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Jay is Games is a website that reviews a majority of games, generally Flash based.

History[]

Jay is Games was created by Jay Bibby on April 19th 2003[1]. It followed a personal blog-like style of writing - Jay would create a post and often share what is on his mind or write about something game related.

When it started up, it was mostly about all genres of games - flash games and video games. Jay would also cover certain video game related topics, such as the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) and what games would be covered.

It stayed like a personal blog for about two years, Jay making a post usually every two days. It was in 2004 Jay began covering flash games, and slowly shifting away from video games and using his site as a personal blog. He also began only giving flash/browser games ratings according to objectionable content. It was in 2006 that authorship of the blog changed - instead of all flash game reviews being done just by Jay, other people began reviewing games.

The weekly Link Dump Friday posts began on December 15th 2006. Since then, the weekly setup of Jay is Games has mostly remained the same.

Sections[]

55?cb=20120317190109 Incomplete section

This section is incomplete. You can help by adding the missing info.

Certain days during the week are assigned to special sections, although all days of the week (including Saturday and Sunday) allow for game reviews.

Monday is assigned the Mobile Monday section. This sections deals with games found on mobile phones (Android, iPhone, etc.), devoted to news about select mobile games.

Tuesday is assigned the The Vault section, where three previously reviewed games (usually a few years old) are selected, with a small blurb about the game.

Friday is given the Link Dump Friday section. Link Dump Friday is about news related to flash games, PC or download games. Along with this, it also lists newly started up Kickstarter projects. Along with this, sometimes content that does not fit into the two previous aforementioned is used, but put under the category "Miscellany".

Along with this, certain types of games can be reviewed on either weekdays or weekends. On weekends, only indie games are reviewed, while on weekdays only free online games are reviewed. Mobile games can be reviewed at any time, regardless of day.

Cancelled sections[]

Below are sections of Jay is Games that have cancelled. A section is considered cancelled when it has not been used for a long time.

Weekend download[]

Weekend download was a section that would deal about download only games, games that can only be played by downloading them. Originally started up on February 17th 2007, it ran for over five years, before its final post on April 7th 2012. It is not known why the section was cancelled.

Weekday escape[]

Weekday escape was a section that would have links to previously reviewed games of the escape genre. Despite this section being rather easy to handle - as it simply consisted of linking to already reviewed games - it only lasted for seven posts, before being postponed indefinitely. Started up on July 16th 2008, it continued for three months with two posts per month (each post on Wednesday), before taking a long six month break, with its final post being in March 2009.

You Are Games[]

Another cancelled section is You Are Games, a section notable for going on hiatus for long periods of time and also changing what it covers multiple times. Basically, You Are Games runs a contest for every post, urging commentors to try to complete the desired task. The desired task always involves writing down the desired answer to the task, the task usually either consisting of a multiple choice question, suggestion a caption to an image, a solution to a puzzle problem.

Often, the contests for You Are Games are repeated - following the same general idea of the previous contest, but with a new objective - although some contests are used just a few times before being shelved and never used again. Sometimes, contests consisted of playing a game that features a level editor or a sandbox game, with the winner being the one who makes the best creation.

The You Are Games section is notable for being started up solely for commentors to interact with Jay is Games outside of just playing games[2]. Contests sometimes had prizes that were not spoken of in the post for the contest. Once the prizes were distributed and the winners known, then the winners names would be displayed in a purple box on the page for that contest.

It was possible for a contest to have multiple winners, although for ones featuring prizes, the first to submit the answer would be the first eligible for the prize, in a first-come-first-served manner. You Are Games generally was posted twice a month or every week, although it was often posted once per month.
Contest types

