OT: Pixowl gaming company appears to have shut down

[Kevin M.]

A couple years ago, EA shuttered “The Simpsons: Tapped Out”, the best “freemium” Sim-City game ever crafted. A few years before that, the Futurama game went to live on a farm upstate. This week, “Snoopy’s Town Tale” vanished without a trace, along with its official Facebook page. 

Some digging revealed that a few years ago, gamemaker Pixowl was absorbed by a company called Animoca Brands, whose claim to fame seems to be running barely-legal cryptocurrency scams. And I guess there is a lull in the online money laundering business, because they seem to have shut down Pixowl at the end of June with little (no) fanfare. 

I have a family history of addiction, and I know better than to embrace a lot of online games, but I have a few that I use as daily diversions. For instance, the free LA Times games Wordle and Strands, as well as the equally free games on LinkedIn. But I have enjoyed the sim games themed after various cartoons. The last one standing is the one based on Family Guy, but most of the tasks in that game can only be completed by buying in-game currency, and Seth Macfarlane doesn’t need or deserve my money. 

So I’m annoyed. My games are going away. I know I’m an old man now, but I still feel entitled to a little bit of gaming fun. 

Kevin M. (RPCV)

[Bob F]

It might not be USA-based (Europe, my guess), but my near-addiction is Mahjong.com. It is rather ad-laden, tho sister site htmlgames removes the adverts. I have other seemingly-free games available through M'soft, but ignore them in part because of their tendency to freeze randomly.

B

Kevin M, July 2nd: