Last Minute Gift Shopper?

Hi there,

Unfortunately, I haven't had the time to do any more testscapades recently, due to all the stress that the Holiday Season has brought me. But I thought I'd give you guys a great tip, if you're a last minute gift shopper just like myself!

Gifts.com has an excellent section of, that's right, last minute gifts for Christmas!

This is great for all of the people that you forgot you even had to buy something for - uncle Bob, aunt Rita and all the rest of them - 'cause I know you all have 'em!

Testing the Swan SpyCam

For a while now, I've been concerned with the safety of my home. I live in an area with crime problems, and I do own a fair amount of expensive electronics. I'm always a little anxious to leave the house other than for work, and leaving it for a week or two is seriously painful. Some might say I'm overly paranoid, but I've contemplated the idea of installing video surveillance for quite some time. Though it has always seemed as if it was too big a project for me, so I've just procrastinated investigating it thoroughly.

But then, along came the Swann SpyCam!



It's tiny - you'll need a 4 mm hole and you're good to go - and the image quality is surprisingly good, even in badly lit rooms. Though the noise increases dramatically when the lighting gets dim, it's still perfectly acceptable and could be really helpful for a police investigation! (Okay, yeah. I might be a little paranoid)

I got mine last week, and it took me less than 30 minutes to get it up and running with good results.

I feel a lot safer now! If you're thinking about installing video surveillance in your home, or your business, then at ~$60, the tiny and easily hide-able SpyCam delivers every cent's worth and more! :)

Top 3 U.S. Poker Rooms - Table Pro's & Con's

I couldn't decide whether I should try poker room software in general, or narrow it down a little bit, as I was pondering what my next Testscapade post would discuss.

But then, I decided on comparing the software of the three biggest poker rooms allowing U.S. players today; PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Ultimate Bet Poker. And since countless reviews by affiliate websites have already been carried out (try a Google query on your room of choice and the word review, and I assure you, you will find what you're looking for), I thought I'd take the short road and give you some pros and cons for each of these gigantic rooms.

I'm talking specifically about the tables, and not the lobbies, since these are often customized by most players to show the exact games you're looking for either way.

You might not want to decide at what venue you should play only by looking at their software, but if you wish to compare the biggest rooms and find out what could possibly irritate you, I hope this is helpful!

Full Tilt Poker
Full Tilt's software is independently developed by TiltWare. It's very fast and hosts a variety of avatars you can choose from.

Pros
+ The menu's are very easy to understand and take up minimum space
+ You can choose between two table views: classic and racetrack
+ The pot size is displayed right below chip stack under the community cards

Cons
- You can't have an avatar of your own, but have to choose between a few
- Most of the available background pictures are way too cluttered

Ultimate Bet Poker
Ultimate Bet's software is, in essence, the same as that of their sister operation Absolute Poker, only the skin differs.

Pros
+ Their new interface is really slick and uses a color scheme that's easy on the eyes

Cons
- The menu feels cluttered by the Bad Beat Jackpot indicator and the Blackjack button
- The time bank indicators are ugly
- The card deck is, also, ugly

PokerStars
PokerStars' software is, just like Full Tilt's, independently developed.

Pros
+ The sounds used are, in my humble opinion, the best around
+ It's simple, yet elegant
+ It offers a great variety of table themes, downloadable directly from the lobby menu

Cons
- It displays pot size right at the top of the window, where you don't naturally look for it

I won't actually say which one I like the best overall, but rather I'll leave the verdict up to you. I hope this was helpful in some way, although I realize it is a very specific comparison.

Have any tips on bettering this post and extend it? Let me know!

Testing the Borat Mankini

Yeah, uh... I never thought I'd actually wear one of these things - the Mankini, as introduced by our beloved friend Borat - but then came my 24th birthday last Thursday, and one of my less intelligent friends bought me one as a joke gift. Upon receiving it, I laughed politely and prepared to never have to wear it. Until later that night, when alcohol had been consumed and we played a game of Spin the Bottle.

I ended up having to try it on. And wear it... throughout the rest of the game session.

And so, as I survived the horrific humiliation of sharing most of my not so thin body with an extensive group of friends and a couple of blood relatives, I thought I might as well review the thing. There isn't really a lot to say, so I'll just give you some basic facts.

• It's incredibly uncomfortable
• It's ugly (no shit, Sherlock - I know)
  
• It's slightly funny for about ten minutes

Sorry, this isn't even a good joke gift. Over and out!

Testing Online Poker Odds Calculators

Hi guys

I'm a recreational poker player, just like many of my fellow Americans. And we all know, that when going through hand histories from playing online, you oftentimes have the need to calculate odds to make sure you made the correct choice. Sometimes, it's just too hard to calculate them all in your head.

Therefore, I thought I'd dedicate this Testscapade to poker odds calculators.

I haven't gotten into real-time calculator software, but merely the free odds calculators that you can use online on several poker websites for free.