  • Incredibots 2 Mini-Brawl - a challenge (done only once) that requires players to make a challenge with the Incredibots 2 level editor, then submit it to the contests. There were three sections to be judged: Most Fun, Prettiest, and Best Use of JIG Mascot. The contests received eight entries. Due to the low amount of entries received, the prize of six month "Incredibots Supporter" membership was awarded to all participants. Notably, only four memberships had to be given out, as the participant "Rydash" sent in five entries, two which actually won two separate sections.
  • Text review - Jay is Games selects three games to be reviewed by commentors.
  • Name a Gameplay theme - Jay is Games asks there fans what should be the genre of the next Casual Gameplay contest. Was later replaced with a poll, and once the poll was over, was replaced with creating a logo for the contest. The creator of the winning logo won 300 US dollars.
  • Q-Block - commentors were tasked with creating something in the Q-Block program then submitting it to the contest
  • iNudge - commentors were tasked with creating music in the game and submitting it to the contest
  • Fantastic Contraption Prius Edition - commentors were tasked with making a level with the game's level editor. The top down levels would be entered into a user-created level pack, and the creator for each level would win 1,000 US Dollars.
  • JIG community riddle - commentors had to write down a one-panel riddle puzzle that had an answer that could be typed with a standard keyboard. The winners could receive coupons for free games or a T-shirt, although T-shirts were only available to US residents. The riddles would be included in a game on the site.
  • Babylon Sticks caption contest - a one panel Baylon Sticks cartoon would be shown and users would have to post a caption for the cartoon. This was second most popularly reused contest, behind Letters in Boxes.
  • Berzerk Ball comment contest - commentors had to suggest a funny comment for the character to say in the game. The prize was a 25 US dollars iTunes card.
  • Marble Run - no contest.
  • Haikow - commentors had to construct a three line poem with the first and last line consisting of five or less syllables, and the second consisting of seven or less syllables. Five poems would be picked, with each receiving a free copy of the game Cow Trouble.
  • Letters in Boxes - puzzles that are solved by inputting the proper letter into the given diagram. When once had the correct answer, they could input it into the given URL to get to the next puzzle. The final puzzle would give the Email address to send the final puzzle answer. Prizes were given out, but what they were was not disclosed. Furthermore, how the winners were picked varied.
  • Community Favorites Edition - commentors were tasked with emailing what there three/four favourite games are. The games could be any games reviewed by Jay is Games. The winners would be given prizes that could be "Humble Bundles, gift certificates, game coupons, Steam codes, and even game swag [game content]". The five winners would have their three/four game reviews put up in a single review, after the contest ended.

Hiatuses
On more than one occasion did You are Games go on hiatus. From December 31st 2009 to October 21st 2010, there were no posts. From February 2nd 2012 to June 14th 2012, there were also no posts. Since the final post on July 19th 2012, there have been no more You Are Games posts.

Game types[]

Jay is Games reviews a wide number of game types. They tend to review mostly flash games, but also commonly review download-only games, mobile phone games, and pay-for games. Early on in the site's life, Jay himself would also review video games, although the occurrence of these types of reviews were uncommon - if not rare. Video game reviews were slowly phased out, with the final video game review being Super Smash Bros. Brawl on March 9th 2008.

Video games reviewed[]

Merchandise[]

Although Jay is Games is a somewhat small game review site, Jay Bibby (the site's founder) set up a site on the SpreadShirt[3][4] website that allowed for him to sell T-shirts in different sizes and format, with the words "Jay is Games" on them. These shirts came in the regualr no-sleeve design and long sleeves.

Reviews[]

Jay is Games commonly reviews games of all types. When reviewing a game, they will list the categories the game is categorized under (categories such as its graphics, genre, platforms, whether it is free, and its rating), what platform it is for, and its content descriptor rating. Below this lists the person reviewing the game, and the review.

The review will usually have a picture of the game's gameplay, with the game's logo in the image. Reviews vary in length - some span many paragraphs, while others span only a few. Furthermore, some contain an analysis section, analyzing the game. Furthermore, some games feature multiple pictures.

The bottom of the review will list where the reader can play the game (if it is a browser/flash game), where to download it for each operating system (either listing where it can be bought, or where it can be downloaded for free, or both), or at which mobile shop it can be downloaded from (if the game is a mobile game).

Sometimes, when a computer-download game can be played on one operating system, the game's download section of he article may not have a link, and suggest other places to check to where it can be downloaded. Below this is a quality rating for the game, where the player can rate the game in terms of quality from 1-5 stars. After 20 votes, the game's average rating is shown. Finally, below this comes the comments section, where users are free to comment, but have to log in with an account. Fortunately, several account types are supported.

