Charlie

Click here for Google Play

Can you make your way through 25 levels filled with a multitude of Charlie -- many Charlie all ready to bite at the earliest opportunity?

In this game it's your job to navigate Mr. Blob -- Blobby to his friends -- through a maze of Charlie clattering teeth, coming to get you.

Scattered throughout the levels you will find slime pits, lava, and unidentified pools of yellow. Each will do their damage. Fortunately, you will also find healing waters peppered through the game. These will restore your heath to 100.

In the game, you have nimble fingers, your wits, and five different weapons available to you. To change weapons use the "w" button. This will toggle through (in carousel fashion) all the weapons -- Bullets, Bomb, Fire, Rocket, and Laser. So yes there is shooting. However, when an antagonist is dispatched they simply poof -- go up in a small cloud of smoke.

If you'd like to turn off the Hud (heads up display) that shows your score, just press the "H" button.

Be sure to try the Tab key :) This can be very useful.

"Charlie" is a ZEN GAME. Charlie" takes you through a series of chambers, each one being a very simple "maze" with clacking teeth coming your way and treasures to grab. The difficulty level isn't very difficult. You shoot, pop off the "bad guys" and move on to the next level.

And then it's over.

Or IS IT?

E.J. Gold has been in the video game biz since video games have been around. To this day, he continues to release "Orbs" via the urthgame website, games designed to revolutionize and change your life on every level.

"Spiritual Gaming" is NOT ordinary gaming. Yes, it can be fun, challenging and compelling. But it operates with a very different view toward Gamespace than that held by most avid gamers.

In today's gaming world, boredom is big failure. It's got to be exciting, addictive. You need to outdo the entertainment of everything previously experienced.

Have you ever meditated? I mean, have you sat on a cushion for a month or two to mediate as a Way of Life? The first time you sit down with your local Buddhist group you might feel quite "exotic." The second or third time you might feel quite the back pain. And the fourth or fifth? The entertainment value has gone and you are suddenly sitting with your boredom, pain and wandering mind.

THIS is where it happens. You learn to relate to boredom and distraction as you would anything else, seeing it and letting it go. It returns, like a tenacious mosquito. You keep going. Again and again.

And then somewhere in your life there is a feedback. You're no longer on that cushion. You are in the grit of the daily grind-and you just become aware. You shift from the habitual "monkey mind" into something NEW.

"Charlie" isn't about how well you can shoot monsters or how many points you can rack up.

"Charlie," whimsical as it is, is a Virtual Meditation.

You don't even need to play the whole game through. 15 minute break at work? One level of "Charlie" will take a minute.

E.J. Gold's game system designed to slash through Karma and bring the soul into the Essential Self. Spiritual Development requires volition. The Bodhisattvas and Agents of Enlightenment are ready to meet you halfway-but you have to cross the field to get to their Gift.

"Charlie" is one such gift. But a download and run-through is not enough.

Play "Charlie" every day for one month as a dedicated spiritual effort. See what happens. Play it even when you would rather be doing anything else. It's easier than sitting down on a cushion for 15 minutes.