Category Games

What are the benefits of puzzles in early childhood education?

Puzzles offer a wide array of cognitive educational, and personal benefits. They also help children develop patience persistence, and the ability to approach challenges methodically.

By solving puzzles, children enhance their critical thinking. problem-solving skills, creativity, and analytical abilities. Additionally, beyond their educational and cognitive advantages, mathematical puzzles have practical applications in various fields like cryptography, computer programming. engineering, and scientific research. Give yourself a challenge today and solve the two puzzles provided.

Picture Credit: Google

Do board games improve math skills?

We’ve intuitively known that most board games have a positive effect on us. Be it mental well-being, some form of learning, or even strategizing, board games contribute immensely. Given that they also help us stay away from our devices during the duration when we are playing the game, they are bound to become more popular in the future.

A new study has now validated part of what we’ve known intuitively, stating that board games based on numbers enhance mathematical ability among children. Their results, which is based on a comprehensive review of research published on this topic over the last 23 years, are published in the peer-reviewed journal Early Years in July.

19 studies from 2000

In order to investigate the effects of physical board games in promoting leaning, the researchers reviewed 19 studies published from 2000 onwards. These studies involved children under the age of 10 and all except one focused on the relationship between the board games and the mathematical skills of the players.

Children participating in these studies received special board game sessions led by teachers, therapists, or parents. While some of these board games were numbers-based like Snakes and Ladders and Monopoly, others did not focus on numeracy skills. These sessions were on average held twice a week for 20 minutes over two-and-a-half months.

Based on assessments on their mathematics performance before and after the intervention sessions, the studies came to their conclusions. Right from basic numeric competency like naming numbers and understanding their relationship with each other, to more complex tasks including addition and subtraction, mathematical ability received a boost in more than half the cases.

Beneficial for all learners?

 While the review established the positive effect of numbers-based board games for children, especially those young, it would be interesting to find out if such an approach would also be beneficial for all learners, including first-generation learners. By improving their fundamental understanding of numbers. children stand to gain as it helps ward off their fear of mathematics and numbers.

The study, meanwhile, also highlighted the lack of scientific evaluation to determine the impact of board games on the language and literacy areas of children. This research group plans to investigate this in their next project.

There is a need to design board games for educational purposes, both in terms of quantity and quality. The researchers believe that this is an interesting space that would open up in the coming years.

Picture Credit : Google 

How Edgar Allan Poe inspired Scrabble?

When it comes to classic board games, few have stood the test of time quite like Scrabble. This beloved game has entertained players of all ages and skill levels. It is speculated that the concept of the game was inspired by a short story titled ‘The Gold Bug’ by one of the greatest American writers Edgar Allan Poe.

Welcome to the world of Scrabble, where words reign supreme and strategy is key. For over seven decades, this classic board game has been captivating players with its unique blend of skill and chance. But did you know that Scrabble's origins can be traced back to a short story by the American writer Edgar Allan Poe?

The Great Depression

During the Great Depression of the early 1930s, millions of Americans were struggling to make ends meet and find any kind of relief from the economic downturn. It was during this challenging time that Alfred Mosher Butts, an unemployed architect from New York, began to conceive the idea for a game that could provide a much-needed distraction from the harsh realities of everyday life. Drawing on his own love of puzzles and wordplay, Butts set out to create a game that combined chance, strategy, and language skills, hoping to provide people with a fun and engaging way to pass the time. And thus, the idea for what would become Scrabble was born.

When inspiration strikes

 Butts' childhood fascination with Poe's short story ‘The Gold Bug proved’ to be a key source of inspiration as he began to develop his own word game.

The idea of decoding symbols to uncover a hidden treasure map (which was the basis of the story) resonated with Butts, and he began to experiment with ways to incorporate similar elements into his own game. One idea that particularly intrigued him was the notion of ranking letters by their frequency of use in the English language, as Poe had attempted to do in his story. Butts set out to put together his own ranking system by meticulously counting letters in various publications, including the ‘New York Times’ and ‘The Saturday Evening Post’. After crunching the numbers and devising a complicated grid, Butts determined that the letters e, t, a, o, i, n, s, h, r, d, l, and u were the most commonly used letters, accounting for a staggering 80% of all letters typically used. Using this data as a foundation, Butts went on to create his own word game, one that would go on to captivate players around the world and become a true cultural phenomenon.

The issues that followed

 Butts' road to success was far from smooth, as he spent over a decade tinkering with the rules of his game and trying, unsuccessfully, to secure a corporate sponsor. Despite facing rejection from the Patent Office not once, but twice, Butts persisted in his quest to bring his creation to the masses. He experimented with various names, including the uninspiring "it" and the lacklustre "Lexiko", before settling on "Criss-Cross Words". However, it wasn't until Butts teamed up with James Brunot, a retired American federal officer and social worker, that Scrabble we are familiar with today started to take shape.

Brunot brought his own expertise to the table, redesigning the game, creating the iconic colour scheme, and most importantly, conceiving the name that would become synonymous with wordplay: Scrabble. The game was copyrighted in 1948. Since Brunot breathed new life into Butts' creation, Scrabble has become a global phenomenon. The game is sold in over 120 countries and has been translated into more than 20 languages, with special editions available for those who are visually impaired or prefer magnetic tiles. Such is the game's enduring popularity that April 13 is celebrated annually as National Scrabble Day, in honour of Butts birthday and his legacy as the inventor of one of the most beloved and enduring board games of all time.

