This is the enemy.

This week’s free web-based game is just for kicks. If “kicks” for you is pulling the supports of curiously designed structures and deciding the fate of an insufferably waving child standing unsteadily above the water. Just me? So be it, but I’ve spent hours pouring over which supports can and can’t be removed to keep this brat afloat.

Sometimes I just yank obviously necessary pieces just to watch the kid flounder unhappily (stand down breeders, he has a floatie, besides, it’s not like I’m throwing toddlers in the pool like these parents).

I recommend muting the infernal techno quickly and making your way through the game’s 30 levels by pulling just one support to get to subsequent challenges. After that, go for score and see how many supports can be pulled before the kid’s frown turns right side up.

Click here to play.

If you crave more Newtonian physics based games – making gravity and inertia your enemy, and sharpening your engineering skills – I recommend http://www.physicsgames.net.

Enjoy.

This article appears in May 29 • 2009.

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James graduated from Columbia University in 2000 and moved to Austin a year later. Ever since, he has followed the arts and video game scene in ATX, editing and writing stories for the Chronicle along the way. Over his more than 20 years with the paper he has climbed the "corporate" ladder from lowly intern to managing editor.