Roller Coaster Designer is a website I just fell upon when I was looking for something fun on the internet.  The object of this website is to create a roller coaster and rack up a certain amount of points in each level.  When you first start you are give a red line with a few square markers throughout.  You can adjust these square markers to go up and down and you need to create enough momentum to get the roller coaster to take off but also to ride the rest of the ride smoothly.  It seems easy enough but when you start you soon realize it is not as easy as it looks.

I started the first one thinking “How hard can this be?”.  I would need at least 50 points in round one to go to the next level.  I adjusted my marker to have a drop in the beginning of the ride and when I finished I clicked GO!  Yeah, not even close.  My coaster went down the slope and then barely made it up the coaster before it slowly rocked back and ended up stuck.  So I started over again, same problem.  Why was I not able to get this roller coaster to take off?  I adjusted it some more the third time around and also adjusted some of the other markers.  This time my coaster flew over the slope and went crazy over the other small slopes I had created and my passenger looked ill and was knocked out from my coaster!  So now I knew this game needed time and some thinking put in to it.  I played with it a little, tried over and over again until was finally able to get my coaster to the end without making my passenger ill or causing him to pass out on my roller coaster!  So now I was on to level two, more pressure!  On level two I needed to get 100 points to pass and I noticed that there were a few more markers to adjust which made this game a little more difficult but just as fun and addictive.  So I tried. And tried, at least ten times it felt like!  I would adjust my markers and hit GO! And I would watch my rider and sometimes he would turn green and sometimes I would knock him unconscious. I was learning that I was not the best roller coaster designer.  After about 15 times I finally passed this level and made it to level 3.  Oh man, level 3 required 200 points to pass, was I going to be able to pass this level?  More markers made for a more difficult game, but I was ready for the challenge.  I tried again, put all I had in to creating an awesome coaster.  Did I do it?  Yeah after about I don’t know how many times!  I felt like I was constantly knocking my passenger unconscious over and over and he threw up more than once.  So I changed my markers in different areas and tried to create one a roller coaster that was smooth, fast, and did not make my passenger want to hurl!  I did it! I thought I was going to have to give up at that point but I made it to the next level, level 4.  In level 4 I would need 300 points, seriously I knew there was no way I was going to pass this but hey let’s give it a shot anyway.  The hard thing about this game is that when you move one marker all the other markers move as well causing the coaster to have numerous large and steep slopes so you have to take the time to adjust them all little by little until your rider is able to get through the ride without hurling.  I adjusted some markers and went for it.  Not only did I make my passenger barf, pass out I only got 52 points.  This was going to be HARD!  I tried a few more times and when I noticed that I had been clenching my jaw I called it quits! I got in to this game and I really wanted to pass but it beat me, beat me good.  If you play this game enjoy it, it is fun and may actually keep you busy for a bit, it kept me busy for a while!

http://puzzling.caret.cam.ac.uk/game.php?game=roller