Blockdot
Encyclopedia
Blockdot is a branded entertainment and game studio based in Dallas, Texas
, that builds many of the games for Microsoft
's Club Bing
. The company was founded in March 2001 by Michael Bielinski, Dan Ferguson, and Jason McMinn.
The games on the Club Bing site include:
Chicktionary
- The game
is a variation on the game of anagrams
. It features an egg rack, replete with three-letter, four-letter, five-letter, six-letter and seven-letter sequences of eggs
. Seven chickens appear at the bottom, each bearing a letter. When the player clicks on a hen, its letter is dropped into a box. Clicking on three or more hens in sequence can create a word. If it is a valid word, a sequence of eggs of the appropriate length will be filled up with the word.
Fox News reported that the popularity of this search engine vis-à-vis Google
and Yahoo increased due to the introduction of this game. Microsoft's share of the search market increased by 13.2% in June 2007.
Banana Shuffle — A game in which players transform one word to another by changing one letter at a time.
Clink — A phrase-matching game.
Coffee Break — Game sampler consisting of short versions of Chicktionary, Crosswire, and Clink.
CrossWire — A game in which items on one side must be matched to corresponding items on the opposite side.
Dingbats — Players solve a puzzle and may guess letters, similar to Hangman.
Discover the World with Matt Lauer
— A world trivia game with 8 questions per game.
Flexicon — A crossword-like game.
Quote a Pillar — A game in which players spell out famous quotes using the letters provided.
Red Carpet Reveal — A celebrity trivia game.
Seekadoo — A word search game.
Spelling Bee — Players are given seven letters from which to form words; similar to Chicktionary.
Taxi Wrangler — A time management game consisting of three rounds.
Time Capsule — Daily question of events related to present day in history.
Trivia Bound — A multiplayer trivia contest consisting of five rounds of questions. Players score points by inputting answers that rank the highest on a Bing search query.
Word Slugger — Players are given seven letters from which to form words; similar to Chicktionary.
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, that builds many of the games for Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
's Club Bing
Club Bing
Club Bing is a group of online word games launched by Microsoft in April 2007. Players who complete or partially complete a game earn "tickets" that may be exchanged for Microsoft products...
. The company was founded in March 2001 by Michael Bielinski, Dan Ferguson, and Jason McMinn.
The games on the Club Bing site include:
Chicktionary
Chicktionary
Chicktionary is a word game available on the Microsoft Internet search page. Chicktionary was developed by Blockdot, a Dallas, Texas based developer of games and branded entertainment applications...
- The game
Game
A game is structured playing, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more often an expression of aesthetic or ideological elements...
is a variation on the game of anagrams
Anagrams
Anagrams, Pirate Scrabble, Anagram, Snatch, or Grabscrab is a board-free word game that involves rearranging letter tiles to form words....
. It features an egg rack, replete with three-letter, four-letter, five-letter, six-letter and seven-letter sequences of eggs
Egg (biology)
An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo first begins to develop. In most birds, reptiles, insects, molluscs, fish, and monotremes, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum, which is expelled from the body and permitted to develop outside the body until the developing...
. Seven chickens appear at the bottom, each bearing a letter. When the player clicks on a hen, its letter is dropped into a box. Clicking on three or more hens in sequence can create a word. If it is a valid word, a sequence of eggs of the appropriate length will be filled up with the word.
Fox News reported that the popularity of this search engine vis-à-vis Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
and Yahoo increased due to the introduction of this game. Microsoft's share of the search market increased by 13.2% in June 2007.
Banana Shuffle — A game in which players transform one word to another by changing one letter at a time.
Clink — A phrase-matching game.
Coffee Break — Game sampler consisting of short versions of Chicktionary, Crosswire, and Clink.
CrossWire — A game in which items on one side must be matched to corresponding items on the opposite side.
Dingbats — Players solve a puzzle and may guess letters, similar to Hangman.
Discover the World with Matt Lauer
Matt Lauer
Matthew Todd "Matt" Lauer . is an American television journalist best known as the host of NBC's The Today Show since 1997. He was previously a news anchor in New York and a local talk-show host in Boston, Philadelphia, Providence and Richmond...
— A world trivia game with 8 questions per game.
Flexicon — A crossword-like game.
Quote a Pillar — A game in which players spell out famous quotes using the letters provided.
Red Carpet Reveal — A celebrity trivia game.
Seekadoo — A word search game.
Spelling Bee — Players are given seven letters from which to form words; similar to Chicktionary.
Taxi Wrangler — A time management game consisting of three rounds.
Time Capsule — Daily question of events related to present day in history.
Trivia Bound — A multiplayer trivia contest consisting of five rounds of questions. Players score points by inputting answers that rank the highest on a Bing search query.
Word Slugger — Players are given seven letters from which to form words; similar to Chicktionary.