The Awesome Beauty of Blag Island

The lush countryside slowly appears as you land, a place where horses graze on the soft green grass and the meadows are full of summer flowers. There are sparkling rivers that run into the sea and a canoe awaits passengers at the end of the small jetty. Taking the canoe I paddled my way around the cool waters, nearly colliding with a friendly whale as it leapt up from below the surface of the water with a giant splash, porpoises also played in the sea between the jagged rocks, as they jumped into the air before tumbling back into the deep blue waters. This is Blag Island, one of the prettiest and most romantic places in SL, a perfect setting for getting back to nature with a hint of fantasy thrown in with the fairytale buildings there.

I saw a proud pelican sitting preening his feathers on a nearby rock, and beyond the pelican I could see a little island with seals barking their greetings to each other as they relaxed in the afternoon sun. Waterfalls cascade down the side of the rocky terrain and you can feel the gentle rain on your face as you wander through some ancient ruins overgrown with wild flowers and grasses.

Climbing to the top of the hill I approached a domed building and surprisingly this contained a giant telescope aimed into the skies above. Also glimpsed from the telescope’s viewing area are two of the tallest towers I have ever seen in SL, are these the tallest? well maybe! Climbing to the top of the towers you can literally hold a party up in the clouds, entertaining your friends whilst peering down on Blag Island hundreds of feet below!

There are many places where you can sit and relax, romantic little niches to cuddle up with your partner or lounge about with a group of friends. The working windmill is a great feature and looking over the cliffs I could see a galleon docked in the harbour below. I could read a big red sign on the galleon deck. It advised passers by not to stand on the deck area, and I couldn’t resist. All I can say is that you will be sorry if you do stand there, so keep well clear of it! After my traumatic experience on the galleon I went back onto the island and looked around and found a lovely walled garden, it was like stepping back in time with it’s little wooden-framed greenhouse and rows of well established bedding plants and colourful shrubs.

Blag Island is owned by Mafiawl Mower, a business man in real life, who invented the best selling board game called Blag, which is destined to be a big hit in SL as well, with the in-world version. Mafiawl has used his imagination to create this wonderful island and I’m going back to explore it further as there is so much to see there.

Janey Bracken

Best Selling Real Life Board Game Joins SL

I had the privilege yesterday to test a new game that will be released in SL in the next few weeks. The incredibly popular board game 'Blag' by Futurus Games, which has sold thousands of copies in real life, is coming to the virtual world. Its rules are simple, it's fun and you can win some Lindens to make it even more exciting!

I met creator Mafiawl Mower (his avatar name), at a secret location yesterday and he introduced me to two of his friends Jonny Fraisse and Clare Loring, both of whom have seen the game emerge after 2 years of in-world development.

Blag is a picture game where you try to guess what the displayed picture actually is, but it is not that simple. Each player is asked to create a made up caption of their own and then all of these are listed along with the ‘true’ answer generated by the game. You all then need to vote for the answer you think is true. Obviously you do not vote for your own Blag but the trick is trying to avoid voting for somebody else’s Blag. If you guess the true answer you get 2 points but if you vote for another player's Blag then they get 1 point. It is very simple to understand, but as people get into it spotting the ‘True’ answer gets harder and harder. First to 20 points wins a large slice of the pot. Every player will automatically join the Blag league which will take 10% from every game played each week and award it to the best player in SL during that week.

Although a board game in real life, Blag is played on a screen in SL giving you a good view of the pictures, you then link to the Blag website to take part. This was easy to do, by reducing both SL and my browser screen to view them together, I found this a comfortable way to play. We only played a few rounds, but I got hooked straight away, it's fun competing with the others and I really enjoyed trying to guess what the pictures were. I will definitely practice my blagging skills and see if I can win lots of money! Jonny won yesterday and kindly shared his winnings with us fellow blaggers! This was a demo version but the real game will last at least 30 minutes so you will certainly get your moneys worth.

For 200 Linden dollars a game, you can meet your friends in-world to play, even if you can't meet up in real life, you still have the virtual option. Mafiawl also showed me the cinema where the Blag game will be installed when it's ready for release, and I think sim owners should consider introducing Blag into their regions to attract traffic. He is also planning a picnic projector version to play outdoors. I can't wait for the game to begin so I can test my blagging skills! I will let you know when Blag is officially released in SL.

Any queries regarding Blag should be sent to Mafiawl Mower on a notecard in-world.

(http://www.blaggame.co.uk/content/home.asp)

Janey Bracken