=== Mobile Game Review - Motor World: Bike Factory - Management - 3/10 ===

     Motor World: Bike Factory is a very fun game. Or at least... the idea is very fun. I've played this game before, back when it first came out actually. This game is a sibling to the game it's based off of by the same company called Motor World: Car Factory.

The gameplay is nice and easy: pick a vehicle to build, click the vehicle to start building, click the vehicle again and again each time the next part is ready to be built until the vehicle is done, then wait for an amount of time until the vehicle gets sold for a profit. As you progress through the game, you can use dollars to buy better workers who work faster and/or are more efficient. You also unlock new vehicles which require more work points to finish and get sold for a higher profit. This gameplay is so simple, yet so much fun!

The energy resource in this game which lets you do work is donuts. Each worker has a certain supply of work points which must be refilled using a donut every time they run out. Donuts can be acquired by waiting for them to refill over time, or sometimes you'll find them while working on vehicles. You can also sometimes find mystery cards which can give you random bonuses such as refilling your donuts or allowing you to construct a vehicle for free rather than paying for it.

Now, for the observant people out there, you'll notice that I'm talking good about this game, but im only giving it 3/10. The reason for this is because I genuinely do love the gameplay of the original game (and this one because it's the same), but there are a few downsides to this game in particular.

First, the gameplay is the same; there's no difference between this game and the original Motor World: Car Factory other than this one is building bikes instead of cars. Also, this may have changed since last I played, but the total vehicle options are fewer than in the other game. The second reason I'm giving this game such a low score, is because I really wanted to get back into it, but upon downloading it and playing it once again... it seems to now be swamped with advertisements! I could happily waste tons of time playing this game continuously before, but now I have to watch a 30 second advertisement every time I finish constructing a bike! Maybe I could live with this with bikes that take longer to build, but when you're making really cheap and fast to build bikes... you end up watching more advertisements than gameplay.

*****
     I've now given the game a proper chance and played through the beginning tutorial phase until I've gotten past that and a little further beyond. Unfortunately the game hasn't gotten any better. I did have a ton of fun while I was without internet and playing the game... because it wasn't able to give me tons of advertisements every time I close a menu. Realistically though... who's going to turn off their internet every time they want to play a game? Not to mention the fact that the game crashed after half of the advertisements as well! So unfortunately, as much as I wanted to give this game a higher score, it's just too buggy and in your face to enjoy.
*****
So in summary, Motor World: Bike Factory is not a bad game. It is however already done almost exactly the same, and the amount of advertisements really kills the fun of playing the game, almost to the point where the game is unplayable. ~ Kyle Welykholowa

=== 30 days on $30 ===

     February 3rd, 2018 marks the beginning of Carley's 30 days on $30 challenge. In this challenge, her goal is to spend only $30 for the month of February on food and drinks. She had asked if I was interested in doing this with her. Unfortunately my answer had to be no due to being completely aware that I would be miserable the entire time. Carley on the other hand, is mentally prepared to go through this to gain a better understanding of how to keep a food budget on the cheaper side rather than unnecessary spending. She is also using this as an opportunity to learn to be more creative with the foods she has available. Finally, she's doing this because she wants to be able to say she has completed this and can do it whether or not she really has to.

     At first, while I was accompanying Carley on her shopping trip, I had thought to myself that it couldn't be possible to buy enough food with only $30 unless most of it is spent on something really cheap like rice. As it turns out, most of the food she got is NOT rice. There are quite a few noodles and soups and things and even some juices. Amazingly, what she managed to find and buy is much more than I would have expected and definitely more options than I would have thought possible. Here's a picture of everything she got for herself throughout the day.

     I know every time I go shopping I always think I'm not getting all that much... until I get to the checkout. At that point, things start to add up and then I realize just how expensive it is to eat anything other than noodles and rice. Just in case some of you don't believe this is actually $30 worth of food, here's the receipts as proof.

     Now, for all of you who can do math, yes, these receipts do go over the $30 value. There's a bit of a story to that as an explanation: See, we were looking at frozen vegetables thinking she'll need some sort of veggies to eat for the month. At first we were thinking of a couple different kinds of vegetables, but then we saw a price tag for a larger bag of peas for only about $2. Who could pass that up, right? It's not every day that you find a price tag that is probably printed wrong! Unfortunately the cashier we went to was her first day on the job and the manager on duty started yelling at her when he came over. It was in a different language, so we couldn't tell what he was saying, but it was clear that the girl was being yelled at. We felt so bad because she started crying that we just decided to pay what the price came up as and leave. Here's the tag we found for the peas.

     So, yes, the price tags aren't completely accurate as a result of the error, but keeping this price tag in mind, Carley did in fact stay under her price limit. She's keeping her food separate from the rest of the household so she can keep track of it all. My job? I'll be here to tell you all about her experience with this challenge and keep track of whether or not she's sticking to the rules. If anybody has any questions, please feel free to comment and I'll be sure to get the answers for your as soon as I can. Just for attempting something like this, I'm very proud of my Carley whether or not she succeeds.

~ Kyle Welykholowa