Ratings[]

On notable function of Jay is Games is how it rates games according to its offensive content. This is indicated by a small coloured face at the top-right of reviews. These ratings serve as content descriptors, describing what offensive content is in the games.

Four ratings are uses: a :D (a green face, for games that have no offensive content at all), a :O (yellow face, for games that contain minor offensive content), :S (an orange face, for games that contain lots of offensive content), and XP (a red face, the highest rating a review a game can garner, for games that features graphic violence and constant offensive language).

This section lists the four ratings and what offensive content a game has to has to fit into each section, along with a comparison with the Jay is Game's rating between two other video game ratings.

:D (green rating)[]

The :D face, green rating, green face, or rating-g is the rating given to games which feature content that would be considered acceptable and non-offensive to all. Many Nitrome games have been given the green rating.

  • Violence: Games in this category that have violence have very simply and non offensive violence. The player may be able to use weapons to kill enemies, but enemies do not bleed blood. Furthermore, enemies die by disappearing in a flash of light, or just simply explode.
  • Offensive language: Games in this category feature no offensive language at all.
  • Adult situations: Games in this category feature no adult situations whatsoever.

This rating is similar to the ESRB rating E rating, with the descriptor "violence" if the game contained violence. Similarly, this rating is also similar to the PEGI rating 3+ or 7+, with the descriptor "violence" if the game has violent content in it. Below is a breakdown of this:

ESRB Possible descriptors PEGI Possible descriptors
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a9/ESRB_Everyone.svg/50px-ESRB_Everyone.svg.png Violence http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2c/PEGI_3.svg/50px-PEGI_3.svg.png or http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/29/PEGI_7.svg/50px-PEGI_7.svg.png http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8c/PEGI_Violence.svg/50px-PEGI_Violence.svg.png

:O (yellow rating)[]

The :O face, yellow rating, yellow face, or rating-o is given to games which may contain very minor content that would be deemed offensive. Very few Nitrome games have been given the :O rating, notably ones with non-red blood in them or violence that would not fit in the :D rating and cease to fit in the :S rating.

  • Violence: Games that fall into this category may contain games that contain violence unacceptable for games to warrant a green face (:D), but not explicit enough to warrant an orange one (:S). Violence for games in this category is very mild or similar to cartoon violence. Although games that get in this category for violence are said to have no blood, it is meant it will have no red blood. Games in the category may have blood in colours other than red, non-red coloured blood that may also appear in large amounts (such as purple blood spewing out of weak point of a sky serpent in Sky Serpents)
  • Offensive language: games in this category may have rare usage of words such as "damn" or "hell", or mildly harsh language. Games in this category will not contain a usage of profanity, swearing, or otherwise offensive language, even if it is used once.
  • Adult situations: Games in this category may feature very mild adult situations, a possible sexual innuendo or nudity

This rating is similar to the ESRB E10+ rating or T rating. The violence that games in this category have would likely warrant a game the "violence" or "fantasy violence" descriptor, and either the E10+ rating or T rating (T if the violent content is too violent to feature in E10+, but still low enough to feature in T).

Games with non-red blood would get categorized either E10+ or T, depending on the intensity of the substance, and get the descriptor "animated blood". E10+ or T could get the rating descriptor "mild language" for the game's language, and "suggestive themes" for an innuendo. Nudity would be prohibited in E10+, but acceptable in a T game, with the descriptor "partial nudity".

The alternative PEGI rating for this game would be 12+, with the sex descriptor if the game had nudity, the violence descriptor if a game had violent content, the bad language descriptor if the game had offensive language, and the drugs descriptor if the game had drug content. Below is a breakdown of this:

ESRB Possible descriptors PEGI Possible descriptors
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ed/ESRB_Everyone_10%2B.svg/50px-ESRB_Everyone_10%2B.svg.png
or http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/be/ESRB_Teen.svg/50px-ESRB_Teen.svg.png
Fantasy violence (E10+-T), violence (E10+-T), animated blood (E10+-T), mild language (E10+-T), partial nudity (T) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/44/PEGI_12.svg/50px-PEGI_12.svg.png http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7d/Newpegi_violence.gif (no blood)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fa/Newpegi_profanity.gif (minor harsh language)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/42/Newpegi_sex.gif (partial nudity) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/PEGI_drugs.gif (mild situation)

:S (orange rating)[]

The :S face, orange rating, orange face, or rating-s, is the rating given to games that have more offensive content than in :O, but not offensive enough to get in XP (or rating-r). Games with this rating may have stronger violence than in :O rated games, red blood, swearing and profanity, nudity, sexually explicit content, and drug references.

Furthermore, these games may also feature non-red blood. No Nitrome games have received this rating, likely due to the nature of Nitrome not to put in content like this into their games. Violence: Games with this category may feature stronger violence than what is acceptable in :O rated games. Furthermore, games that have this rating may also feature red blood.

  • Offensive language: Games which bear the :S rating may contain swearing and other uses of profanity. These games may also allude to swear words, such as having a later followed by the word "word" (such as "x-word", "z-word", etc.)
  • Adult situations: Games in this category may feature strong adult situations, such as as drug references, nudity, sexually explicit content, and stronger innuendos.

The :S rating is similar to some of the content found in the ESRB T or M ratings. In terms of violence, the violence mentioned that :S covers would likely fit into the T rating, under the descriptor "violence", while usage of blood would fit under the descriptor "blood". Offensive language could probably fit under the T rating with the descriptor "language".

If a game were to have partial nudity it in, it would get the descriptor "partial nudity", if innuendos "suggestive themes" - which could be given to T or M games. Anything else - drug references, sexually explicit content, or nudity - would only be acceptable in an M rated game. Below is a breakdown of this:

For PEGI, a game would either get a 16+ rating or 18+, plus possibly the same descriptors mentioned in the rating :O section.

ESRB Possible descriptors PEGI Possible descriptors
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/be/ESRB_Teen.svg/50px-ESRB_Teen.svg.png
or http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f9/ESRB_Mature_17%2B.svg/50px-ESRB_Mature_17%2B.svg.png
Violence (T-M), fantasy violence (T-M), blood (T-M), animated blood (T-M), language (T-M), mild language (T), sexual content (M), drug references (T-M), nudity (M), suggestive themes (T) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/PEGI_16.svg/50px-PEGI_16.svg.png
or http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/75/PEGI_18.svg/50px-PEGI_18.svg.png
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7d/Newpegi_violence.gif http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fa/Newpegi_profanity.gif

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/42/Newpegi_sex.gif http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/PEGI_drugs.gif

XP (red rating)[]

The XP face, red rating, red face, or rating-r is the final and highest rating a game can possibly have. Games in this category have violence that would be acceptable for the :S rating, but get in this category due to the considerable amount of blood they have, more than what is acceptable in the :S category.

Games that also fit into this category may have language that is more offensive or more often used than what is acceptable in the :S category. Despite this rating being higher than rating :S, this rating is only given to games that have more blood and/or stronger language than what is acceptable in the rating :S category.

Games that would have adult situations that would fit into the XP rating are not reviewed by Jay is Games.

  • Violence: Games that fit into this category may have considerable amounts of blood. However, the violence in this category is the same same as the permissible violence in the rating :S category.
  • Language: Games that fit into this category may have constant use of profanity and/or swearing, or usage of strong language.
  • Adult situations: Games that fit into this category may feature adult situations. If these games do feature adult situations, they follow the same offensive rules as adult situations in the rating-s category.

The XP rating is similar to what the ESRB ratings rating :S's could receive, along with the addition of the descriptors "blood and gore" and "strong language", which would fit only under the M rating.

The possible ratings content in XP would fall under when rated by PEGI would be the same as the possible ratings that content in :S could fall into.

