The Google AdSense Game, created by Joel Comm as an advertisement for his Google AdSense advertising book, is actually pretty educational and fun.
The goal is to create a virtual Web site and lay out your advertising in such a way as to maximize the revenue potential from Google ads.
Mars Sucks is a Google Earth based game. If you do not yet have Google Earth installed you can get it by installing the Google Pack from the link on the right.
Once you’ve got Google Earth installed, follow this link to open a dynamic KML file from DestinSharks.com
To Play the Game:
1. Read the clues and search for the aliens (you’ll need to be below 2400 miles to see them and they don’t seem to appear prior to the 2nd clue)
2. Center your cross-hairs over the UFO and you will shoot automatically. To shoot again, move your view just a touch and stop. It takes 4 shots to destroy a UFO.
This is a great game to develop geography skills, and it’s amusing to blast the little aliens while you’re at it.
Today’s entry comes in the form of a service which Google has turned into a game of sorts. This one comes complete with scoring and public recognition of your contribution to the service.
Google Image Labeler is a word association game in which you, and some unknown, random partner are paired up and shown identical images which you both then describe until you get a match. Once you both label an image using the same term the image changes to another, and so on.
Each pairing only lasts 90 seconds so you need to think, and type, fast. You get 100 points for each match and the highest score I’ve managed so far is 1,000 points. It’s actually quite addictive and it helps Google refine the image search algorithm.
Road Sign Math is a site which offers a slightly “brainier” alternative to the classic Slug Bug driving game. The game has a comprehensive list of rules, but the basic premise is: people take photos of roadsigns that contain numbers which, when solved, will formulate an equation.
An example follows:
So next time you’re going on a road trip make sure and take the digital camera along and see if you can’t find some road sign math of your own to upload to the site.