Meteor Games makes Island Paradise an island terror for Halloween

For about 350 days of the year, Island Paradise is a game about kicking back and running the most chillax resort possible. But Meteor Games likes to put that idea on its head for about two weeks every year in time for Halloween. This year, however, the Beverly Hills, Calif.-based developer has more in store for hapless Island Paradise players than just a few items.

A spook-filled (for now) new mini game has launched in Island Paradise, Slots of Fun. From now through Nov. 3, players can jump in and try to win unique, Halloween-themed prizes, namely materials to make costumes for their avatars. In order to receive the most materials, you'll have to try and match three rows of slots featuring characters dressed in Halloween garb like a "Cat Burglar, Space Monkey, Swan Ballerina, Mad Koala Scientist and more," according to Meteor Games.
Slots of Fun
Of course, there will be a number of cutesy Halloween goodies to grab in the in-game shop like a Sleepy Hollow Tree, a Bone Fence and a Flamingo Skeleton to name a few. Meteor Games will also hold a special event on Oct. 26, National Howl at the Moon Night, offering the game's Crescent Island expansion and Brown Wolf animal at a discount. Now, we wonder if Turkish folk celebrate a similarly awesome holiday.

Check out the rest of our Halloween coverage right here >

Are you planning on celebrating Halloween in Island Paradise? What are your big plans for the joyously terrifying fall holiday?

Triple Town, 'Civilization of match-3 games', goes Kindle to Facebook

Triple Town is a new puzzler on Facebook that had its start on the Amazon Kindle last October, where it flourished in popularity. It was created by Spry Fox, a game studio founded by Daniel Cook, the co-creator of Realm of the Mad God, and David J. Edery, a former Worldwide Portfolio Manager for Xbox Live Arcade. After a spiffy makeover, Triple Town made its debut on Facebook and Google+ Games earlier this month, with plans to go mobile. According to AppData, it's now attracted 190,000 monthly players on Facebook.

Hailed by one reviewer as "the Civilization of match-three games," Triple Town is a unique title with familiar aesthetics. Spry Fox originally chose the Kindle as the game's platform, which was explained as "an interesting emerging opportunity" by Edery. But as the game grew popular, Spry Fox wanted to spread the love around. Citing a lack of Bejeweled Blitz-type games on Facebook, Spry Fox decided to push for Triple Town's launch on the social network, as well as make it available in both English and Spanish.
Triple Town merge objects
A basic principle to understanding how to play Triple Town is the following idea: "Grass turns into bushes, bushes into trees, trees into huts, and so on." When you start a round, you're presented with a grid in a woodland theme. There are no time limits and no energy limit. Though you do run out of moves eventually, the creator made sure that you get so many moves that any average player would be able to earn enough virtual currency to buy more moves through play alone.
Triple Crown Double Combos
Like most match-3 games--Bejeweled Blitz and Diamond Dash, for instance--you'll receive random pieces one at a time, but you get to control where they go on your grid. But unlike those traditional games, matching stuff doesn't make it disappear. Instead, matching stuff creates other stuff that's worth a lot more, thereby, netting you more points. The goal of the game is to get as high a score as possible by continuing to merge objects and not running out of space to put things.
Triple Town bears church
The game also throws in some monkey wrenches in the form of Bears and Ninja Bears to make things more challenging. These are pieces that will move around the grid even after you've put them down. Despite having evil, beady and glowing red eyes, the bears are pretty adorable. They'll totter about, roar, and make grumbly ursine noises as you play. On the flip side, other pieces will be there to help you, like the Blue Crystal and Imperial Bot.
Triple Town gameplay
You can see how all these elements can make the game simple, yet surprisingly complex. Every time you move objects on the grid and a match occurs, you've altered the playing field. I thought I'd jump in for a few minutes for one round, but the better of a player you are, the longer you can last, and this game can easily suck up an hour.

Triple Town is truly unlike any game I've ever seen before, for Facebook or otherwise. The closest comparison I can think of is Scott Brodie's Hero Generations, which also involves manipulating an evolving grid-based landscape with a fantasy setting. But Brodie's game is more like an old-fashioned, 8-bit role-playing adventure game. Triple Town also isn't a social game at all, since the only element is a weekly leaderboard, though Spry Fox has plans to expand the game in the future, hinting that it's only a small aspect of a larger Triple Town universe.

Click here to play Triple Town on Facebook now >

Have you ever played any other game that reminded you of Triple Town?

