FreshGames was a

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

based publisher and developer of casual, hand-held, and mobile games. It was formed in early 2002 by a group of gaming industry gamers. This new type of video game genre soon after became known as

Casual Games A casual game is a video game targeted at a mass market audience, as opposed to a Hardcore gamer, hardcore game, which is targeted at Gamer#Dedication spectrum, hobbyist gamers. Casual games may exhibit any type of gameplay and genre. They genera ...

. The ''FreshGames'' catalog of games are available for multiple devices and platforms, including;

Pocket PC A Pocket PC (P/PC, PPC) is a class of personal digital assistant (PDA) that runs the Windows Mobile or Windows Embedded Compact operating system that has some of the abilities of modern desktop PCs. The name was introduced by Microsoft in 2000 ...

, mobile phones and

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to online casinos and skills-based gaming sites. ''FreshGames'' was sold by owner Stephan Smith in 2017.

History

''FreshGames'' released their first casual game Cubis in 2002. ''Cubis'' soon became one of the most popular games on various online game portals such as RealNetworks and Zone.com. Cubis was later awarded Best Logic Games of 2002 by RealOne Arcade, and was the 2004 Winner of the Microsoft Mobile2Market Application Contest. The next game to come was the word game, Word Mojo. Also released in 2002, ''Word Mojo'' uses random sets of letters to build intersecting words. The following year FreshGames continued with their third title, Freakout. The objective is to clear 75% or more of the game board while dodging the

bouncing ball The physics of a bouncing ball concerns the physical behaviour of bouncing balls, particularly its motion before, during, and after impact against the surface of another body. Several aspects of a bouncing ball's behaviour serve as an introd ...

s. On November 12, 2004 FreshGames launched their fourth title

Cubis 2 ''Cubis 2'' is a puzzle video game that was released in 2004 by FreshGames. In ''Cubis 2'', the player shoots different colored cubes into cubes that are already placed on the isometric game table. Once three of the same color are matched in a ro ...

then on September 12, 2006, Apple selected Cubis 2 to join their international launch of games on next generation iPods. In 2005, FreshGames entered into an agreement with Wagerlogic to design a 3D slot version of their internationally know game Cubis 2. This version known as ''Cubis Slots'' can only be found on casino sites outside of the US such as InterCasino. FreshGames also in 2005 licensed their games to World Winner, and then GSN.com offered their game as skills based games for money and prizes. FreshGames would not release another title until August 2007 when the company released their fifth game, a color-matching puzzle game known as

ZenGems FreshGames was a Columbus, Ohio, Columbus, Ohio based publisher and developer of casual, hand-held, and mobile games. It was formed in early 2002 by a group of gaming industry gamers. This new type of video game genre soon after became known as Ca ...

. In 2008, the company released Ranch Rush a farming simulation and time-management game. ''Ranch Rush'' had proved to be so popular across MAC, PC, retail and iPhone that it prompted FreshGames to publish a sequel. In November 2009 FreshGames teamed up with the

Action Against Hunger Action Against Hunger (french: Action Contre La Faim - ACF) is a global humanitarian organization which originated in France and is committed to ending world hunger. The organization helps malnourished children and provides communities with acce ...

organization to promote the fight against hunger and malnutrition. FreshGames rose over $12,000 for the organization through the sales of their iPhone game Ranch Rush. FreshGames released the sequel to the wildly popular game ''Ranch Rush'' with Ranch Rush 2 in 2010. ''Ranch Rush 2'' was released for the PC, MAC, and Apple iPad, and a free web based version is also available with limited functionality.

Games

''FreshGames'' created twelve games: * Cubis (2002) * Word Mojo (2002) * Freakout (2003) *

(2004) *

(2007) * Ranch Rush (2008) * Ranch Rush 2 (2010) * Cake Pop Party (2011) * Escape the Titanic (2012) * I Love Pop Culture (2013) * Famous Faces (2015) * Escape Alcatraz (2015)

Awards

According to the official company website, FreshGames won several industry awards, including: *Zeeby Awards for Top Casual Games of 2007 for

*Top Casual PC Games of 2007 for

*Top 10 Game of 2004 from Shockwave.com for

*2004 winner of Microsoft Mobile2Market Application Contest Awards for Cubis *1st Place Puzzle Game of 2003 by PDArcade for Cubis *Best Logic Games of 2002 by Real.com RealOne Arcade for Cubis *Top 10 Shareware Game of 2002 by Adrenaline Vault for Cubis

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Freshgames Meta Platforms applications Myspace Video game companies established in 2002 Companies based in the Columbus, Ohio metropolitan area Mobile game companies Video game companies of the United States Video game development companies 2002 establishments in Ohio