When it comes to classic board games, few have stood the test of time quite like Scrabble. This beloved game has entertained players of all ages and skill levels. It is speculated that the concept of the game was inspired by a short story titled ‘The Gold Bug’ by one of the greatest American writers Edgar Allan Poe.

Welcome to the world of Scrabble, where words reign supreme and strategy is key. For over seven decades, this classic board game has been captivating players with its unique blend of skill and chance. But did you know that Scrabble's origins can be traced back to a short story by the American writer Edgar Allan Poe?

The Great Depression

During the Great Depression of the early 1930s, millions of Americans were struggling to make ends meet and find any kind of relief from the economic downturn. It was during this challenging time that Alfred Mosher Butts, an unemployed architect from New York, began to conceive the idea for a game that could provide a much-needed distraction from the harsh realities of everyday life. Drawing on his own love of puzzles and wordplay, Butts set out to create a game that combined chance, strategy, and language skills, hoping to provide people with a fun and engaging way to pass the time. And thus, the idea for what would become Scrabble was born.

When inspiration strikes

 Butts' childhood fascination with Poe's short story ‘The Gold Bug proved’ to be a key source of inspiration as he began to develop his own word game.

The idea of decoding symbols to uncover a hidden treasure map (which was the basis of the story) resonated with Butts, and he began to experiment with ways to incorporate similar elements into his own game. One idea that particularly intrigued him was the notion of ranking letters by their frequency of use in the English language, as Poe had attempted to do in his story. Butts set out to put together his own ranking system by meticulously counting letters in various publications, including the ‘New York Times’ and ‘The Saturday Evening Post’. After crunching the numbers and devising a complicated grid, Butts determined that the letters e, t, a, o, i, n, s, h, r, d, l, and u were the most commonly used letters, accounting for a staggering 80% of all letters typically used. Using this data as a foundation, Butts went on to create his own word game, one that would go on to captivate players around the world and become a true cultural phenomenon.

The issues that followed

 Butts' road to success was far from smooth, as he spent over a decade tinkering with the rules of his game and trying, unsuccessfully, to secure a corporate sponsor. Despite facing rejection from the Patent Office not once, but twice, Butts persisted in his quest to bring his creation to the masses. He experimented with various names, including the uninspiring "it" and the lacklustre "Lexiko", before settling on "Criss-Cross Words". However, it wasn't until Butts teamed up with James Brunot, a retired American federal officer and social worker, that Scrabble we are familiar with today started to take shape.

Brunot brought his own expertise to the table, redesigning the game, creating the iconic colour scheme, and most importantly, conceiving the name that would become synonymous with wordplay: Scrabble. The game was copyrighted in 1948. Since Brunot breathed new life into Butts' creation, Scrabble has become a global phenomenon. The game is sold in over 120 countries and has been translated into more than 20 languages, with special editions available for those who are visually impaired or prefer magnetic tiles. Such is the game's enduring popularity that April 13 is celebrated annually as National Scrabble Day, in honour of Butts birthday and his legacy as the inventor of one of the most beloved and enduring board games of all time.

Picture Credit : Google 

What are the terms which start from Yellow?

Yellow journalism

Yellow journalism refers to sensational and dramatic news stories, often manufactured to attract readership. The trend was started by media barons Joseph Pulitzer (New York World) and William Randolph Hearst (New York Journal) in the 1890s. The term derives from the comic character the Yellow Kid featured in the New York World comic called Hogan’s Alley. These yellow journals had a major role to play in the Spanish-American war fuelling public passion with sensational headlines and reports.

Yellow card

In football a yellow card raised by a referee indicates that the player in question has committed a foul and is being cautioned.

Yellow flag

In motor racing, when a solid yellow flag is waved it indicates that there is danger ahead and that the vehicles may have to stop.

Yellow fever

It is a viral disease spread by certain mosquitoes. When the mosquito bites a human being the virus enters the body. It damages the liver and kidneys and many body tissues. As a result, the liver cannot function properly, urine output is reduced and yellow bile pigments collect in the skin. These pigments turn the skin yellow and hence the name yellow fever.

It was Carlos Finlay, a Cuban doctor, who discovered that a certain mosquito transmitted the disease, and Max Theiler, a South African doctor, developed a vaccine in 1937.

Yellow jersey

In a cycling race involving stages, a yellow jersey is worn each day by the rider who is ahead on time over the whole race to that point, and presented to the one with the shortest overall time at the finish of the race. The most prized jersey was first awarded in 1919. The colour yellow was chosen because the pages of the magazine. L’Auto, the sponsor, were yellow.

Yellowhammer

It is a sparrow-sized bright yellow bird that is found in Europe and Asia. It has a strong pointed beak and sings a characteristic song. It feeds on seeds and insects. It builds its nest on the ground or in a low bush. Its white or pale-lavender eggs have bold scribble-like markings on them.

