Gardens of Time

Can you spot the gnome?

Gardens of time is a gorgeous Facebook game, as the picture above shows.

You have been recruited to join a society of time-travelers who attempt to keep the threads of history correct and continuous. Your job is to find and remove things that are not part of the historical record for each time period. The search screens–such as the one above–are beautiful drawn, incredibly detailed pictures. Underneath the picture is a list of items to find. It’s a little like “Where’s Waldo” but immeasurably harder.

You receive points for each search screen you complete, based on how quickly you completed the search and how many times you asked for hints. If you get enough points, you get a star for that screen. There are quest lines that require to you to have multiple stars for certain screens, so be prepared to repeat the search, several times in all likelihood. The random items mixed into the pictures don’t move or change location, so the more you do each screen, the more quickly you’ll be able to find specific items, and the better your score will be.

Unlocking different levels–and each level has a set number of screens for you to search–requires you to have “reputation” points, which you get through building in your garden. Your garden is your home screen for the game, and you have a finite amount of space with which to work. Within that, you must build buildings and decorations to increase your reputation and open the next search screen. Some quests also require that you place specific items in your garden.

Getting a bigger garden requires that you either have specific numbers of friends, or that you be willing to pay in gold, which can only be replenished by purchasing Facebook credits. (Read more...)

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