Jay Is Games

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Jay is Games
URL	www.jayisgames.com/
Commercial?	Yes
Type of site	Entertainment website
Registration	Optional (Typekey)
Owner	Jay Bibby
Created by	Jay Bibby and others
Launched	April 19, 2003
Revenue	Not Disclosed
Current status	Operational

Jay Is Games (A.K.A. Casual Gameplay) is a game review website that features daily updates and links to casual games, browser games and flash games of wide interest to casual gamers. It was founded on April 19, 2003 by Jay Bibby, initially as a personal blog. It now has several contributors and great popularity amongst casual gamers.Template:Fact

Several video game genres are covered; including escape the room, puzzle and platform game. The site is constructed as a blog, and attracts a large community of commenters. Jay and the site's staff writers read over and filter the weblog comments, often commenting themselves. Comment threads often include hints and walkthroughs.

Features

The site includes an IRC chat room where Jay and his fellow reviewers spend some time talking to the fans and amongst themselves each day. The site does not feature adult content and gives the games it reviews an age rating. It also features a regular online poker game.

Another notable feature is the "Favorites" application, an Adobe Flash based application which allows users to store their favorite game on the site in a sidebar, for easy access. The data for the app is stored in a cookie on the user's computer.

A preference tab in the navigation bar which lets users choose the theme they would like to use when viewing the site. As of September 2007, eight themes have been released, and the most recent theme has a Flash game at the top of the page, created by Rob Allen, author of the Hapland point-and-click series. He has recently made the banner into a game. Other notable themes include one by Nitrome, an indie flash game company and one by Matt Hammil, which was the first non-standard theme in a series. There was at one point a Halloween puzzle which unlocked a fall theme.

Recently, a 'Help Squad' application was added to the navigation bar of the site, allowing visitors to view the most recently commented on reviews, so that players in need of help on older games (and thus game on which the comment page is not actively viewed) can be helped. A Google widget has also been added, so that users of iGoogle (a Google home page) can see the most recently reviewed games on their Google home.

Competitions

Jay Is Games has also become known for its game design competitions. As of May 2008, Jay Is Games has conducted five competitions. Although the first competition was focused on producing simple puzzle games, recent competitions have had themes such as "grow" or "replay" that entrants could interpret into their games. This openness garners much creativity from developers and enthusiastic responses from visitors to the site.

Cash prizes are given, and sometimes relevant gifts, such as an Adobe Flash download. The main prizes are chosen by the site reviewers, however a unique Audience Award is also given. This prize is guaranteed "at least $200." Visitors must donate at least one dollar in order to vote, which goes to whichever developer the voter chooses.

Game Design Competitions

• Game Design Competition #1 spanned from August 4, 2006 to August 25, 2006 and had the theme of "a simple puzzle game".
• Game Design Competition #2 spanned from January 5, 2007 to February 23, 2007. This competition also had the theme of "a simple puzzle game", but also had to incorporate an interpretation of "grow".
• Game Design Competition #3 spanned from June 13, 2007 to July 15, 2007. This competition's theme was "replay".
• Game Design Competition #4 spanned from August 6, 2007 to October 1, 2007. The theme of this competition was "ball physics".
• Game Design Competition #5 spanned from January 2, 2008 to March 16, 2008. This competition's theme was "upgrade".

External links

• Jay Is Games