Folks can’t keep their hands off it — the plastic “bubble wrap” that usually comes packed around fragile items being shipped. The pleasure you get from applying pressure to the hundreds of little plastic bubbles filled with air and listening to that satisfying “pop!”
But what happens when you run out of bubbles to pop? The Virtual Bubble Wrap On-line Palace has the answer.
Developed by the now-defunct Canadian company Mackerel Interactive Media, Virtual Bubble Wrap is a place where those who love popping the plastic bubbles can feed their addiction. Located at www.mackerel.com/bubble.html, visitors must first download the plug-in “Shockwave” to play the game. Shockwave is a free plug-in and can be downloaded through a link on Virtual Bubble Wrap’s site, or at www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download.
Playing is just a matter of clicking on “start game.” The object is to see how many bubbles you can pop in one sitting. Once one piece of bubble wrap is completely popped, a new game appears on the screen. There is the occasional stubborn bubble, which may not pop on the first click of the mouse. “Keep trying,” the game’s authors urge.
Apparently many have. “What a diabolically sick idea. You fiends. Now I’ll never get any work done,” writes one addict in the site’s comment section.
“People are spending way too much time on it,” said Gord Gower, founding partner of Mackerel and one of the game’s developers. “It’s just stupid enough to keep people interested.”