The Sims Social Haunted House Week items punish friends' pranks

We know, you're sick and tired of your arch nemesis in The Sims Social sabotaging everything you do. From peeing on your azaleas to hacking into your computer and breaking your appliances you've about had it. Luckily for you, EA and Playfish recently brought Haunted House Week to The Sims Social. Of course, that means a long list of new items are up for grabs.

From interesting, bovine-headed plants to spooky couches and infernal organs, you're just about covered for scaring the bejeezus out of your friends' avatars. Let's not delay this any further. Here are all the decorations (that matter) from the Haunted House Week in The Sims Social:

Trans-Van Furnace

    Costs: 45 SimCash
    House Value: 6,650


Trans-Van Turn

    Costs: 2,000 Social Points
    House Value: 5,350
    Boosts Sleep


Haunted Organ

    Requires 15 Music Skill
    House Value: 5,200
    Boosts Fun


Trans-Van Candle

    Costs: 3 SimCash
    House Value: 450


Toasting Drinks

    Costs: 50 Social Points
    House Value: 100
    Boosts Funs and Social


Candelabra of Calamity

    Costs: 4 SimCash
    House Value: 600
    Boosts Fun and Social


Trans-Van Buttress

    Costs: 350 Simoleons
    House Value: 250


Sullen Ancestral Skull

    Costs: 350 Simoleons
    House Value: 250
    Boosts Fun and Social


Light in Despair

    Costs: 12 SimCash
    House Value: 1,750


TrueReflection Afterlife

    Costs: 200 Social Points
    House Value: 400


Infernal Organ     L. Simnivorii     Light in Despair
Undying Classics Side

    Costs: 400 Simoleons
    House Value: 250


Vlad's Dog

    Costs: 14 SimCash
    House Value: 2,050


Trans-Van Mort

    Costs: 500 Simoleons
    House Value: 350


Trans-Van Compact

    Costs: 600 Simoleons
    House Value: 450


Trans-Van Throne

    Costs: 600 Simoleons
    House Value: 450


Trans-Van Boss

    Costs: 24 SimCash
    House Value: 3,550


Gargle Goyle

    Costs: 29 SimCash
    House Value: 4,300
    Boosts Fun and Social


UndyingClassics Desk

    Costs: 1,000 Simoleons
    House Value: 950


Furnace     Trans-Van Pew     TrueReflection Mirror
L. Simnovorii

    Costs: 500 Social Points
    House Value: 1,150
    Boosts Fun and Social


UndyingClassics Chest

    Costs: 600 Social Points
    House Value: 1,450


Trans-Van Dining Table

    Costs: 39 SimCash
    House Value: 5,750


Trans-Van Pallid

    Costs: 700 Social Points
    House Value: 1,750
    Boosts Sleep


Cuckcoo Clock

    Requires Quest Unlock
    House Value: 1,900
    Boosts Fun and Social


Trans-Van Pew

    Costs: 800 Social Points
    House Value: 2,050
    Boosts Sleep


UndyingClassics Shelf

    Costs: 1,000 Social Points
    House Value: 2,750
    Boosts Fun


Trans-Van Bloodcold and/or Spinechill

    Cost: 2,500 Simoleons
    House Value: 2,000
    Boost Happiness and Food


EA and Playfish threw in a number of new floor tiles, wallpapers and windows for players to use to fill out that haunted house feel. While a good amount of the cooler items in this collect go for SimCash, as one would expect, there are quite a few decorations like the L. Simnovorii and the Trans-Van fridges that at least go for Social Points. Don't worry, you'll get some good scares for your friends on the cheap this Halloween. Well, at least in Littlehaven--have you been to a costume shop?

Have you picked up any of the new Haunted House items in The Sims Social this week? How do you normally celebrate Halloween outside Facebook?

Cafe World Kid's Night Goals: Everything you need to know

While you still have four days to finish the Fall Feast feature in Cafe World, if you've already moved past all that, you can now move onto a goal series that's perfect for the kiddies. Kid's Night is an eight part goal series that contains the same basic principles of all goal sets: you'll need to cook a lot of dishes (in this case some random dishes) and ask your friends to send you a lot of items, but in this case, they're all themed towards children. Here's a guide to completing these eight goals.

As a reminder, this goal series contains some random dishes, so there's unfortunately no way to predict which dishes each and every user will have to cook. Just keep in mind that if you finish all eight goals, your overall cooking time should be incredibly similar to that of other players.

