This summer, Kim Kardashian-West, Kanye's wife and mother to his children, released a statement about his health. 'As many of you know, Kanye has bi-polar disorder. Anyone who has this or has a loved one in their life who does, knows how incredibly complicated and painful it is to understand,' Kardashian wrote on Instagram Stories. Classic Cheat Code: A very tricky one in exists in the game; hold up on the D-pad as the game boots up and don't let go, and in the opening cutscene, press start at the exact moment Knuckles grabs the third Chaos Emerald - the timing has to be nearly frame perfect, it won't work even if you're just slightly off - if you do it right, you'll hear a subtle chime sound effect, and after you select Sonic or Tails, a level select screen will pop up.

Kanye Zone is a browser game developed by Otter Spice Productions. It was released on March 9, 2012, and involves the player controlling a bumper in order to prevent an image of American musician Kanye West's head from entering a circle of increasing size, referred to as his 'zone'. The game incorporates sound clips from West's song 'Niggas in Paris', and its premise is a parody of the song's lyrics.

Created by roommates Michael Frederickson and Stephen Barlow and inspired by 1980s video games, Kanye Zone received considerable media attention: Frederickson was interviewed by MTV, and several other news outlets reported on the game, some praising its simplicity and addictiveness. In May 2013, a follow-up game, titled Pitbull Party and based on the rapper Pitbull, was released.

Gameplay[edit]

The player's left and right arrow keys and space bar^[1] control a bumper that moves around a purple circle.^[2]Kanye West, represented by his head, attempts to enter the circle while repeatedly rapping 'Don't let me into my zone', and the player must hit him with the bumper^[2]—this causes him to disappear in a burst of dollar signs, and the player is rewarded with cash, added to a total displayed on the webpage.^[3] A silhouette of Kanye's head shows where he will next spawn, and an arrow inside it indicates what direction he will travel in.^[4] Play continues this way, with Kanye getting faster and the zone getting bigger,^[5] until the player fails to prevent Kanye from entering the zone, when they are presented with a message declaring they have lost;^[1] an image of rapper Jay-Z's head joins that of West, and the lyric 'I'm definitely in my zone' is heard.^[2] If the player's cash score is high enough, it is added to a leaderboard on the right of the page.^[1]

Development[edit]

The game was created by roommates^[6] Michael Frederickson—a technical director at Pixar^[5]—and Stephen Barlow using HTML5.^[7] The two heard Kanye West's song 'Niggas in Paris' and became 'obsessed' with the lyric 'Don't let me into my zone' (which is probably a reference to West's 'artistic zone'^[3]), and what it would mean to do so.^[6] It was inspired by 1980s games such as Pac-Man, as well as the 1972 game Pong. They noted that although they tried to make the rest of the game 'flashy', the zone had to be 'this unremarkable geometric form' so as not to be distracting.^[2]

—the game's co-creator Michael Frederickson^[2]

Frederickson mused that the nature of Kanye's zone is 'the whole question of the game', and agreed that it was 'almost a philosophical question'. Frederickson called West, the inspiration for the game, an 'arrogant man who purports to know everything', and said that in the game he '[admits] some ignorance' as he 'doesn't know exactly what'll happen if he gets in the zone.' The fact that the player begins the game with $50,000 is a reference to the 'Niggas in Paris' lyric 'What's 50 grand to a mothafucka like me, can you please remind me'—the amount represents nothing.^[2]

Release[edit]

Kanye Zone was released on March 9, 2012^[8] by Otter Spice Productions,^[5] and Michael Frederickson promoted it at the Game Developers Conference.^[9] Following its release, Kanye Zone reached the front page of the social news website Reddit, causing its creators to lose approximately US$700 after much traffic was driven to the website, and necessitating the compression of its contents; the next day, advertisements were added to the page.^[6] Although two million games had been played in under a month, the game was not very profitable, as the creators made only eight dollars off the game.^[2] The developers have since created a store selling various items adorned with a picture of the 'zone', which Frederickson describes as 'purple circles on everything'.^[6]

Although Kanye West has not contacted him,^[6] Frederickson was interviewed about the game by MTV's Hive, which said it is 'the best video game ever created based on a pop song and/or artist' and compared it to other games based on the song 'Margaritaville' and the band Grateful Dead^[2]—he described the interview 'unthinkably disproportionate to the interest of Kanye Zone'; it even verged into the discussion of a film adaptation.^[6] He was also a guest on the British video gaming radio show One Life Left.^[6] Luke Plunkett of Kotaku called the game a 'perversely addictive thing',^[10] and Complex's Jacob Moore said it is 'as basic as it can get, but that won't stop you from wasting hours of your day.'^[11]Metro dubbed Kanye Zone 'the dumbest game you will spend 20 minutes playing' and 'a hilarious low impact game in the tradition of early Atari'.^[12]

