|
Website Of The Week – Jamba

Jamba is one of the three websites to have been launched by Carlton Online this month. Totally dedicated to games, trivia and general mental acrobatics, it is the ultimate refuge for office-bound bodies and computer spods seeking relief. It is, of course, bad news for employers who are destined to lose a considerable number of paid hours to this little oasis of fun – bad news for capitalism perhaps, but excellent entertainment for the cogs in its machine!
The Jamba box of delights features all of those silly games you know from your school days and watching too much TV: Catch-Phrase (except better as it is minus Roy Walker), Hang-Man, Bingo and Card Solitaire. There are also a few which I’ve not come across, for example Pool Ball Othello and Castlemouse. And for those football fanatics there is, of course, a football trivia contest, as well as darts and pop trivia for those of you who can’t be bothered to go to the pub, and would rather do it ‘virtual’ instead.
Jamba can be compared to all those fantastic Narnia books, where those kids find a fantasy world in the back of a wardrobe, where lions can talk, everyone can fly and it snows all the time. A requisite of reviewing a website is of course to spend some time exploring it, and with Jamba I lost the best part of an afternoon without even noticing. By the time you have caught on to the rules of all the games, and had a decent bash at most of them, it’ll be dark outside, everyone will have left the office, and you’ll be there alone, like the sad computer spod that you are.
When all is said and done, sites like Jamba are a vital part of the ‘new-media’ revolution, the internet explosion, the dawn of the computer age etc, because they provide a form of relief from the stress generated by the fast-moving, no-time-to-be-wasted workplace that has developed as a result of the immediacy provided by the internet, email and numerous computer variations. Warning – Jamba is good for your health! More importantly, if you are fooling around on Jamba you still look as if you are working, so don’t risk getting the sack for wasting company time on frivolous recreational activities.
The question therefore is whether you can afford not to pay a visit to the Jamba site – you know what they say about that guy Jack, and all work and no play!