Archive for the ‘fun’ Category
Late Night Creativity – Comic #5
Monday, October 3rd, 2011
Speed Scrabble Notifier for Firefox
Wednesday, September 28th, 2011
If you’re a Speed Scrabble player and running Firefox, then you might be interested in trying the new Speed Scrabble Extension.
The add-on helps you keep track of who is currently online so you can easily drop in for a game. Try it out!.
Speed Scrabble is a fast, fun and free online multiplayer word game. If you’ve not played it before then check it out!
If you aren’t a Firefoxer, there are similar extensions for Safari and Chrome.
If you’re a software developer interested in seeing how the extension works, the source code is freely available and can be used for any purpose.
If you have any thoughts on the new extension, feel free to get in touch!
Helping the world through microlending
Monday, August 29th, 2011Supernifty likes helping others out, especially those who really need it. Microlending is one way to do this.
Microlending involves lending a small amount – sometimes just a few dollars – to someone just to help get their business off the ground.
In developing countries, often this is all that is needed to get a viable business up and running. The recipient starts earning money, can pay back the loan, and can help bring their whole family out of poverty. Children can afford to go to school, get proper jobs, and the cycle of poverty is broken.
Kiva is a well-known microlender. One of Kiva’s founders gave a good explanation of how this works.
Interested? Well then, try it out.
You can lend as little as $25, and since the loan is (typically) repaid, you get to help someone out and improve our world a little – for next to nothing. Brilliant!
Speed Scrabble – most popular words
Thursday, April 14th, 2011We did some analysis on our Speed Scrabble players to find out the 80 most popular words used in games:
QI is easily the number 1 word, with AI and IN second and third. I guess most people know that trick when you get stuck with a Q without a U.
2-letter words dominate the list, taking the top 11 spots, and 66% of the top 80.
3-letter words round out the list, with the first 4-letter word, RAIN, coming in at 112th.
It’s a little surprising, but understandable given that Speed Scrabble focusses on speed.
Some users have commented on the unlikely sounding 2-letter words, doubting whether they are really words, so with the help of Wordnik, we have compiled a list of definitions of some of the more obscure words:
- qi: The fundamental life-force or energy.
- ai: See sloth.
- en: The letter n.
- aa: Lava having a rough surface.
- ae: Chiefly Scots One.
- un: One.
- er: Used to express hesitation or uncertainty.
- id: In Freudian theory, the division of the psyche that is totally unconscious.
- oi: Said to get someone’s attention.
- qat: khat
- ye: Archaic “The”.
- ad: An advertisement.
- lo: Used to attract attention or to show surprise.
- re: Music – The second tone of the diatonic scale in solfeggio.
- et: and
- jo: Scots Sweetheart; dear.
- oe: A small island.
- el: The letter l.
- za: Slang – Pizza.
- ar: The letter r.
- la: Music – The sixth tone of the diatonic scale in solfeggio.
- ti: Music – The seventh tone in the diatonic scale in solfeggio.
- li: A traditional Chinese measure of distance, today standardized at 500 meters (547 yards).
- pi: The 16th letter of the Greek alphabet.
- bi: A bisexual person.
- yo: Slang – Used as a greeting or to attract someone’s attention.
- joe: Informal – Brewed coffee.
- ain: Scots Own.
- yen: A strong desire or inclination; a yearning or craving.
- fa: Music – The fourth tone of the diatonic scale in solfeggio.
- ne: Not.
So now you know: yes, they really are words.
If you’ve not played Speed Scrabble, try it out. It’s fun, fast and challenging. And occasionally educational.
Crossword Solver 0.5 released
Sunday, February 20th, 2011
Supernifty is pleased to announce version 0.5 of Crossword Puzzle Solver.
We’ve added some requested new functionality.
Custom Word Lists
It is now possible to add your own word lists to the crossword solver. Useful if you want to
- add a new language,
- have a particular niche set of words, or
- just want to add something that you think is missing.
To add a word list, you just need to create a file, where each line is in the format “word,definition”.
