Inside Social Games

Advertising is everywhere, so it is not too surprising to see a Six Flags game appear on Facebook. For those that may not know, the Six Flags Parks is one of the world’s largest chains of amusement parks and theme parks. The company holds 21 locations around North America that consist of theme parks, water parks, and family entertainment centers. In 2007 alone, the cumulative properties played host to around 24.9 million guests, making it the forth-most popular theme park in the world.

Suffice to say, Six Flags has the money to put into games that advertise their parks. The Six Flags game is a collection of carnival type mini-games that you would find inside most game areas while at any major theme park. Currently there are three games to be played: Block Buster, 3-Point Challenge, and Balloon Pop. Block Buster consists of throwing baseballs to, well, knock down blocks, 3-Point Challenge is a basketball shoot-out, and Balloon Pop is dart throwing.

All of the games are easy to learn and master, and do provide some quality fun that can, in fact, become addictive. You play by aiming your mouse where you want to shoot/throw and hold it down to generate power, then let go in order to release whatever you are throwing. With the exception of the dart game (which doesn’t let you generate strength when you throw), all three games use the same mechanics in similar ways.

Perhaps the best part about the game, however, are the rewards for playing. Every week, the top scoring players are eligible to win Six Flags tickets. Suffice to say, this is certainly one of the better player rewards out there. Furthermore, this provides a competitive aspect of the game, displaying the top leaderboards as well as past winners, thus giving players an idea of how much they have to score to earn those tickets.

Unfortunately, this is really the only significant social feature in the game. Beyond this competitive aspect of the game for high scores and tickets, the only other social aspect is a built in chat system. Sadly, the chat tends to be rather barren most of the time.

Overall, the Six Flags mini-games are not bad at all. They are fun and provide players with great prizes. These prizes alone add a great competitive aspect to the game and in fact does increase social usage, but beyond the display of the top scoring players, there is not much else to the social features (save the infrequently used chat system).

Despite the social short-comings, the games are still easy to learn and master, and can quickly become addictive. If you find yourself with some extra time or you want a chance to win tickets to an awesome theme park, then Six Flags comes well recommended.