This Week's Waste of Time

I think it's time to come clean. All of these free online games I've been recommending? A good number of them were brought to my attention courtesy of the legwork of Brandon Boyer, man about Austin and international symbol of indie gaming coolness. And, wouldn't you know it, he's scooped me again with this week's waste of time, Record Tripping.

You should certainly see what Boyer is doing on Boing Boing and its intermittently updated gaming offshoot, Offworld. But for now let's focus on Record Tripping which is part music game, part puzzle, and part DJ Hero. The three parts might not all come together seemlessly, but the gameplay is unique and largely intuitive. The visuals meanwhile are across-the-board exquisite and charming.

Record Tripping uses the click wheel on your mouse to a different end in each of the five levels. When you scroll the wheel back or forth the audio track of Alice in Wonderland also reverses or slides forward like a DJ scratched record. Why? I'm not sure, but it certainly adds something to the strange melange of gameplay.

You might want to check out some of the Bell Brothers' other games, but they pale in comparison.

Click here to play Record Tripping.

Enjoy.