At Devomatik we like making things that people actually use, not just projects that end up in a drawer. That's why we opened nicagames.com: a free online games portal, designed to be accessed from a phone or computer, pick something, and play for a while. No installing apps, no paying, no jumping through hoops.
The idea is simple. We want an attractive site, with lots of games, that you want to come back to. A place to spend five minutes or an hour, depending on the day. Some people look for a quick challenge, others prefer something longer, and others want to play with a friend. The portal was born to cover that, and to keep growing over time.
NicaGames didn't come out overnight with a huge list. We built it game by game. Each one was added when it was already playable, not when it was "almost ready." That's how we like to work: first it feels right, then there's more.
The First Step: Bulls and Cows
We started with Bulls and Cows, a classic that many people in Nicaragua have known their whole lives. It's a logic game: there's a secret number and you guess it. With each attempt, you're told how many "bulls" you got right (digits in the correct position) and how many "cows" (digits that are in the number but in a different position). With those clues, you narrow it down until you hit the number.
That first game helped us build the actual portal: how you get in, how you choose what to play, how it looks on the phone. When Bulls and Cows felt comfortable, we didn't stop to "wait for the perfect catalog." We moved on to the next one.
From One Game to a Catalog
The second was Dots and Boxes, the one where you connect dots and close little squares. It's the same game many people played in notebooks, sometimes called Timbiriche. It takes a minute to understand and, if the opponent is good, it gets interesting. We made it playable against the machine or against another person, because that kind of short match is one of the most requested.
Then came Tablero Nica, our checkers, with the "soplo" rule: if you can capture and you don't, the other player takes your piece. That's not a minor detail. It's how it's played here, and we wanted the game to feel Nicaraguan, not a generic copy of checkers. You can play against the machine or online against a real opponent.
Later we added two solitaires that almost everyone recognizes: Freecell and Spider. Not everyone wants to compete. Sometimes you just want a moment for yourself, move some cards, and see if the game works out. Freecell is the one with four free cells; Spider is longer, with more columns and more patience. Both are there for when you're in the mood for something different from a duel.
We also wanted word games. The Crossword is the classic one: clues, squares, and words that cross. Word Search is lighter: the words are hidden in the grid and you have to find them. And Wordle in Spanish is the one where you guess the word in a few tries, with the color clues that have become famous, but with words in our language. It doesn't make sense to offer a Wordle if you have to think in English.
That's the journey so far. It's not a list we made up in one sitting. Each title was added when it had its place in the portal and could be opened, understood, and played without a manual.
What We Aim to Be
We want nicagames.com to feel like a real portal: with several games, with the desire to come back, and with the promise that more are coming. Not a site with two or three things and an eternal "coming soon." An attractive place, easy to use, and free, where the catalog feels alive.
Playing is free. You enter, you choose, and that's it. If you want to register to save your progress or compete a bit, you can; if not, you can still stop by and try. The goal isn't to complicate your life. It's for the play time to be just that: a bit of play time.
We also care that it works on the phone. Many people don't sit in front of a computer for this. If the game isn't understandable with your thumb, it's no good. That's why each title was polished on a small screen, not just in a big window.
And Many More Are Coming
Today's catalog is the starting point, not the end. We keep working on new games and improving the ones that are already there. Some will be classics people ask for; others, things we want to bring because they feel right on a portal like this. We're not going to announce a long list that we later don't deliver. What we can say is that the idea is to keep adding, with the same criterion: that it's fully playable the day it appears.
If you like spending a while with a game without downloading apps or creating a thousand accounts, stop by nicagames.com. It's free, it's open, and the portal is just getting started.
Thanks for joining us from Devomatik; we hope you stay a while and come back when the next one comes out.