Kid's Night

    Ask for 6 Kid's Menus
    Serve Macaroni and Cheese 35 Times
    Serve 40 Dishes


Remember, any of these "ask for" tasks have you asking your friends to send you items, while the dishes tasks simply require you to cook those dishes before moving on. You can spice them if you'd like to reduce or even eliminate their cooking times entirely, or you can wait for your dishes to cook the old-fashion way. There doesn't look to be a time limit for when you'll need to complete these goals, so feel free to not rush.

Smash Hit

    Ask for 10 Balloons
    Ask for 6 Crayon Boxes
    Serve 40 Dishes


Your reward for this goal is a new recipe: Hotdog Mac and Cheese. That sounds like something a kid would eat, right? Heck, I think I'd eat it too!

Oldie But Goodie

    Ask for 6 Cheese Wheels
    Master Hotdog Mac and Cheese through Level 1
    Serve 50 Dishes


Dino-Mite

    Ask for 6 Dinosaur Shaped Cutters
    Serve 45 Dishes
    Ask for 10 Chicken Breasts


If the ingredients didn't give it away, you'll receive a fun new recipe for completing this one: the Dino Chicken Nuggets.

Ant Invasion

    Ask for 10 Stalks of Celery
    Master Dino Chicken Nuggets through Level 1
    Master Hotdog Mac and Cheese through Level 2


Your reward for this goal is a healthy snack for the kids: Ants on a Log (don't worry - it's just raisins and peanut butter on top of celery).

Almost Showtime

    Ask for 7 Coloring Books
    Master Ants on a Log through Level 1
    Ask for 12 Kid Plates


Kids Eat Free

    Master Dino Chicken Nuggets through Level 2
    Ask for 12 Streamers
    Master Ants on a Log to Level 2


The Kid's Win!

    Ask for 6 Boxes of Macaroni
    Ask for 13 Chocolate Bars
    Earn 500,000 coins


By this point, you've reached the end of the Kid's Night goal series, and will receive one more recipe for your trouble: Chocolate Pudding. If you're wondering what Macaroni has to do with pudding, we're told in the story that after dessert, the kids will take part in making some macaroni art. How fun!

Again, there doesn't appear to be a time limit on these goals, so feel free to work on other things (perhaps a catering order that you're being timed on).

CityVille Wind Farm Goals: Everything you need to know

Along with the Wind Farm feature in CityVille, that will allow you to raise your maximum energy cap by five points, there are also four goals to complete, offering your exclusive rewards that deal with the environment or the outdoors in general. These goals aren't timed, although I wouldn't expect them to stick around in the game forever. Your best bet will be to complete them as soon as possible, and then move onto other things. Here's how to do just that.

Winds of Change

    Ask for 6 Picnic Baskets
    Collect from City Supermarket 5 Times
    Collect from Ranger Station 1 Time


If you don't have a City Supermarket, you can purchase one for 5,750 coins from the market. It requires 130 Goods to operate. The Ranger Station can also be purchased from the store (10,000 coins), but it's a Community Building, so it obviously requires no Goods. Finishing this goal gives you the "Rita's Picnic Basket" decorative item, which gives a 15% bonus to surrounding homes and businesses.

Windy City

    Collect from 40 Residences
    Ask for 12 Signed Petitions
    Collect from City Hall 2 Times


The Signed Petitions are earned through a general news post on your wall. The residences, meanwhile, can be any in the game, so feel free to collect from some that take just a few minutes to recharge to speed up the process. For finishing this goal, you'll receive 125 XP and 15 energy.

Caution to the Wind

    Harvest 15 Wheat
    Ask for 15 Binoculars
    Collect from any Zoo Habitat 5 Times


The Binoculars are earned through another general wall post on your news feed, and while you're waiting for your friends to respond, you can grow the wheat, which takes a full 2.1 days to grow. For finishing this goal, you'll receive the Bird Sanctuary, a decoration that offers a whopping 48% payout bonus.

Second Wind

    Unlock the Wind Farm
    Complete the Wind Farm
    Increase your Energy Cap by 3 Points


Up until this point, you could have completed the three previous goals without ever working on your Wind Farm proper. However, for this one, you'll need to have not only expanded your city out to reach the Wind Farms but also collected the building materials necessary to finish the project. It's a time consuming process, to be sure, but at least you'll have the promise of bonus energy to keep you going. Once you finish your Wind Farm, you'll need to supply it three times to raise your energy cap by three points, without letting 24 hours of inactivity pass in between any of those points. For finishing this final Wind Farm goal, you'll receive 250 XP and 2,600 Goods.

