A beam of light comes zooming at me faster than I can dodge. I shoot a fireball back at my enemy. And…I die…but, I quickly spring back to life, fuming to get my revenge. This situation has happened to me multiple times. In a video game, of course. The video game I had just died in is called Blox Fruits. You might be thinking, “Why would beams of light and fireballs be going off in a game with fruits?” Well, these fruits are not exactly normal. In fact, these fruits can give the player special powers if eaten by your character in the game. To gain fruits in this game, you can either find them on the map, buy one with real or game currency, or trade fruits with other players. Speaking of other players, every server, which is a group of people in an online world, has random players in it, unless you play with your friends. You can join a game online with your friends and do challenges and quests with each other. You can gain levels by killing non-playing characters, which are generated by the game, therefore completing a quest. Each successful quest gives the player an increase of around 1-2 levels until you reach a maximum level set by the game developers. Playing with friends makes the game more fun and easier than just playing by yourself. It is also more efficient because teamwork can speed up the process of completing quests. The main goal of this game is to get to max level, where you can annihilate people. By gaining levels, you receive stat points that you can put into several different categories. These categories are combat/stamina, health, sword, gun, and fruit. Each stat point gives an increase in damage or health. In addition to leveling up, there are also other side goals, like getting different combat styles, clothes, swords and guns. But why would swords, clothes and guns be in a fruit game? By having swords, guns, and clothes in the game, it allows the players to also focus on getting different items besides just fruits. Clothes, swords and guns all have different rarities just like fruits. Clothes can give stat boosts, while swords, guns, combat styles, and fruits cause damage to opponents. Swords and guns are also added because this game is based off a show, which happens to have swords and guns. This game sounds really complicated, likely because there is too much to cover in a single blog post, so instead you should play it yourself. You can play this game inside a game called Roblox. You can download Roblox for free on an Iphone, PC, IOS, Android, and some Xbox models. If you don’t like the sound of fruit giving you superpowers, there are also many other fun and free games you can play. Stay tuned for my next blog about a game that requires less time and more skill. Are you ready?
Stone Soup Magazine for young readers, writers, and artists
Weekly Creativity #285: Pick Three Items of Clothing from Your Closet, and Create Characters Who Would Wear Them
Pick three items of clothing from your closet, and create characters who you think would wear them. Draw them on a piece of paper and make a list of their qualities. Are they funny or serious? What kind of food do they like? Do they play any sports?
Saturday Newsletter: December 23, 2023
A Light to Hope By (pastel) by Leticia Cheng, 10; published in the November/December 2023 issue of Stone Soup A note from Tayleigh Greene Dear readers, As a kid, I remember spending entire days of winter break curled up reading by the light of a lamp not unlike the one so beautifully drawn by Leticia Cheng, 10, pictured above. These days, it’s rare that I have the opportunity to devote several hours in a row to reading; the many to-do’s of adulthood keep me busy. By the time you read this newsletter, I will have flown from my current home in Houston to my childhood home in California, to spend time with my mom, dad, and three brothers. I am so looking forward to being there with them, and I’m also looking forward to the “getting there.” I love flying because I have the rare chance to read without distractions, no chores to take care of, no internet. This holiday break, I hope you, no matter what age you are, devote some time to the simple pleasures that we tend to neglect, like curling up with a good book—or the latest issue of Stone Soup. If you’re not yet subscribed to Stone Soup, I am so excited to announce that we’re offering 50% off print + digital annual subscriptions for a limited time only. Enter the code happyholidays! at checkout to save on the magazine 100% written and illustrated by kids. This is an incredible deal; a sale of this scale won’t be offered again for a while. So, if you’re in need of some last minute gifts for the kids or educators in your life, there’s no better present, and no better time than the present. Looking ahead to 2024, I’m pleased to share that we’re offering an all new fiction writing workshop with long-time Stone Soup instructor Conner Bassett. Fiction Writing: Six Beginnings, Three Middles, and an End will meet Saturdays, January 27 through April 6, 2024 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Pacific time. Tickets are selling quickly, and space is limited, so I encourage you to register as soon as possible to secure your spot. Warmest wishes, P.S. As 2023 comes to a close, so does our Annual Drive. If you’re able to, please donate today using the button below and help us empower kids to be the authors of their own stories. Purchase a Gift Subscription Register for Writing Workshops Support Stone Soup Stone Soup is published by Children’s Art Foundation-Stone Soup Inc., a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit organization registered in the United States of America, EIN: 23-7317498.
