[nabs-l] alternatives to visual games

Thu Mar 14 17:16:05 UTC 2013

Hi,
On the topic of accessible games, I can add a list of some of the
accessible games available on ios devices (such as my iPhone 4S).
Below I will list them and give a brief description.

*Blindfold Ping-Pong: Using the motion sensors of the iPhone, you
swing your phone as if hitting an invisible ball that you can only
hear as it bounces off the game table
*Clever Clues: Using crossword-like clues, this game asks you to find
the word to match the clues. The words range from three letters to
nine letters in length.
*Moxy: Using the letter tiles given, create words on a five-by-three
grid. You get more points if you make a moxy (it's set to animal
words)
*Pig Dice: Shaking the phone, you roll the dice to gain more points,
but if you get a 1, you lose all the points for that round. The winner
is the first to 100.
*Robo-E: Your robot avatar has to move waste balls around a walled-in
area to put them in energy rings. If the ball hits a wall, it can't go
any further in that area, and if you manage to stick the ball in a
corner, the ball is truly stuck and you have no choice but to redo
your move or restart the level. It starts with a five-by-five grid and
one ball, increasing the number of balls and the size of the grid as
you progress.
*Shredder: A tutor for playing chess, this game tells you advices you
on good moves, among other things. Good for increasing your ability in
chess.
*Sudoku for All: Just what it says, a sudoku puzzle that is accessible
to blind players.
*Tap the Mole: Remember the arcade game where you had to hit the mole
with a hammer? This is similar. You have a grid and have to find the
hole that the mole comes out of and "hit" him by double-tapping on
him.
*ZanyTouch: Sort of like BopIt, you have to do the gesture that the
game tells you to make. Gestures include swiping up, down, left and
right, pinching, shaking the phone, and tapping with one finger or
two.
*Papa Sangre: Follow the sound of the music notes to collect them
while avoiding enemies and other traps. This is, in my opinion, a very
challenging game to play.
*Sixth Sense: I’ve not really played this much yet, but it’s a
zombie-shooting game using audio cues.
Escape from the House: A short game based on the movie, The House at
the End of the Street. Using gestures like shaking the phone and
tapping to walk or run, you have to find your way out of the house.
Things that Go Bump in the Night: A text-based game that uses tabs to
make the game easier to play. No need to type commands; you can tap on
objects to choose an action or an exit to go there.
DeSteeno Games: A group of a few oldies but goodies. Atlantic City
Blackjack has you playing against a bot; Casino has four casino-style
games that you play by typing, and there are some sound effects if you
want them. Dodge City Desperados has you play as the sheriff seeking
out outlaws (interactive fiction). Destination Mars is a space game in
which you try to land on Mars.  Run for President is sort of like a
board game in which you go around and spend money and collect
electoral votes. Finally, Sounds Like gives you clues for parts of a
word, and you have to use these clues to guess the word.
Frotz: Frotz is not just one or even four games. This is a collection
of many different interactive fiction games. If you are new to IF, I
suggest trying the game “The Dream Hold,” which is an introductory
interactive fiction written by Andrew plotkin AKA Zarf. It’s a great
introduction, as is the game “Bronze.”

There are more, and I get suggestions for new games all the time from
the Apple VIS website and podcast. They can be found at
www.applevis.com

Hope that helps,
Jewel

On 3/13/13, Kaiti Shelton <crazy4clarinet104 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Ashley,
>
> You can do both.  You have the options of joining games other people
> have started, starting a game and waiting for other players to join
> your game, or starting your own game and adding a bot which basically
> plays you against the computer.
>
> Apples to Apples is really fun.  If you're into word games I think
> you'd like it.  Basically you have these cards with words on them and
> each player in the game takes turns being judge.  Each player has to
> pick the card which they feel best matches the card with the category
> word, then the judge picks the card that they like the best.  The
> objective is to get picked the most times to win the game.  It's a
> little more complex than that, but that's a simple way of looking at
> it.
>
> On 3/12/13, Ashley Bramlett <bookwormahb at earthlink.net> wrote:
>> Kaiti,
>> Thanks. Do you play the games with other players online or alone?
>> I haven't heard of apples to apples. Sounds neat.
>>
>> Ashley
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Kaiti Shelton
>> Sent: Monday, March 11, 2013 11:44 PM
>> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
>> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] alternatives to visual games
>>
>> Hi Ashley,
>>
>> have you heard of RS games?  It's a free client you download to your
>> PC.  They have accessible games including Monopoly, Uno, 1,000 Miles,
>> Apples to Apples, Farkle (a dice game), Rummy, and Battleship.  Not
>> quite word games like what you're thinking of, (well, maybe Apples to
>> Apples to an extent), but they're still pretty good.
>>
>> On 3/11/13, Mike Freeman <k7uij at panix.com> wrote:
>>> Ashley:
>>>
>>> God is saving you from blowing your dollars on frivolities! (grin)
>>>
>>> Mike
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Ashley
>>> Bramlett
>>> Sent: Monday, March 11, 2013 5:12 PM
>>> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
>>> Subject: [nabs-l] alternatives to visual games
>>>
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>> There is a heavy trend toward developing video games and portable games
>>> for
>>> on screen use.
>>> From fun games like bowling and basketball to academic games for math
>>> and
>>> science, they are out there.
>>> Some are portable; others are for home use.
>>> For at home we have the WII, Playstation and xbox. For portable options,
>>> there are numerous ones. All tablets and smart phones have games. Then
>>> you
>>> have the Kindle, Nook, and more.
>>>
>>> So what technology, if any, do you use as an alternative to these on
>>> screen
>>> games?
>>> Games range from adaptations of real card or board games to new ones
>>> developed for these portable book readers and tablets.
>>> Scrabble, Hangman, monopoly, and word searches are some games.
>>>
>>> I am beginning to feel left out when people talk about all these games.
>>> Perhaps, you all feel that way.
>>> My mother, who usually hates technology, has fallen in love with a few
>>> games
>>> on her new Kindle Fire; of course, not accessible to us. My mom is
>>> intimidated by computers, yet somehow picked up the concept in the
>>> kindle
>>> okay. She has games, music aps, and books on it.
>>> Perhaps, there are IOS games out there. I suppose there are computer
>>> games
>>> which I just haven’t looked at.
>>> I’d love to have a version of hangman, word puzzles, and card games for
>>> the
>>> pc.
>>> There are two games I had as a kid; I don’t know if both still exist as
>>> its
>>> old technology. But one does.
>>> 1. The Speak n Spell was a handheld thing; like a primative computer.
>>> You
>>> used it as a dictionary and it had academic games on it such as guessing
>>> partial words, a word scramble where you had to unscramble letters to
>>> make
>>>
>>> a
>>> word, word matching, and more games.
>>> 2. The Franklin Language master still exists; I saw it online. Most have
>>> the
>>> pc for a dictionary. But for those who want another portable option or a
>>> way
>>> to expand your vocabulary, this is excellent. It is lightweight with a
>>> qwerty style keyboard and speaks everything as well as a way to magnify
>>> the
>>> text. You can play word games on it such as hangman, word scramble,
>>> flash
>>> cards, word train, creating anagrams and more. I think there’s ten games
>>> on
>>> it.
>>>
>>> So what else is out there? Maybe something from APH?
>>>
>>> Thanks.
>>> Ashley
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>>
>>
>> --
>> Kaiti
>>
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>
>
> --
> Kaiti
>
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