Free Rice Review

  I don't normally find myself addicted to too many video games, but I really found this site hard to get away from.  The concept is simple: you go to the website, they give you a word, and you have to pick its synonym from a list of four words.  Each word you get right improves your vocab level and each word you get wrong lowers it.  For every word that you get right, 10 grains of rice are donated to the hungry.  The rice is paid for by the sites sponsors, which include all sorts of various companies.  There's no signing up to participate or personal information exchanged with the site.

  I enjoy word games, so this was something that I quickly liked.  And seeing my rice pile up in the bowl felt a little rewarding.  People have suggested it's a waste of time since 10 grains of rice isn't much and if I truly wanted to help then I could donate money or my own rice to the hungry.  However, it is one of the only "games" I have ever found offered on the internet that is at all donation driven.  So, if I spend some time guessing synonyms I don't see the harm.

  The only cons are that each word is only worth 10 grains of rice, which takes a long time to build-up, and that the words sometimes repeat.  The site is pretty new, and I've noticed they've been increasing the word bank, so I imagine the repeats will be gone soon.