Yellow poplar

Also known as the tulip tree, it grows tall-up to 32m-towering over oaks and maples. It has a long straight trunk and large flowers which resemble tulips, hence the name. It bears cone-shaped fruits which release winged seeds. It is home to squirrels and woodpeckers and provides good cover for deer, hints and small mammals.

Yellowlegs

These are large North American birds which live on wetlands- along shores and marshes. They have long yellow legs which have white and black markings. They eat insects and fish They are known for their flute-like whistle.

Yellow Sea

A part of the Pacific Ocean extending inland between the east coast of China and Korea, it gets its name from the deposits brought in by the Yellow River. Fishing and navigation are major activities on the Yellow Sea. The Yellow Sea is considered among the most degraded marine ecosystems facing severe challenges, including land reclamation, widespread pollution leading to harmful algae blooms.

Picture Credit : Google 

Yo-yo, one of the world’s oldest toys!

Yo-yos might be one of the oldest toys in the world, but a U.S. patent was awarded for it on November 20, 1866, based on a design improvement. Still popular around the globe, yo-yos have been with humankind for thousands of years.

When you played with a yo-yo, have you ever wondered when and where this toy came from? The truth is, we don’t have an exact answer for either…. While historians suggest that the toy likely originated from what is now Greece, China, or the Philippines, yo-yos have been around for thousands of years. In fact, archaeological digs have unearthed Greek vases from around 500 BC that show a youngster playing with an object similar to the modem yoyo.

Energy-converting machine

For a toy that looks so simple, yo-yos have a fair bit of science governing their operation. It is the physics that is going on that makes it keep spinning for a long time, sleep or hang at the end of the string and climb back up again. Putting it simply, yo-yos are energy-converting machines. The working of yo-yos therefore involves the constant changes of energy from one kind to another.

When held in our hands, a yo-yo has potential energy as it is held high above the floor. When we release the yo-yo, the potential energy is converted to kinetic energy gradually. By the time a spinning yo-yo is at the bottom of the string, it converts all the potential energy it originally held to kinetic energy.

A tug is all it takes

When it climbs back up the spring, it does the reverse, converting kinetic energy to potential energy. While this is similar to a pendulum bob, what makes it different and keeps it going is the fact that we can keep giving it more energy to play around with. By tugging at the string that we are holding, a yo-yo can be kept moving along the string for a considerable amount of time, stopping eventually due to friction and air resistance.

Despite being played with through much of history, yo-yos really exploded in popularity in the 20th Century. And that happened when it was mass-produced and marketed heavily in the U.S., leading to widespread adoption and usage throughout the world.

The first recorded reference to any type of yo-yo in the U.S. came only in 1866, when Ohio tinkerers James Haven and Charles Hettrich came up with a design improvement. Their patent on November 20, 1866 has an image of a whirlgig and mentions “a new and useful bandelore” (whirlgig and bandelore are other names of yo-yo).

This patent is important not only because yo-yos were making their official foray into the U.S., but also for a couple of other reasons. For one, it was the first time rim-weighting was employed to maintain momentum as the patent “marginal swell… exercises the function of a flywheel”. Secondly, it also showed that patents can be used to protect design improvements in toys.

Flores calls it yo-yo

A little over half a century after this, Pedro Flores, a Filipino man, sold hand-carved yo-yos in California and staged demonstrations to show how they worked in the 1920s. In fact, it was Flores who trademarked the name “yo-yo”, which is Tagalog for “come come” (Tagalog forms the basis of the national language of the Philippines).

American Donald Duncan was impressed by what he saw Flores doing, and he bought the trademark and even piggybacked on the business model. Apart from having people to demonstrate the toys, Duncan also sponsored contests to garner more interest in the product. By promising greater circulation of newspapers in exchange for free ads for these contests, Duncan set about a new marketing idea in motion. The idea’s success meant that Duncan’s yo-yos were soon a household name.

In the decades that followed, the Duncan Company dominated the yo-yo industry. In the 1960s, millions of these toys were sold on a yearly basis in the U.S. alone. By 1985, yo-yos became one of the first toys to reach space as it was one of the 11 toys taken into orbit by the Discovery space shuttle. Throughout its long and storied history, yo-yos have thus enjoyed a lot of popularity while also having periods of hibernation – ups and downs similar to how the toy functions.

Picture Credit : Google 

What is Lumosity Brain Training game?

Lumosity Mobile is a fun, interactive way to train your brain and learn how your mind works. The app’s 50+ games and daily workouts test your cognitive skills and adapt as you improve. Categories for the games include: memory, attention, problem-solving, logic, math, words, flexibility and speed. Begin with a Fit Test to obtain your baseline, complete daily workouts and track your performance. The app gives you an analysis about your game strengths and weaknesses to see where you need improvement and monitor your progress. The app has been created by a team of scientists and university researchers on a mission to advance the understanding of human learning and understanding. Free for iOS and Android.

Picture Credit : Google 

HOW IS MATHS USED IN FOOTBALL?

You see the player advancing towards the goal, clearly trying to score. But the goalkeeper doesn’t stand his ground. He runs towards the player instead of staying on the post. Why would he do that? The reason is maths!

Football is often referred to as “O jogo bonito”, Portuguese for The beautiful game’ – a nickname popularised by the Brazilian great, Pele. And rightly so.