With the release of the Wind Farm, combined with the maximum boost from the Dam, you can now raise your total maximum energy by 12 points. However, it will take a lot of dedication to keep that bonus intact. Is it worth it? You tell us!

[Via CityVille Wiki]

Well, what do you think? Do you use your Dam in CityVille, or have you even finished building it? Will you expand your city specifically to reach the Wind Farm

CityVille Bake Off Goals: Everything you need to know

After releasing the "Meet the Parents" goals in CityVille, we've now seen a second goal series released in the game that doesn't deal with a new feature, but is rather self-contained, dealing only with previously released features. This new goal series surrounds a "Bake Off," and sees Andre asking for your help with a holiday bake-off to raise money for charity. This is a four-part goal series, so here's a goal to finishing all four parts!

Baking a Difference

    Ask friends for 12 Cookie Recipes
    Send 25 Tour Buses to Bakeries
    Check into 10 Hotels


Cookie Recipes are earned by asking your friends to send them to you via a general news item on your wall. Meanwhile, you'll need to head into your friends' towns and click on their Hotels to check-in, so start with your most active friends, as they'll likely have Hotels completely built and ready for you to check-in, virtually of course. Finishing this goal gives you five energy and 20,000 coins as a reward.

A Baker's Dozen

    Ask friends for 12 Cookie Cutters
    Collect from Food Markets 40 Times
    Harvest 50 Pumpkins


Food Markets are businesses that include the City Supermarket, Produce Paradise or the Corner Store. It doesn't matter which one you collect from more, so feel free to collect from all four just as soon as they're ready until you eventually reach the total of 40. Finishing this goal gives you a simple reward: 200 XP.

Shake & Bake

    Ask friends for 12 Bags of Flour
    Collect from Brownstones 20 Times
    Collect from Neighbor Residences 50 Times


The Bags of Flour are another item you'll need to ask your friends to send you. In the meantime, you can wait for your Terraced Brownstones to become ready to collect rent, which happens once every eight hours. Finishing this goal gives you the Cook Ware store, which can otherwise be earned when collecting from your Mall (so long as that Mall has a second floor with four businesses).

Bake Sale!

    Have Cooking School
    Collect from 40 Residences
    Visit 20 Neighbors


The Cooking School is a community building that costs 19,500 coins to build. It requires three each of Marble, City Seals, Building Grants, Gold Plating and Ribbons to construct, if you don't already have one in your town. While you're waiting for your friends to send you those building materials, you can visit their towns or collect from your own homes (feel free to collect from those that recharge quickly to finish this task just as fast). For finishing this final goal in the Bake Sale series, you'll receive a Level 3 Bakery.

There doesn't appear to be a time limit for finishing these goals, so feel free to work on other things and come back to them later. They'll be there when you're ready.

CityVille: Login now for free Birthday Cake!

What's better than a giant birthday cake? How about one that offers a boost to your city's payouts in CityVille? In honor of the game's first birthday, you can now login to your town to receive a free Birthday Cake, which will be placed directly in your inventory. This bright cake is fairly large, but offers a 5% boost in payouts of surrounding businesses and homes.

If a bright pink and yellow cake isn't your thing, and you want something a bit more substantial (or just want to give your town some "bling"), you can also head into the game's store to purchase either the Silver Birthday Cake or the Golden Birthday Cake. Both cost City Cash, with the Silver option costing 25 City Cash and the Golden cake costing 50 City Cash. There's a reason for the difference in prices, however, as the Silver Birthday Cake offers just a 25% payout bonus, while the Golden cake offers a whopping 100% boost to surrounding businesses and homes. That means if you place it next to a building that normally pays 500 coins (by default), then you'll suddenly receive 1,000 coins instead! If you place this next to a high-earning business, and keep that business stocked with Goods, you could increase substantially increase your daily profits, which is never a bad thing. Of course, its initial purchase price might sting a bit...

Either way, you'll want to make sure and check out these cakes within the next six days, before they leave the store. As for the free option? It's likely that it has the same time limit, so if you've yet to visit your town, do so in a hurry. Even if you don't receive an in-game pop-up telling you you've received the free option, make sure to check your inventory to see if it's there. Now won't you join me in wishing a very happy first birthday to CityVille?

Have you claimed your free Birthday Cake in CityVille? Will you purchase either of the premium cakes, or is this free version enough to last you until the game's next birthday