ESRB Possible descriptors PEGI Possible descriptors
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/be/ESRB_Teen.svg/50px-ESRB_Teen.svg.png
or http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f9/ESRB_Mature_17%2B.svg/50px-ESRB_Mature_17%2B.svg.png
Violence (T-M), fantasy violence (T-M), blood (T-M), animated blood (T-M), language (T-M), mild language (T), sexual content (M), drug references (T-M), nudity (M), suggestive themes (T), blood and gore (M), strong language (M) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/PEGI_16.svg/50px-PEGI_16.svg.png
or http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/75/PEGI_18.svg/50px-PEGI_18.svg.png
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7d/Newpegi_violence.gif http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fa/Newpegi_profanity.gif

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/42/Newpegi_sex.gif http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/PEGI_drugs.gif

Ratings downfall[]

Jay is Game's content ratings does not list why the game received that rating, causing some who do not find a certain topic covered by the rating as offensive not to play the game, even though it may just be given that rating for the content in the game the player would not find offensive.

For example, a person who is fine with the violence of :S games but finds offensive all the other offensive topics covered by the :S rating may not play a game rated :S game due to the uncertainty of what offensive content is in it - even though it may have only been rated :S for violence.

Best of Casual Gameplay contests[]

Every year around January, Jay is Games hosts a contests called Jay is Games Best of [year] (where [year] is substituted for the year previous the one one the contest is being held on, eg. 2012 would hold the "Best of 2011", etc.). This contest is usually split into three - sometimes four - sections, each section being split into categories, each category consisting of one or two genres.

The most common sections are browser games, mobile games, indie games, and download games. Prior to 2008, games were either sorted into categories, or were hand picked by the Jay is Games staff. Usually, the browser section contains the most categories, with the other sections containing very little when compared with the browser sections.

Best of Casual Gameplay 2004[]

Link: http://jayisgames.com/best-of/2004/
The first Best of Casual Gameplay, held in 2005 for games released in 2004. This contest was different than previous contests, allowing people to vote for what they thought was the best of game of 2004. Along with this, there were five special recognition awards - Best Multiplayer game, Best Flash 3D puzzle game, Best Five-year-old game we were still playing in 2004, Outstanding achievement in artistic expression, and Outstanding selfless community contribution.

Along with this, there are also Honorable mentions (games that didn't receive enough votes, but still received a lot), and Honorable honorable mentions. No Nitrome games were nominated, as was not yet a company and did not have any released games.

Best of Casual Gameplay 2005[]

Link: http://jayisgames.com/best-of/2005/
Unlike the previous year where games were selected for the contest, all games reviewed in 2005 were selected, including Nitrome's own Hot Air. People could only vote for best game of 2005, instead of voting for games to win awards in other categories (eg. Best flash puzzle 3D game).

The 20 highest voted games were displayed at the end of the contest. This contests was held in 2006, and only had nominated Nitrome's Hot Air, as no other Nitrome game was yet to be released.

Best of Casual Gameplay 2006[]

Link: http://jayisgames.com/best-of/2006/
This contest was held in 2007, and featured games divided into categories consisting of one to two genres, straying from the method of voting from the previous year. Also unlike the previous year, out of the five or so selected games for that category, the staff members at Jay is Games would pick the game they found was the best in that category.

Users could also vote for what they though was the best game, but this voting would not effect the outcome of what Jay is Games picked. Fifteen categories were made - Action or Arcade, Adventure, Interactive Art or Fiction, Multiplayer, Music [,] Audio [,] or Rhythm, Platform, Point-and-Click, Puzzle, Simple Idea, Simulation, Tactical or Strategy, Webtoy, Word, Download (free), and Download (other).

Scribble was nominated in the Platform category, and despite not being picked by the staff at Jay is Games as best platoform game of 2006, it still received 11% of all votes from voters, despite Scribble being the second lowest voted for game. However, it was 1% above Tri-Achnid, which, although was the lowest rated game - gaining only 10% of all votes - was selected as best platform game of 2006 by Jay is Games.

Best of Casual Gameplay 2007[]

Link: http://jayisgames.com/best-of/2007/
This contest was held in 2008, and followed the same setup and rules of the previous year, even featuring the same lineup of categories, except for the Music [,] audio [,] and rhythm category being taken out, and the word category being expanded into the Word [,] Card or Board.