Just like any other beautiful movement, football requires rhythm, coordination, and balance. And at the same time, it also requires skill. However, just being a master at tackling, shooting or goalkeeping does not necessarily make you a great player.

Some of the best football players on the field today are also terrific mathematicians, who use maths in football. The instinctive understanding of the concepts of geometry, speed-distance-time, and calculus which they utilise isn’t determined by the ability to solve equations on a blackboard. And this application itself gives them the edge over other players. If you’ve watched the popular television show Ted Lasso, you will probably understand this claim by watching the coaches and players strategising how to tackle their opponents So, how is maths used in football? Let’s look at calculations used by players for some of the most common goals and defence strategies in this beautiful game:

United we stand! Tiki taka football strategy

A great example of real-time use of geometry to create space and beat defenders is the tiki taka-a popular method that became the talk of town when Spain claimed the Euro Cup and the World Cup in 2008 and 2010. This is a systematic approach to football founded upon team unity and a comprehensive understanding in the geometry of space on a football field.

How do players perform tiki taka?

The football players try to form triangles all around the pitch to maintain the ball possession, making it difficult for the opponent to obtain the ball and organise their game. Tiki taka has proven to be very successful as a football strategy.

Eyes on the prize. Goalkeeper’s one on one

One of the best examples where football and maths go hand in hand is distracting a striker. The goal is to create a larger obstruction to reduce the space available to score, hence lowering the probability of a goal

Often when a striker is in a one-on-one situation with the goalkeeper (like in our introduction), the latter charges towards the striker rapidly to close the space thereby reducing the angle and space available to strike the ball. This is another successful ideology of mathematical football.

How to hit a chip shot?

One of the most beautiful moves in football is chipping a charging goalkeeper. As the space reduces, the cool minded striker notices the increase in space to score. A 3-dimensional view allows the striker to kick over the charging goalkeepers head, and into the goalpost.

The chip shot, which is quite popular among both fans and players, doesn’t require power, rather a deft touch that follows a perfect parabola into the net.

Know thy enemy! Save thy penalties

Teams these days are aware of the past penalties taken by players. Most players follow a pattern in their penalty shots and this analysis of the previous shots puts the keeper in a much better situation to predict the next shot.

Goal posts: to go square or to go round?

The goalposts we see now are circular and have an elliptical cross-section. The goalposts before 1987 had the square cross-section. This invariably meant that most of the shots that hit the posts, came out instead of going in which brought unnecessary disappointment to the teams.

Does football strategy need data analysts and mathematicians?

While football maths was initially used for strategising the buying and selling of players, it is now integrated to what it can also do on the tactical analysis of the game.

Believe it or not, almost every football team today has a team of mathematicians or statisticians who help the coach define football strategies based on data. A huge amount of data is collected and analysed to understand opposing teams game-play, strengths and weaknesses of players, and to define tactics.

For example, if two players pass the ball 300 times to each other on average in a game, what kind of advantage can the opposition gain by reducing their total number of passes to 100?

Football tessellation

One very obvious example of mathematical football is the shape of the ball itself. The most familiar spherical polyhedron is the ball used in football, thought of as a spherical truncated icosahedron.

What does football tessellation mean?

The football is usually made of white hexagon shapes and black pentagon shapes – this is an example of a tessellation figure.

WHAT IS FOUR LETTERS GAME?

If you’re looking for a game with lightning fast rounds that you can play anywhere, Four Letters is for you. Your challenge is to make as many words as you can using just four letters. The letters keep changing as you create words, and the more words you make, the faster your remaining time decreases. When the clock runs out, check out the dictionary to see the words you missed. Four Letters offers stats including seconds spent spelling, word spelled the fastest, number of unique words spelled, and how many words spelled out of all possible four letter combinations. Free for iOS and Android.

Picture Credit : Google

What is Xbox console?

The Xbox is a home video game console. You knew that already, didn’t you? When it was launched a little over 20 years ago in November 2001, it was a gamble for Microsoft as it was a piece of hardware from a company known more for its software.

As a product that blurred the lines between a gaming machine and an entertainment device, the original Xbox was highly successful and continues to have devotees till this day. If this device had been running long enough without active usage, then it is likely that the owners of the Xbox might have heard some eerie chit chat that almost feels like it is from outer space.

That, in fact, is the truth. In a tweet in 2014, Lawrence Hryb, Director of Programming for the Microsoft gaming network Xbox Live and known commonly by his Xbox Live Gamertag “Major Nelson”, revealed that the ambient sounds in the original Xbox were actually from NASA! Hryb added that the background sounds were created by tweaking public domain audio from NASA transmissions during the Apollo days. How cool is that?

When Sony Computer Entertainment first announced the PlayStation 2 in 1999, the company had positioned the console as a centerpiece for home entertainment, as it not only would play video games, but also could play audio CDs and video DVDs. Microsoft, whose business had been primarily in supporting the personal computer (PC) business with its Windows operating system, software, and games, saw the PlayStation 2 as a threat to the personal computer.

