Two "Shop and Hop" Gifts

 
by Bixyl Shuftan

The SL19B "Shop and Hop" has a LOT of stores this year (full list here). And many offer free gifts to entice people to buy up more of their goods as long as they're at the shop. But if you're like many, you'd rather just grab a few gifts that are enjoyable instead of searching the whole place. Obviously what people like varies. But there were a couple gifts that got my attention.

A friend invited me to the "Quills and Curiosities" store to get the gifts there. One was a set of animated daggers. The other was something cuter: the "Birthday Evaki," a pet pink bat. Just go to the sign in the back of the store, and click on the picture on the right. Just go in your inventory and "add" the item. It will appear on your screen. Just click on it and you'll get a folder with the pet, ready to use.

The Birthday Evaki is a pet pink bat made to look a bit like a birthday cake, "complete with a candle, frosting swirl, and sprinkle markings," along with what looks like frosting covering the tips of it's ears. It normally flies next to it's owner. But it comes with a HUD with six animations. You can have the bat fly in a circle, chirp, do a loop, fly in a spiral pattern, stick out it's tongue ("Blep"), or fly in a dance pattern.

A cute pet that will likely come in handy for someone's birthday party, not just the Second Life Anniversary.

https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Gleaming/92/89/53

So what else was around? Checking some car places, at [sau]motorcycles in the Gilded sim, they had a free hoverboard. This time it was on a sign in the front of the store, over a couple guards. Clicking on the sign will get you a box. You can't just add and click on it, but fortunately next to the hoverboard sign, another sign will take you to the store "demo zone/test ride" area. Or rather, it will take you to a spot on the sim several hundred meters under the area that you'll need to look around for the doorway to the place. Once there, you can rezz the box, open it, and get the board.

The board is somewhat small, hovering just inches off the ground. It's dark-colored, but has "SL19B" brightly painted on. To ride the board, just click and get on it. The board's speed is adjustable, there's a "turbo" option, and there's a "flight" one. So you can have fun zipping around on your own, or perhaps race with some friends.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Gilded/163/156/52

On a final note, the people who made "The Mouse" last year are back, this time they have a racecar as a gift. A nearby store had a train as a gift. Both places are also at the Gilded sim not too far from where I got the hoverboard.

The "Shop and Hop" ends Sunday Night, so get "hopping" if you want these gifts.

Happy gift-grabbing.

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Hoverboard Wars

By Wesley Regenbogen

Hoverboard Wars is a Second Life game where you need to ride with a hoverboard and try to get over the many ramps and shoot the opponents and try to eliminate them as soon as you can.

At the startpoint, you must first right-click on the hoverboard that is in front of you and select “Ride.” Then your avatar will glide down the mountain and the game starts. Navigation is done with the standard keys W, A,S,D, but also the good old arrow keys are usable to navigate throughout the game.

The object is to navigate with your hoverboard over the ramps and bridges and other blue structures on the sim. When hit by another opponent, you loose hit points ( HP ) and need to find health repairing objects to make yourself healthy again. This is easier said than done, because it’s sometimes not easy to get on the ramps using the arrow keys. Nevertheless, you can try to make the best out of your game and try to shoot your other players as much as possible.

When your health points reach the zero level, you are teleported back to the beginning point of the game and can start over. If you decide to give up the game, just click the hoverboard itself and you will give forfeit. Giving forfeit is not the best option, though, so try to go further as much as possible. So, it’s your skill, ability and keeping your momentum to keep your avatar on your hoverboard.

It’s fun and exciting to see your avatar floating over the water and getting enough momentum to get over the ramps. The competitive gameplay allows you to avoid getting hit by the other opponents and trying to stay alive at all costs. You can also perform some cool moves while you are in air. Avoiding getting hit, is one of the trickiest things to do, because your opponents will follow you at all times.

There's a spot on the sim where it looks like one cat is teaching other cats how to play the game. But no kitties went after me.

You can find this Hoverboard Wars at this location : Hoverpark (240, 239, 37)

Enjoy your ride at Hoverboard Wars and maybe we can challenge each other one day.

Wesley Regenbogen