Multiple Nitrome games were nominated, including:

In the action or arcade category, Skywire garnered only 4.8% of all the votes, however, it gained more votes than Hot Air 2 and Twang, as both aforementioned games were not listed on the most voted board.

In the platform category, of all 7 Nitrome games, Yin Yang received the most votes - earning 5.6% of all votes, and also the fifth highest rated game in the category. However, all other Nitrome games did poorer, Toxic earning 2.9% of all votes, and Frost Bite 2.8%. All other Nitrome games scored less than Frost Bite, or possibly the same amount, as other Nitrome games were not included on the list of most rated games.

Best of Casual Gameplay 2008[]

Link: http://jayisgames.com/best-of/2008/
Held in 2009, the rules and setup for this Best Of were slightly modified - sections were added, each section having vote-able categories. Each category had a list of games one could vote for. The three sections were Browsers games, Download games, and Freeware games. The addition of secti0ons allows for more refined voting for game genres outside of just a whole bunch of given categories.

Many of the categories from last year return, although some have been modified to fit other genres in their names, and genres exclusive to the Download and Freeware section are included. Voters are free to vote for whatever game in whatever category they want (as in before Best of contests), but this time they are able to vote for one game in each category once per day.

As in previous Best of contests, Jay is Games staff will pick the game they found was the best game of the category, in that contest, regardless of what is the highest voted game. Games that receive that highest amount of votes in that category will win an audience award.

Categories[]

Notably, this contest featured a considerable amount of categories, along with sections for each type of game. Three sections are present - Browser Games, Download Games, and Freeware Games. As there are multiple sections, some categories appear in multiple sections with the same name, but do not have the same lineup of games.

All the categories from the previous year return, along with some of the returning categories being used in multiple sections or merged with other categories.

Several categories were made available in other sections: Action and Puzzle category was made available in every section, although Action in the browser sections was paired with Arcade, and Puzzle in the Freeware section merged with Interactive Art.

Several categories were made available in both the Freeware and Browser sections: Adventure, Interactive (however, in the browser section, Interactive Art was paired with webtoy), Simulation and Tactical or Strategy. Word [,] card [,] or board is changed to just Word or Tabletop, this reduced category appearing in both Freeware and Browser games. Notably, the categories Hidden Object and Escape-the-room are the only new independent categories.

Nominations[]

Jay is Games Best of Casual Gameplay 2008 featured the most Nitrome game nominations as of February 2013, the 2008 Best of having thirteen Nitrome games nominated. All nominations were in the Browser games section.

Awards[]

With thirteen games nominated, only three Nitrome games won audience awards, while one Nitrome games was selected as Jay is Games as the best in that games category.

Audience awards[]

Skywire 2 won the audience award in the Action or Arcade category, as so did Final Ninja in the Platform category, Onekey in Simple Idea, and Mutiny in Tactical or Strategy. Notably, Final Ninja was also selected as best platform game of 2008 by Jay is Games, being one of the few games to receive an audience award and being selected as the best platformer of 2008.

Jay is Games awards[]

Final Ninja was selected as best platformer game of 2008, along with the Metroidvania game titled Pieces. The reason for Jay is Games selecting Final Ninja was due to the game being "exciting" and "immersive", along with its music being as good as that of the soundtrack one would hear in an action movie.

Game vote percentages[]

The Action or Arcade section's only Nitrome games were highly voted, with Skywire 2 earning 18.1% of all votes, placing first in the category and winning an audience award. Fat Cat - also in the category - received a substantial amount of votes as well, receiving 11.1% of votes, which also placed it in third place of the top 10 most voted games in the same category, placing it right behind Achievement Unlocked.

The platform category was dominated by Nitrome games - eight of the thirteen nominated games being in this category. This domination also showed up in the top 10 results, as five Nitrome games appeared in it. Notably, the top three voted Nitrome games were Final Ninja, Dirk Valentine, and Frost Bite 2 - each one's vote percentage being 15.1%, 10.6%, and 8.7%. Toxic 2 and Cheese Dreams were at fifth and sixth place - respectively - in the top 10 ranking, garnering a 7.6% and 5.9% vote percent, respectively.