Four engineers from Microsoft’s DirectX team—Kevin Bachus, Seamus Blackley, Ted Hase and DirectX team leader Otto Berkes, began to envision what a Microsoft console to compete against the PlayStation 2 would be like. They designed a system that would use many hardware components in common with PCs, effectively running a version of Windows and DirectX to power the games on the console.This approach would make it easy for developers on Windows to build games for their new system, differentiating itself from the custom hardware solutions of most consoles. Numerous names were suggested for this console, including “Direct X Box”, and the “Windows Entertainment Project”. Microsoft’s marketing team conducted consumer surveys of the name, using the name “Xbox” as a control believing this would be least desirable, but found that this had the highest preference from their tests, and was selected as the name of the console.

Credit : Wikipedia 

Picture Credit : Google 

What is special in Orixo game?

Orixo is a relaxing, minimalist brain game with over 320 hand-crafted levels to help sharpen your mind. A melodic soundtrack accompanies you on the levels, all of which are free to play and vary in difficulty. Fill the grid by dragging your finger over cells with a number inside of it. The number represents the number of cells it will fill in one of four directions. The direction you choose counts. Orixo saves your game progress automatically and hints are available in case you get stuck on any level. A simple game to play for a few minutes to take a breather from your busy life. Free for iOS and Android.

The organization of ideas and things are both important to this game. The player has to be able to think through and organize which number should be swiped first, second, etc. They also need to organize the placement, or direction, of the swipe. If they don’t take the time to organize both aspects of this game, they will be unable to complete a level and unlock new ones.

 

Picture Credit : Google

What is the Olympic torch relay?

The delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympics is started for July 23, 2021, amidst mounting opposition in Japan as COVID-19 cases surge. The nation-wide Olympic Torch Relay, involving thousands of runners, is likely to start in March. What is the torch relay? What is the tradition behind it? Let’s see.

The Olympic flame is an integral part of the Olympic Games. Symbolising hope and peace, the flame is lit months before the Games, using a parabolic mirror, fuel-filled torch and the heat from the rays of the sun, in Olympia, Greece. Did you know it was in Olympia that the ancient Olympic Games originated?

Tradition of Olympic flame

The tradition of the flame dates back thousands of years to ancient Greece where a sacred fire was kept burning at the altar of Goddess Hestia throughout the conduct of the Olympics. Fire had divine connotations in Greek mythology and the flame was kindled using the sun’s rays, to ensure its purity, and a skaphia, a type of crucible (container).

The Olympic flame has become part of the modern Olympics ever since it first appeared at the 1928 Amsterdam Games. The flame-lighting ceremony marks the start of the Olympic torch relay. The flame is carried around the host nation for over a hundred days before being transported to the venue of the Games to light the Olympic cauldron (a large, round structure) at the opening ceremony. The flame will continue to burn for the entire duration of the Games before being put out during the closing ceremony.

The torch relay

How did the torch relay come to be associated with the Games? While the flame had ancient Greek connection, the torch relay had its origins in Nazi Germany. For the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Carl Diem, chief of the organising committee, came up with the idea for the first-ever torch relay from Olympia to Berlin. The relay brought people together to celebrate the spirit of the Olympic movement and is continued to this day. The torch relay, which passes the flame from one torch to the next, has become a symbol of peace and unity ever since it was introduced. The flame will be carried by thousands of people from Olympia to the host country. The relay comes to an end with the last torch-bearer lighting the cauldron at the stadium during the Opening Ceremony of the Games.

The Tokyo Olympic flame

Amid coronavirus fears, the Olympic Torch Relay for Tokyo 2020 began with the lighting of the Olympic flame at a small ceremony sans spectators in front of the ruins of the Temple of Hera, in Olympia, on March 12, 2020, before it was transported by a special jet to Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. Following the postponement of the Games, the Olympic flame is spending a record amount of time in the host country. A torch relay is expected to be conducted before the Opening Ceremony, in March.

Quick facts

  • The first person to set off on the modem Olympic Torch Relay on July 20, 1936 from Olympia was Greek athlete Konstantin Kondylis.
  • Greek actress Xanthi Georgiou, playing the role of the High Priestess, lit the torch of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games on March 12, 2020.
  • Greek shooting Olympic champion Anna Korakaki was the first torch-bearer during the flame lighting ceremony at Olympia, Greece, in March 2020.
  • The Greek leg of the torch relay was scrapped one day after the lighting ceremony in Olympia to avoid crowding.

 

Picture Credit : Google

Which are the games that are fun to play through Google Search?

Soccer

A football fanatic or not this interactive Google Doodle game is fun and easy to play. Head to Google Search and type Soccer google doodle and dick on the first link that appears. The game is simple – you are a goalkeeper who needs to stop the striker from scoring a goal. You have three chances to save as many goals as you can.

To move your player left and right, you can use the arrow keys on the keyboard or move the mouse. To make your goalie jump and save a shot, either hit the spacebar or the left click on the mouse. As you keep saving goals, the game gets faster.

Score maximum points and ask your friends to try out the game and see how much they score.

Coding Rabbit

This is an interesting Google Doodle that celebrates coding for kids. Type ‘Coding Rabbit Google doodle’ on Google Search to get started. When you start the game, you will find a rabbit and blocks with carrots on them. You need to get the rabbit to eat all the carrots in each round. To move the rabbit, you need to place appropriate tiles in the given space at the bottom of the playing window. Based on the tiles you place, the rabbit will move. If the rabbit finishes all the carrots in one round, you progress to the next. As you move ahead, you will find many challenges. But don’t worry, the game has tutorials for each stage to make it easy for you to understand and play.