I did a quick search in Google, and tried out a good number of those I found. E.g. I tried the one offered at Cardplayer, the one at Cardschat, the one at PokerListings, the one at Two Dimes and the one on PokerCalculatorOnline.com.

I found, to my surprise, that only one really offered everything I needed, and that's the one located at PokerListings.

Very few of the other calculators offer odds calculation for ALL poker games, alongside the nice graphical interface. Most are graphically nice, but they only ever offer Texas Holdem (and in some cases Omaha).

The only other calculator I found that could calculate odds for all games did in fact not utilize the easy graphical user interface of most.

Therefore, it's an easy choice. PokerListings won this battle with ease!

My Top 5 Favorite Flash Games

In a world in which casual gaming - such as flash games and other types of in-browser playable games - are becoming more and more widespread, and sometimes even more popular than "real" games, I thought I'd dedicate this Testscapade to flash games!

I, for one, have thoroughly tested a lot of flash games throughout the years. In high school, I was kind of depressed, and what better way is there to waste your time while not attending classes than by trying to play through the vast ocean of flash games available online? You guessed it, there isn't one!

1. Dolphin Olympics 2

Topping my list, is one of the greatest flash games of all times, Dolphin Olympics 2 (no, this isn't biased, but merely the undisputable truth!). The game is, just like its predecessor, based on making tricks and combinations to score as many points as possible. You steer your dolphin up through the water, press different key combinations to make a variation of tricks - combine as many as possible to to reach a higher score - and then make sure the landing is tight.

You could say this is a 2D, water-based version of the classic Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series. And it definitely works, I love it! Right now, there is even an ongoing high score competition for this game in my office!

Play Dolphin Olympics 2

2. Final Ninja

Final Ninja is one of the more developed flash games I have ever played. This platform game, intricate enough to force its player into using both the keyboard and the mouse to maneuver the ninja, is well enough sophisticated to be sold as a full-fledged PC game.

Anyone who used to love the classic console platform titles, and doesn't have too bad motor skills to handle the controls, is going to love this game! It's addicting for sure.

Play Final Ninja

3. Winterbells

White bunnies are cute. Having a white bunny jump bells is even cuter. And it works very well to waste some time with, too. This game is only controlled by your mouse movements, and they better be quick! It's fairly self-explanatory, I think.

This game got a lot of attention when it was first released, and it's still very enjoyable today. In comparison to Final Ninja, which is a fairly advanced flash game, this idea is very simple. And the easier, the better, rings very true when it comes to a lot of flash games. This is one of them.

Play Winterbells

4. Canabalt

Probably the newest creation on this list, Canabalt was released just a couple of weeks ago as I'm writing this down. The story is simple and the action starts instantly: run for your life (though you won't actually have to do that yourself) and jump at the right time (this is where you come in).

The environment in which the game is set is brilliant, the gray color scheme along with the speedy, heart-raising soundtrack and the crash sound effects creates an almost "realistic" experience. The game demands your full attention, without demanding any thought whatsoever. Just pure reaction.

Try it, and see for yourself just how many times in a row you'll start over to improve your high score and get a few more meters before tumbling to your death!

Play Canabalt

5. Bloons


And right after the newest game, let's have the oldest one! Okay, actually, I haven't checked the facts and thus I'm not sure whether this game is the oldest one on this list. However, Bloons is one of the most popular flash games of all times - and that's well-deserved!

A brilliant idea, a well developed game with a vast number of levels (+ there's like three "Player Packs" with additional levels for the game) and enough of a challenge to make even the hardcore casual gamer break a sweat while trying to beat some of the tougher ones, Bloons (and its predecessors) still holds its own, even years after its release.

And oh, the game is all about popping balloons. You'll get it if you try it!

Play Bloons

Testing the Potty Putter Toilet Golf Game

Hi, and welcome to the first test ever in this new blog.

I'm Ryan, the author and creator of the Testscapades site. As there really isn't too much of a goal for this thing, I'm just going to go ahead and try some stuff out, post my opinions and hope that they will be of use to somebody else one day.

I actually had no idea what I was going to feature for this first post, until I stumbled across it at a friend's house the other night.

We were playing poker at said friend's kitchen table, drinking some lager and having a blast, and everything went along as it used to, until I had to visit the bathroom. And that's when I first got in contact with the Potty Putter Toilet Golf Game.

By now, I'm sure you all get the point of this game. The image presented makes the rest of it quite self-explanatory.

Now, why would you simply go to the bathroom out of pure necessity, when you can in fact combine it with practicing your putt for the next office golf game?

One reason: You don't have the ~$18 to buy the game. Or possibly if you hate golf... But seriously, there are no other reasons. This rocks!

Why does it rock, you say? Because it's so hysterically unnecessary, and actually, compared to only doing what you're supposed to and getting out, playing some golf while you're getting it over with is funnier!

Testing, testing...

Or at least I will be, soon enough. Anyone know of a decent theme for Blogger, though? I don't think this is very nice.

Anyway, my first test/review post should be coming up any day now!

Leave a comment with tips, ideas or whatever :)

Have a great day!