this app is limiting and does not offer access to pages.
Evernote

Evernote is a neat app to keep all your notes together. You can also copy paste from the internet onto Evernote on your computer and the app will sync with it. I find it great when I need to be away from the computer in the kitchen and still access the recipe I found online.

TM World

If you work with more than one time zone, this is a neat app. You can make your own list of time zones to show and use the time converter option to see times in different time zones simultaneously. It also has a home screen widget.

GetGlue & Foursquare

Foursquare is a location based social network. You can check-in to places and broadcast it so your friends know what you’re upto. If you’re someone who moves around a lot you’ll have fun with this app. You can collect badges and mayorships by checking-in. Some places like Coffee Day even offer specials to their Mayors.

GetGlue is an interest based network. I have started to prefer it to Foursquare because I don’t go out that much and I’m bored of being the Mayor of our Local JustBooks Library. GetGlue lets me check-in to movies, shows, music, books, video games and even topics I’m thinking of currently. With it I can connect with people of similar interests a lot more via ratings and comments.

Astrid & Producteev

Producteev from Google is an excellent task manager and it syncs well with Astrid on the phone to give you lists and reminders on the go.

These are some of the apps I use everyday. What apps do you recommend? What do you use?