Final Ninja's high ratings allowed it win an audience award, and although unconnected to ratings, it also was selected as best platform game of 2008, along with the Metroidvania game Pieces. All other games in the Platform category got less than or equal to 4.1% in votes. Although no Nitrome games in the Puzzle category won any awards, In the Dog House garnered 10.3% of all votes, however, it was 18.7% behind the highest voted game.

Numbskull - also in the Puzzle category - earned 5.7% of all votes, effectively placing it in sixth on the top 10 most voted games in the category. In the simple idea category, Onekey garnered 22.3% of votes, and won an audience award. It was only 1.9% above You Have To Burn the Rope, which, was 10.5% above the third highest voted game in the category.

Despite Mutiny being the only Nitrome game in the Tactical or Strategy category, it was the most highly rated Nitrome game, taking 27.5% of votes and earning an audience award.

Best of Casual Gameplay 2009[]

Link: http://jayisgames.com/best-of/2009/
Held in 2010, this contest is almost exactly the same as in the Best of 2008 contest rules and setup, only this time with a fourth section - Mobile Games; This section has two categories - Action and Puzzle.

The same categories from last year return, and have almost exact lineup of categories, save for a few that have been replaced. In Browser games, Escape-the-room has been renamed Escape, and Multiplayer and Simulation have been replaced (respectively) with Physics and Shooter. The Download Games section has had its category "Word or Tabletop" replaced with the "Adventure" category.

The Freeware Games category no longer has Interactive Art, instead, the Interactive Art of Puzzle category has been made independent, being now only the Puzzle category. Along wit this, Jay is Games usually no longer picks what game they think is worthy of being the best in that category, rather, the highest voted game earns the award of the best in its category.

Nominations[]

Although Nitrome did not have as much games nominated as were last year, they still managed to get nine games nominated across all categories in the Browser Game section.

Game vote percentages[]

All Nitrome games managed to make the top ten of the Action or Arcade voting results, Cave Chaos placed at fourth with 8.2% of all votes, Double Edged placed at seventh with 5.5% of votes, and Flash Cat at ninth with 3.97%.

Ice Breaker garnered 24.01% of all votes in the Physics category, earning the highest score and therefore the best physics game of the Browser section of 2009. Final Ninja Zero gained 11.18% of all votes in the Platform category, ranking it the second highest voted game in that category, unlike Final Ninja that in the previous best-of won an audience award and was selected as best-of in the platform category.

Twin Shot 2 garnered less than 3.2% of votes, which ranked it less than the top 10. Placing fourth in the Shooter category was Graveyard Shift, that earned 8.72% of votes. Finally, Castle Corp was placed fifth in the Tactical or Strategy top 10, having 7.85% of all votes.

Jay is Games awards[]

Ice Breaker won best Physics game of 2009 in the Physics category of Browser games, having been the highest voted game in the category by the community.

Best of Casual Gameplay 2010[]

Link: http://jayisgames.com/best-of/2010/
Held in 2011, this contest features no rule changes, but a change in categories - sections now have more categories, and the Browser Games section features a more defined range of genres. Furthermore, the section "Freeware games" is completely replaced with Indie games.

Instead of Jay is Games selecting games they think are the best in a category, and viewers voting for games they think are the best, Jay is Games no longer selects games, and the top five highest voted games are shown in that game's results section. Furthermore, percentages for games are no longer shown, just the top five, the first in the top five winning the award of the best in its category of 2010.

Category changes[]

Browser games
The Adventure category has been expanded into Action Adventure, while the Point-and-click section has been expanded into two sections covering two genres: Point-and-click Adventure and Point-and-click Puzzle. The genre "Webtoy" of Interactive Art and Webtoy has been changed to "Experiment", changing the category to Interactive Art and Experiment, and furthermore merging Webtoy into a new category - Webtoy and Sandbox.