Quick, Draw!

If you like playing Pictionary or any other drawing and guessing game but do not have anyone else to play with this game is just for you. Head to Google Search and type out “Quick Draw”. You should find a link to the game in the top search results. The game is simple – you have six rounds in total and 20 seconds for each round. You need to draw the word assigned for a particular round and Google’s neural network will try to guess what you are drawing. You can use your mouse to draw. Whether or not the neural network guesses what you have drawn, the game will move to the next round.

At the end of the game, you can see the words guessed and not guessed by the neural network. If you click on the ones that the network failed to guess, Google will show you what the neural network thought your drawing might have resembled and will offer you suggestions on what you could draw should that word appear again.

How to make Mancala game at home?

Mancala games have been popular in Africa for thousands of years. Two players move small stones or seeds around pits scooped out of a board. The goal is to get the most stones on your side of the board and in your Mancala cup. The trick is deciding which group of stones is best to move!

You will need:

  • An empty egg carton
  • 48 small stones, buttons, marbles, or beads
  • 2 small cups (the Mancalas)

What to do:

  • Use an egg carton and two shallow cups for the Mancala board and Mancalas. Each player owns the six pockets on one side of the egg carton and the Mancala cup placed to his or her right.
  • Place four stones in each of the 12 pockets in the egg carton.
  • Decide who will go first. The first player scoops up all the stones from one of his or her six pockets and drops them one by one in the pockets around the carton in an anticlockwise direction starting in the next pocket. If you reach your Mancala, drop a stone in it, but do not drop stones in your opponent’s Mancala.
  • The players will take turns picking up all the stones from a pocket and moving them as described in step there, always taking from one of their own pockets. If the last stone in a turn is placed in the player’s own Mancla, the player gets another turn. If the last stone is placed in an empty cup on the player’s own side, he or she may take that stone and all the stones from the pocket directly opposite his or her own, if there are any, and put them in his or her own Mancala. The game ends when one player’s side is clear of stones.

You’re the winner if you have more stones in your pockets and Mancala than your opponent does.

 

Picture Credit : Google

How to make Derrah game at home?

Derrah is a game like Noughts and Crosses and Go. It is a two-player game from North Africa and is easy to make and fun to play.

You will need:

  • Card or paper
  • Felt-tipped pen
  • Small coin
  • 12 matching seeds, stones, buttons, coins, paper, clips, or beads for each player

Be sure each players’ pieces are different. For example, use white seeds for one and black seeds for another, coins or different coloured buttons.

 

What to do:

  • In Africa, Derrah is played on a wooden board with rows of little round holes, but you can make your own game board. Just trace around a small coin on the paper, drawing six rows of seven circles each. That’s 42 circles that form a rectangle.
  • Decide who goes first. Then set all the pieces on the board, talking turns putting one piece at a time in any empty circle on the board. Only two pieces from the same player can be next to each other.
  • Then take turns moving pieces one space left or right, up or down – but not diagonally. The object is to get three pieces in a row. Choose your moves carefully to try to prevent your opponent from getting three in a row.
  • Each time you get three in a row, you can take one of your opponent’s pieces off the board.

The game ends when one player cannot make any more rows of three, or when all of a player’s pieces has been taken.

 

Picture Credit : Google

Which is the World’s First Martial Art?

The first references of Kalaripayattu can be proved by the mention in Sangam literature era 300 BC. But, Kalari was first officially recognised as a martial art of Kerala in 1362 AD.

Sage Agastya is considered to be the creator of Kalaripayattu. Speculated to have lived sometime around 15,000 BCE, Agastya is one of the ancient saptarshis, a revered Vedic sage. He is considered to have fathered the ancient form of warfare which is speculated to be either a direct translation or parent form of Kalaripayattu. From this account, there seems to be no doubt that Kalaripayattu is the oldest art form of war. The word kalaripayattu is a combination of two words, namely, ‘kalari’ and ‘payattu’ which mean training ground and fight.

During its peak, kalaripayattu was used as a code of combat by Indian dynasties. Kalaripayattu reach its zenith during the years of war between the Cholas, Pandyas and Cheras. The constant fighting between the states helped fighters in refining the art into a martial art form.

Many movements and postures in Kalaripayattu are believed to be inspired by the raw strength of animals and are also named after them. There is a strong belief that this art was developed in the forests when hunters had observed the fighting techniques of different animals.

In 5th century, a Buddhist monk Bodhidharma took Kalaripayattu from India to China, Kalaripayattu is also the predecessor of Chinese martial arts. Once it was brought to China, practitioners of Kalaripayattu merged it with existing forms.

 

Credit : Quora

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Which are the best games that are quick-to-play and easily accessible through Google search?

Atari Breakout

The original Breakout game was released by Atari, a gaming company, in 1976. It was hugely popular and a fun game to play. Before, you could go to Google Images and type ‘Atari Breakout and the game would appear. But now, you need to type out ‘Atari Breakout in the Google Search bar and dick on A feeling lucky Once you do so, the game will pop up on your screen.