Then click Definitions->Add… to add your definitions. It’s then easy to enable and disable the word lists you wish to include in your search.
If you happen to create a word list that you think might be useful to others, please let Supernifty know and we can publish your word list.
Ignore Spaces
Sometimes you might want to search for words and ignore any spaces. There’s now an option to do this.
Crossword Solver and all updates are free. Next time you run the software you should be prompted to update. If not, click Help->Check for Updates.
Feedback is always welcome.
Play Speed Scrabble on your iPad
Friday, November 12th, 2010Exciting news! Speed Scrabble is now compatible with the iPad. Yeeha!
To play Speed Scrabble on the iPad, just drag the letters around with your fingers to form words. Too easy!
Your iPad might just give you the competitive advantage over your mouse-based opponents… or simply a more enjoyable way to brush up on your word skills.
If you have an iPad, please try out the updated Speed Scrabble game.
As always, feedback is welcome… we are aware that the background grid can get a little messed up during play on the iPad, this shouldn’t interfere with the game play.
We hope to tweak the iPad experience in future releases – and potentially release an iPad app.
Now, go try it out! 
Jouez à Speed Scrabble (scrabble rapide) en français
Sunday, November 7th, 2010
Supernifty a le plaisir d’annoncer que Speed Scrabble est maintenant accessible en français.
Si votre langue maternelle est le français, ou si vous voulez travailler vos réflexes en français, alors essayez French Speed Scrabble!
To play in French:
- Visit Speed Scrabble
- Click “Refresh” on your browser to get the latest version of the game
- Login
- Click “Play”
- Click the pencil next to “English”, to change to “French”
- Click “Start game”
- Make words in French!
Feedback on the French incarnation is welcomed.
Thanks Sylviane for the French translation
New game options for Speed Scrabble
Sunday, October 10th, 2010Some interesting game options have been added to Speed Scrabble.
Same Letters
An often requested feature has been for all players to receive the same letters, thus allowing a competition of pure skill. Well, it’s here. Find out for sure who is the best Speed Scrabble player!
Private
If you don’t feel like playing against anyone else, be it so you can pursue that ridiculously long word, or are just learning the game, select the Private option, and nobody else can join your game. No more stressing about some guru coming in and ending your game.
3-letters+
Feel like a challenge? This option disallows 2-letter words, which makes for a surprisingly difficult game requiring planning and forethought.
If you’re tired of ultra fast Speed Scrabble, this will slow you down, and as a reward, winning with this option scores you many more points.
Further details about the new game options are at Speed Scrabble Help.
To access the new options, you will probably need to hit “Reload” on your browser, while on the Speed Scrabble page.
We’re hoping these will make for some interesting variations on the game. Feedback, problems or ideas regarding these new options (or anything else) are welcomed – do not hesitate to contact us with your thoughts.
Why not try out the new game options right now?
Speed Scrabble Safari Extension
Sunday, July 18th, 2010
If you’re using Safari as your web browser (Apple users, this means you!) you may be interested in the Speed Scrabble Safari Extension.
Speed Scrabble is a fast, fun word game, suitable for single player, but often more fun as multiplayer.
This Safari extension enables you to see when there are players waiting to play on the Speed Scrabble server, so you can join them for a game.
If you use the extension, remember to play the occasional game – otherwise anyone else waiting for a game through the extension won’t know that you are available!
50 Songs on Playalong
Monday, July 12th, 2010
Supernifty’s Playalong has reached the milestone of 50 songs.
Playalong started out as a way to play along to Elvis on your ukulele. Nowadays, Playalong offers quite a bit more.
We now support
- chords for the guitar,
- chords for the banjo,
- an iPhone app, and
- 50 songs!
Supernifty’s Playalong has songs from each of the last seven decades.
Here’s a selection of tag counts from Supernifty’s first fifty songs.
Thanks to everyone who has contributed to Playalong… it’s fitting that the 50th song to be added is Israel Kamakawiwoʻole’s ukulele classic Over the rainbow – Enjoy!