The "Tactical" of Tactical or Strategy has been replaced with "Simulation", changing the category to Simulation or Strategy; furthermore, a variation of strategy was introduced - Defense strategy. The Role Playing category is also introduced, however, the word "game" is dropped from the name of the category as it is not needed.
Download games
The category Action is dropped, while Tactical or Strategy has the "Tactical" genre dropped and replaced with the genre Role Playing.
Indie games
Although the section Indie games is unrelated to Freeware games, the Indie games section has all the categories of Freeware games, with the addition of the genre "Role Playing" to adventure.
Mobile games
The small section titled "Mobile games" is expanded, with the genre "Simulation" added to the category Adventure. The Strategy or Physics section is added to add more variety to the section, and also to expand the category to fit a more commonly used genre.

Nominations[]

Unlike previous best-of years, only five Nitrome games were nominated. This may have depressed Nitrome, as when the Best of 2010 awards came up, Nitrome did not even say anything about it on their blog.

Awards[]

Both Chisel, Rubble Trouble, Bullethead, and Tiny Castle failed to make the top five in each of their respective categories - Action or Arcade, Puzzle, Shooter, and Platform. However, Fault Line won best platforming game of 2010, although it was the only Nitrome game in the platform category to make the top 5.

Best of Casual Gameplay 2011[]

Link: http://jayisgames.com/best-of/2011/
Held in 2012, the inclusion of "Game of the year" is introduced, where voters can choose whether while voting to vote that game as the best in its category for that game to be game of the year. With a slight change in categories, the rules for this contests is the same as last year's rules.

Category changes[]

Browser games
Three categories are dropped, while the platform category is split into two categories - Action-Platform and Puzzle-Platform. These three dropped categories are Interactive Fiction, Simple Idea, and Word or Tabeltop.
Download games
The Strategy or Role Playing category is dropped, while the Time Management and Simulation category is split, making Time Management an independent category, and merging Simulation with Puzzle - forming the Puzzle or Simulation category.
Indie games
The indie games category is largely expanded, with four new categories added: Arcade, Narrative, Strategy, and Platform. The Role Playing genre that was part of Adventure in the previous best-of, is instead moved to the Strategy section, making Adventure a category of itself and the Strategy category Strategy or Role-Playing - these new categories adding more of a variety to this new section.
Mobile games
The Arcade and Role-Playing categories are introduced, with Arcade being a category of its own while Role-Playing is merged with Adventure. Simulation, which was previously merged with Adventure, is now merged with Strategy, which makes the Physics category its own independent category.

Nominations[]

Awards[]

Canary won Best Action or Arcade game of 2011 in the Browser section, coming in first in the Action or Arcade category. Rubble Trouble Moscow came in second place in the physics category, while Test Subject Blue came in third in the Action-Platform category. Nitrome Must Die and Steamlands came in fourth in the Shooter and Simulation or Strategy category (respectively).

Best of Casual Gameplay 2012[]

Link: http://jayisgames.com/best-of/2012/
The most recent best-of, and held in 2013. This best-of follows the same rules as last year's best-of, with again, only incredibly minor alterations to the categories.

Category changes[]

Browser games
Word or Tabeltop is taken out.
Download games
Hidden Object and Adventure are combined into one category, while Time Management, Puzzle or Simulation are also combined into one category.
Indie games
Action and Arcade are combined into one category.
Mobile games
Adventure and Role-playing are split into their own category. Two new categories are introduced - Jump-and-Run and Word or Tabletop.

Nominations[]

Only three Nitrome games were nominated - the least nominated Nitrome games since 2005.

Awards[]

Swindler won Best Physics Game of 2012, being the top voted game in that category. Neither the Flightless Demo not Gunbrick made the top five of the Puzzle-Platform category.

Banners[]

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Requested: The remaining two banners

In June of 2008, Mat Annal made three banners for Jay is Games - the You are Games banner, Weekday Escape, and another banner.

External links[]

Notes[]

  1. Jay is Games - Hello world
  2. Jay is Games - You Are Games: Incredibots 2 Mini-Brawl: ...we wanted to give you another way to be creative and participate with us on a regular basis, beyond the usual comments and critiques of the daily games.
  3. Jayisgames.com - SpreadShirt website
  4. Jay is Games - Jayisgames T-Shirts now available
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