Tuesday, July 10th, 2007...10:13 am

The insane joy of playing Orbitz games

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I’ve got a I have to own up to. I love .

These simple, undemanding, even-a-caveman-could-play-them online games created by the Internet travel company are as addicting as blogs, Gene Weingarten’s , and fantasy baseball.

They were created by Orbitz in 2005 to promote its travel service. Apparently, it’s had an effect on me since I’ve used it to buy airline tickets at least a half dozen times that I remember.

Some of these games are downright ridiculous. In , for example, you are supposed to toss a “family member” down an icy street and maneuver him onto a circle where you are awarded points. I like it better when it was called curling.

In another game, , you have to jump on a trampoline and dunk a basketball. This takes the brain power of a potato.

Here are my top five favorite Orbitz games:

shuffleboard.jpg

When I went on a cruise with my Papi, Hermanita, and Hermano, my favorite part was playing shuffleboard. I, of course, beat my brother every time, which made him cry like a friggin’ schoolgirl. This Orbitz Shuffleboard might be the most challenging of the Orbitz games, which is like saying I’m taller than a dwarf.

paperfootball.jpg

Blue and I used to play our own version of paper football with sugar packets when we waited for our food at Denny’s as teenagers. Our natural competitiveness often led to full-out brawls.

homerunderby.jpg

This one is actually the new and “improved” version of one of Orbitz’s original games. Updated or not, it’s just too easy to smack the ball out of the park. Kind of like in softball.

beanbagtoss.jpg

This one is one of the most addicting Orbitz games. I can’t tell you why. But hand a beanbag to someone and tell him to toss it, and he always will. It’s in our nature as human beings to want to toss bags full of beans.


islandhop.jpg

This game is strange but at least I can say it’s original. You toss these little blue men that look like old bananas from one virtual island to another. You need some pretty advanced knowledge in geometry and physics to get the jumps right, so make sure you bust out your scientific calculator.

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12 Comments

  • Where’s the screenshot for “Shove Your love?” THAT I would like to see. Because in some ways, shoving a family member down an icy street sounds oddly pleasing. (I guess it depends on which family member.)

    And you were absolutely right to tag this post with ‘dorkiness.’

  • Holy shit. What about toss your boss? That’d be a great one for business travel ticket sales.

    As for my games of choice, last night BB bought me one of those atari plug and play games, so now I am fully loaded with PacMan, Dig Dug, Bosconian, Rally something, and… some game that isn’t Gallactica.

    He also bought me hand held (non-game-boy) tetris.

    My life is now complete.

  • and to think I was worried that you’d be bored now that Princess has left the country…how silly of me.

  • So, at least I know what you’re doing when I call and there’s no answer…

    The mini golf game is the one I like. I mean, in my free time at home, that is.

  • I curse the open cubicle culture in which I work… Sugar packets? We had to fold neat triangles out of the aluminum foil left over from our L’il Smokies-Tater Tot hot lunch combo.

  • Love those games.

    I was obsessed with the Paper Football game for a while. There’s another one that rocked that you’re forgetting… sadly so am I so I can’t tell you what it was.

  • So what day on the job is this for you?

    How to get fired on day X of your job:
    Write a blog post on how you spend your (possibly work) time playing Orbitz games. Include screenshots to boost your credibility.

    :)

    I think I might need to clarify something. I wrote this post several weeks ago but didn’t post it until today. Fear not, people, I am hard at work saving America from the Communist threat.

  • You can grab a screen shot for Shove your Love at
    http://orbitzgames.com/arcade_curling.aspx
    or you could actually play the game…

    Cheers!

  • Shove your Love can be seen at

  • “Updated or not, it’s just too easy to smack the ball out of the park. Kind of like in softball.”

    Ahem…I don’t recall you ever “smacking one out of the park”, but I could be forgetting. Anway, you’re a great fielder, so that’s cool.

  • i’m not so much of a game person, so I think I’ll stick with Gene’s chats :)

  • Wowza! I didn’t even know these existed. I’d better not try them, because I know I’ll get addicted.

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