Shuffled Row clone or alternate platform?

[soondai]

Hi, all. My PW1 battery ain't what it used to be and I'm not jamming some leaky piece of junk from NewPower or eBay in there.

Sadly, that may mean the end of my access to the old Kindle active content games is looming.

No real loss, except for Shuffled Row, which is probably my favorite word game ever and has recently snared my wife and 8 year old daughter as well.

Does anyone know if there's a version of this available for any other device? Or a clone that basically works the same way?

I've looked with no luck. I know there are plenty of anagram games out there. But I haven't found any that load the letters linearly and keep the clock ticking. It's a great game and we really will miss it if we cannot find a good replacement.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[knc1]

Originally Posted by soondai

Hi, all. My PW1 battery ain't what it used to be and I'm not jamming some leaky piece of junk from NewPower or eBay in there.

Sadly, that may mean the end of my access to the old Kindle active content games is looming.

No real loss, except for Shuffled Row, which is probably my favorite word game ever and has recently snared my wife and 8 year old daughter as well.

Does anyone know if there's a version of this available for any other device? Or a clone that basically works the same way?

I've looked with no luck. I know there are plenty of anagram games out there. But I haven't found any that load the letters linearly and keep the clock ticking. It's a great game and we really will miss it if we cannot find a good replacement.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

The only Kindles that support active content are PW2 or older.

And PW2 may not support it for very much longer (When, if ever, 5.9.2 is released for the PW2, then it will be gone).

Your choices seem to be:
1) Replace the battery in your PW1
2) Buy a refurbished PW1 (I.E: Let someone else replace the battery)
or
3) Purchase a different brand of e-book reader / game player
or
4) Find someone that has written an equivalent in GTK+ (which Kindles still support) and jail break your newer model Kindle.
(But you had better hurry - Amazon/Lab126 is very quickly slamming the door to any third party, after-market add-ins (us). )

[soondai]

edit:
Just to be clear, I'd be happy playing a clone of the game on any device. Phone. Tablet. PC.

Thanks, knc1.

I have difficulty believing any aftermarket battery for a paperwhite is much younger than the one already in there. The brand offered by NP99 for 30 dollars or so is identical to that offered on eBay for 10. There seems to be very little demand, so I suspect the supply is ancient and I would not trust it.

This is off topic of course, but I really am disappointed that our handhelds are disposable. I would keep my paperwhite forever if there were a standard battery I could replace every few years.

Perhaps when my PW1 finally fails it will finally inspire me to get around to one of my autodidact bucket list items: the Nand2tetris course and I could remake the game as my final project.

[knc1]

Lifestyle gadgets and other electronic pocket litter have never been anything other than disposable toys.

[Deskisamess]

On the same topic, I’d love to find a word game app similar to Thread Words...which was another Active Content game for early Kindles.

[coplate]

Originally Posted by soondai

edit:
Just to be clear, I'd be happy playing a clone of the game on any device. Phone. Tablet. PC.

Thanks, knc1.

I have difficulty believing any aftermarket battery for a paperwhite is much younger than the one already in there. The brand offered by NP99 for 30 dollars or so is identical to that offered on eBay for 10. There seems to be very little demand, so I suspect the supply is ancient and I would not trust it.

This is off topic of course, but I really am disappointed that our handhelds are disposable. I would keep my paperwhite forever if there were a standard battery I could replace every few years.

Perhaps when my PW1 finally fails it will finally inspire me to get around to one of my autodidact bucket list items: the Nand2tetris course and I could remake the game as my final project.

If you really wanted to, you can consider this:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=274761


geekmasterbought a new battery, and hooked into the circuit for his kindle battery. Needs to re-use the board inside for reasons.

Originally Posted by geekmaster

I just noticed that this K2 (while still plugged into the USB charger) is now showing the kindle GUI framework. It has 25 books on it. The settings menu shows that it is still registered, but the previous owner had the radio turned off, so perhaps it was derigistered at amazon. I will make a backup copy of the userstore partition before I turn the radio on...

Yay! It works! Now to unplug it from the charger to see if that battery is acceptable to the kindle. I will test it, then do a restart from the settings menu, and test it again...

Umm... the LED only stayed on (amber) a few seconds after unplugging it -- BUT it did NOT come on after replugging the power, until I jiggled the battery module. Yeah, it flexes too much wihout extra support.

VERY carefully (so as not to wiggle the battery, on battery power only (no USB cable): "menu / settings / menu / restart". It restarted. It displayed the GUI framework (showing all those books), but with a popup warning that my battery is running low and I should connect it to a charger.

YES! My "battery surgery" was successful!

Any old cheap LiPo battery CAN impersonate an authentic amazon battery (with a "brain" transplant -- i.e. that little circuit board harvested from the old dead battery).

Enjoy!

EDIT: Though I wonder if this tiny little 500mAh battery can last long, especially when it has been unused and uncharged for a couple of years... ESPECIALLY if I use it to play videos with my kindle video player, eh? But for just book reading? Probably a lot longer than using my smartphone to read books, for sure...

[rioachim]

Originally Posted by knc1

And PW2 may not support it for very much longer (When, if ever, 5.9.2 is released for the PW2, then it will be gone).

I find that highly unlikely, to cripple content people already bought.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by rioachim

I find that highly unlikely, to cripple content people already bought.

It's already happened. I have active content that I bought for my Kindle that is now worthless. Why do you think it's "highly unlikely"?

Shari

[rioachim]

it is worthless because you switched to a different model which did not support it from the start; so far Kindle software updates din not take away customer advertised features on a specific model

[Deskisamess]

The active content on my husband’s KPW2 is still working. The firmware is 5.8.11 which is the latest I believe.

He never uses the active content though, he doesn’t like the games using a touch screen and preferred them on his old little basic model with the narrow page turn buttons and the 5 way controller on the Center bottom bezel.