Playing the game is simple – There are several bricks laid out on the top of the screen and you need to break them all using a ball. Whenever the ball hits a brick, the brick breaks and the ball starts descending towards the lower half of the screen. The challenge lies in bouncing the ball right back up using the paddle that you can control with the arrow keys or the mouse. The goal is to destroy all the bricks. You do get several turns to do so, but you need to be quick and attentive to win the game.

Snake

Remember the classic snake game that was available on most basic mobile phones and hand-held video games? You can now play the game using Google search with colourful visuals and sounds. All you need to do is to type Play Snake in the search bar and the game will appear on screen. For those of you who haven’t played the game yet here are the rules: You are given a grid, which is the play space. And an apple appears anywhere on the grid. You play the role of the snake who needs to devour the apple. You can control the directions of the snake using the arrow keys. Once it devours the apple, another one appears in some other part of the board. As the snake keeps eating apples, it grows bigger in length, making it difficult for you to control it. This cycle continues as long as the player loses. You lose the game of the snake hit against the sides of the play area or if it hits against itself.

The game also lets you customize and play to your liking. You can make the snake move faster or slower, and choose a different fruit as well.

Doodle Cricket

Over the years, Google has brought out some innovative and interactive Google Doodles. One such doodle was for the ICC Champions Trophy 2017. This doodle has featured subsequently for other cricketing events as well.

To access the game, just go to the Google doodle archives and type cricket in the search bar. Alternatively. You can type Google Cricket and the link will appear. The gameplay is simple – You, the batsman, are a grasshopper, and the snails (the computer) are the opponent team. A snail will bowl to you and you need to hit the ball by clicking the mouse button or pressing the Space bar at the right time. If you miss, you are out. As the game progresses, the bowling speed will change. Score as many points as you can doing this. You can even compete with your friends and share the Scores.

 

Picture Credit : Google

What is Color Road 3D ball running game?

Color Road is a simple 3D ball running game in which you control a rolling ball as it moves down a single road. There are different color roads and color balls in each level of this ball roll. There would be different hurdles to avoid and keep continue rolling ball. When you tap ball road to jump and cross obstacle the ball race will remain continue with roll the ball.

Try to keep roller ball running. When you need the ball jump, tap run your rolly ball to continue the run ball. Peoples love to find balls race, color rush and ball rolling games and that’s why ball roller and ball rush games are very popular now a days.

So, keep your color ball roll on the color road. Avoid obstacles by jumping and keep your ball road safe and try to go ball ahead to complete the each level of ball games. Obstructing your rolling ball are other balls arranged in rows of three with different colours. You must roll the ball to the ones with the same colour. There are also ramps on the road that changes your rolling ball’s colour. Hit a ball with a different colour than yours and you’ll be met with a game over. The farther the ball goes, the higher the score, the higher the coin. Use the coins to unlock new balls and new roads. Free for iOS and Android.

 

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At the first modern Olympics held in 1896, which medals were awarded to winners?

The first modern Games were held in 1896 in Athens, Greece, with 13 countries and 311 athletes taking part in the competition. During the first modern Olympics, medals were awarded to only the top two finishers: a silver medal to the winner and a bronze medal to the runner-up. The winner also received a crown of olive branches, and the runner-up a laurel crown. 

Medal designs have varied considerably since the first Olympic Games in 1896, particularly in size and weight. A standard obverse (front) design of the medals for the Summer Olympic Games began in 1928 and remained for many years, until its replacement at the 2004 Games as the result of controversy surrounding the use of the Roman Colosseum rather than a building representing the Games’ Greek roots. The medals of the Winter Olympic Games never had a common design, but regularly feature snowflakes and the event where the medal has been won.

In addition to generally supporting their Olympic athletes, some countries provide sums of money and gifts to medal winners, depending on the classes and number of medals won.

 

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What is a golden slam in tennis?

The Golden Slam is one of the rarest achievements in tennis. It means winning all 4 Grand Slams and a singles Gold Medal at the Olympics. Winning the four majors in consecutive tournaments, but not in the same year is known as a non-calendar year Grand Slam, while winning all four majors at any point during the course of a career is known as a career Grand Slam. Winning the gold medal at the Summer Olympic Games in addition to the four majors in one calendar year is known as a “golden Grand Slam” or more commonly the “Golden Slam”. Also, winning the year-end championship (known as ATP Finals for men’s singles and doubles disciplines, and WTA Finals for both women’s disciplines) in the same period is known as a “Super Slam”. Together, all four majors in all three disciplines (singles, doubles, and mixed doubles) are called a “boxed set” of Grand Slam titles. No male or female player has won all twelve events in one calendar year, although a “career boxed set” has been achieved by three female players.

Tennis has a long history of adopting golf custom and Grand slam appears to have entered tennis not directly from card sport but via golf as it was used since 1930, when Bobby Jones won the four major championships, two British and two American tournaments. Although John F. Kieran of The New York Times is widely credited with first applying the term “grand slam” to tennis to describe the winning of all four major tennis tournaments in a calendar year, sports columnist Alan Gould had used the term in that connection almost two months before Kieran.

The four Junior disciplines, boys’ and girls’ singles and doubles, provide limited opportunities to achieve a Grand Slam. Players are only eligible from age 13 to 18, with 18-year-olds likely to hold a physical advantage. Only Stefan Edberg has completed the Grand Slam in a Junior discipline.

