Zon: A new online Chinese learning game (BETA)

Pretty cool ! I took a walk around the airport a bit...exchanged some 美国钱 and bought a 中杯 of cappuccino from Starbuck's (wonder how much they kicked in for that ad!). Lots of fun...could definitely see it becoming addictive. Hopefully they'll speed it up a bit after the beta version.

Factual error totally wrong in the airport...Beijing airport, 1 bottle of water, at least 15 RMB... not 5 RMB.... always get ripped off buying water in Bejing's airport. Same price I'd pay in America I remember.

Hee! This is fun! :)

omg addiction

Yep, Calkins, could definitely be addictive. Spent time with a Mandarin teacher there, too. Good stuff!

I'm at the hotel now. :)

I just bought a nice red jacket in the hotel shop. It has some excellent lessons, there's also a few video examples as well.

Some of the videos are really funny. There's one of 3 women at a street market. They decide to get some "Chengdu" snacks, fish on a stick or something. After eating, one of the women says: 天哪！ 够辣的。 我要喝水。 tiān na! gòu là de. wǒ yào hē shuǐ. Jesus! So spicy. I need some water. I couldn't stop laughing!

I tried it out and will be back. I saw you were there brent. Is there a way we can chat with keyboard. It seems to want microphone. are there any instructions anywhere inside this game?

This thing is evil...I must stop playing! It actually is a pretty good learning tool though, especially for cultural history (the Flash interface is a bit slow however). RJ, you can talk with typing (like IM-ing). You just click on a person, then click "chat." Typing is like slow motion though. I think I've gone as far as the beta version will go. I want to hop on the bus and go to Tiananmen Square, but it won't let me. So far I've been in the airport, hotel, Jianbing Street, Hotel Street, and Market Street...the tea house, silk store, post office, etc. Has anyone been able to go to any other streets/locations? Bazza, have you completed the game yet? :)

Excellent. :)

You've been further then me. Have you been up to your hotel room? You can't do much in it though.

I know...you can't even drink from the mini-bar...or crash on the bed...or use the bathroom...might as well just be a bum on the street!

Pretty amazing game.. makes me hungry though. Have only been able to get a Jianbing so far.

what happens when you run out of energy? Im down to abut 28%. I thought maybe if I ate something but as you say, you cant.

Actually, there are a lot of things you can eat/drink (cookies, cake, coffee, tea, water, etc.). Each of these gives you 10 points of additional power. The thing is, I don't think your power ever goes below 20...I'm guessing again, since this is still beta. There are lots of little glitches I've come across so far. Another thing you can do now is exchange unlimited amounts of money at the airport. I'm assuming that once this goes "live", you'll actually have to pay for play money. Just a guess though.

Do you find that the 'About' audio clips don't always work?

Wow! I really love this game (though I am fast becoming too addicted). It's a fun way to get to know a bit more about Chinese culture, as well as picking up a bit of vocab. Cool.

Just started playing this. Kind of interesting. Just find it odd at the beginning in the airport that no one even looks Chinese, but I guess that will change soon? They speak English, and not even a broken Chinese English...

Oh, one other thing. Why can't you buy anything from the Breakfast Stand Vendor? I want to buy a freaking 油条 yóutiáo (fried breadstick) but he doesn't offer to sell anything. What kind of Chinese entrepreneurial spirit is that?! Okay, I'm gonna get a life now and stop playing........