 

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Who was the second Indian Grandmaster in chess?

Dibyendu Barua (born 27 October 1966) is an Indian chess grandmaster. He is a three-time Indian Chess Champion. He was awarded the Grandmaster title in 1991 by FIDE, becoming the second Indian to achieve the title, after Viswanathan Anand. In 1983, he won the Indian Chess Championship for the first time. He has since won it twice more, in 1998 and 2001.

From a very early age, Barua started showing his talents in the game of chess. By the age of 12, he was the youngest to participate in the National Championship. Apart from the 1972 international feat, the notable achievements of Dibyendu Barua include his performances against Korchnoi in 1982, H Spangenberg in 1996 and M Basman in 1991.

urprisingly enough, his performance was looming at a low than expected after he became the International Master. There was a slow down in his career and it took him nine long years to become a Grandmaster in 1991. Lack of funds made it tough for Dibyendu Barua among the horde of flourishing youngsters.

Grandmaster Dibyendu Barua is still attached with the game of chess. He is now endeavoring to impart his knowledge of chess to the upcoming chess players of the future.

 

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What is ping pong diplomacy?

It refers to the events that led to the thawing of diplomatic relations between USA and China in the 1970s. Read on to know more…

After the Second World War, two superpowers emerged – USA and USSR. The world was divided into two blocs – the Western bloc led by USA and the Eastern blocked by USSR. Communist China had initially allied itself with USSR, but relations between the two neighbours waned in the 1960s. The Chinese leader, Mao Zedong, then decided to use the game of table tennis (ping pong) to make friendly overtures to USA.

The opportunity presented itself during the 1971 World Table Tennis Championship in Japan. American player Glenn Cowan had his team bus one afternoon and was given a ride abroad the Chinese team bus. The incident got wide publicity. Taking advantage of the situation, the Chinese government offered a surprise invitation to the American team to visit China after the championship. So on April 10, 1971, the American table tennis team became the first US delegation to visit China since 1949 when Communists had taken over the country.

The US President at the time, Richard Nixon, decided to act and arranged for a Presidential visit to China in February 1972. Two months later, a Chinese table tens team toured USA.

Ping pong diplomacy became a strategic move by both countries to establish friendly relations with each other and provide a counterpoint to USSR in world politics.

 

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How Snakes and Ladders has an ancient Indian connection?

Snakes and ladders is based on an ancient Indian morality game. It was called Gyan Chaupar by the Jains, and Moksha Patam by the Hindus. It emphasised the Hindus. It emphasised the effects of virtues, which helped one to ascend a ladder, and vices which sets one back like a snake bite. Reaching the last (100th) square represented the attainment of Moksha. A Buddhist version existed in the Pala times in early Medieval India. It was taken to Victorian England.

The modified game was named Snakes and Ladders and stripped of its moral and religious aspects and the number of ladders and snakes were equalized. In 1943, the game was introduced in the US under the name Chutes and Ladders.

 

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How Ludo-Pacheesi has an ancient Indian connection?

Chaupar, Chausar or Pacheesi was one of the most popular gambling games in India. It was played on a cross shaped fabric, with seven cowrie shells as the dice. A throw with five shells facing upwards would give you the highest score of 25, or Pachees. Beautiful sets of 16 gotis in silver were an integral part of the dowries in many communities. The game is depicted in the 5th Century Ajanta frescos.

This was taken to the west in the 19th century as Parcheesi or Ludo (Latin for “I play”). The shells were replaced by dice, and the fabric by board.

 

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How chess has an ancient Indian connection?

It has been universally acknowledged that the game of chess originated in India. It was played in the Gupta period in sixth century. The form was slightly different. It was called Chaturang, after the four branches of the army – elephants, chariots, cavalry and infantry. It was played by four people, who used dice to move.

It then became popular in Persia as Shatranj, and was then picked up by the Arabs. It became two-handed and lost the dice. The modern game of chess is derived from the Arabic version. There is a board with squares found in the Harappan civilization ruins, which flourished 5000 years ago, it could have been some sort of precursor to chess.

 

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What is the Tower of Hanoi?

The Tower of Hanoi is a mathematical puzzle, invented by French mathematician Edouard Lucas in 1983.

Object of the Game:

There are three rods or towers, and on the first rod or tower is a stack of discs of different sizes arranged in the decreasing order of size from bottom to top. The object of the game is to move all of the discs to the third rod and arrange them in the same order. However, only one disc can be moved at a time, and a larger disc cannot be placed on top of a smaller disc.

How to play:

If you have 3 discs, a total of 7 moves will be required.

Move 1: move the upward disc from rod A to rod C

Move 2: move the second disc from rod A to rod B

Move 3: move the disc from rod C to rod B

Move 4: move the last disc from rod A to rod C

Move 5: move the top disc from rod B to rod A

Move 6: move the remaining disc from rod B to rod C

Move 7: move the disc from rod A to rod C

The number of moves increases with the number of discs. For e.g: with 4 discs, a total of 15 moves will be required.

Applications:

The game is frequently used in psychological research and teaching recursive algorithms in computer programming.

 

Picture Credit : Google