In March 2012, Frederickson stated that he was not yet working on a sequel to the game;^[2] however, on May 31, 2013, Pitbull Party, a follow-up to Kanye Zone, was released.^[13] Based on Pitbull's song 'Don't Stop the Party' and released by Otter Spice Productions, it involves maneuvering Pitbull's head between scratches on turntable records.^[14]

See also[edit]

• 'Fishsticks'—a South Park episode that also parodies West

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abcWeingus, Leigh (March 12, 2012). 'Kanye Zone: Game Asks You To Keep Kanye West From Getting In The Zone'. The Huffington Post. Retrieved September 7, 2013.
2. ^ ^abcdefghiSpitznagel, Eric (March 27, 2012). 'Highway to the Kanye Zone'. MTV Hive. Viacom. Retrieved September 5, 2013.
3. ^ ^abNelson, Daryl (March 14, 2012). 'Kanye West Tries to Get in the 'Zone' in New Game'. PopCrush. Townsquare Media. Retrieved September 7, 2013.
4. ^Margarella, Frank (July 28, 2013). ''Don't Let Kanye into His Zone' Review'. Analog Addiction. Retrieved September 7, 2013.
5. ^ ^abcZutter, Natalie (March 13, 2012). 'Bizarre Internet Game Of The Day: Kanye Zone'. Crushable. Alloy Digital. Archived from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved September 7, 2013.
6. ^ ^abcdefgCurran, Ste; Byron, Simon; Scantlebury, Ann (presenters) (June 26, 2012). The O(LL) Zone. One Life Left (Podcast). London: Resonance FM. Main discussion starts at 25:30. Retrieved September 5, 2013.
7. ^Nunez, Michael (March 10, 2012). 'Kayne West Web Game: Don't Let Him Get In His Zone'. International Business Times. IBT Media. Retrieved September 5, 2013.
8. ^Frederickson, Michael (March 9, 2012). 'Twitter / mfrederickson: Announcing the release of my ...'Twitter. Retrieved September 5, 2013.
9. ^Scantlebury, Ann (March 26, 2013). 'One Life Left back at GDC'. Gamasutra. UBM plc. Retrieved September 5, 2013.
10. ^Plunkett, Luke (March 14, 2012). 'Oh God, a Kanye West Video Game'. Kotaku. Gawker Media. Retrieved September 7, 2013.
11. ^Moore, Jacob (March 10, 2012). 'Play 'Kanye Zone,' The New Kanye West Computer Game'. Complex Music. Complex Media. Retrieved September 7, 2013.
12. ^Healy, Pat (March 12, 2012). 'Welcome to 'Kanye Zone,' the dumbest game you will spend 20 minutes playing'. Metro.us. Metro International. Retrieved September 7, 2013.
13. ^Frederickson, Michael (May 31, 2013). 'Twitter / mfrederickson: Excited to announce ...'Twitter. Retrieved September 7, 2013.
14. ^Burns, Ashley (July 9, 2013). ''Pitbull Party' Is The Most Obnoxiously Awesome Game You'll Play Today'. Uproxx. Uproxx Media. Retrieved September 7, 2013.

External links[edit]

Need new addictive websites to waste time?
You came to the right place.

It’s 2020. There’s plenty of time wasting websites to keep you scrolling. We’re skipping the usual suspects – Instagram, Twitter, Netflix, etc. We’re sharing cool websites that grab hold of your attention and won’t let go.

So here’s a list of 40 best websites to waste time on the internet.

1) How Stuff Works

Learn how stuff works.

2) reddit

This is my personal favorite website to waste time. Reddit is the front page of the internet.

Technically, it’s a social news aggregation site, ranging from branded media to original content.

There’s a million subreddits and growing. And each one dedicated to a particular niche topic. Whatever you’re a fan of, you’ll find like-minded people there. Here’s some of the top subreddits to get you started.

3) Imgur

Pronounced image-er. It’s one of the largest image sharing sites on the web.

4) Life Hacker

Old, but gold. Life Hacker gives life tips.

5) 100,000 Stars

It’s sites like this that make me love the internet.

100,000 stars takes you through a tour of our galaxy. Starting at the Sun, you’ll explore the far reaches of the galaxy with plenty of interesting factoids in-between.

6) Wikipedia’s List of Conspiracy Theories

Scrolling through a list of conspiracy theories is as fun as it sounds like. Until you read one that starts to make a little too much sense. Try for yourself.

6) This American Life

I’m sure you’ve heard of this. It’s one of the longest running podcasts. Created by WBEZ Chicago, This American Life shares stories that constantly engage – and often bring a tear to your eye. Here’s on of the best episodes to get you started.

Episode Summary: A small town production of Peter Pan goes horribly wrong, and even the police get involved.

7) The Wayback Machine

Go back to a simpler time. A time where websites weren’t mobile-friendly and every site looked different.

The Wayback machine lets you see what the web looked like in the past. Check out Amazon’s 1999 website – you’ll barely recognize it.

8) Wiki How

Answers to almost any “how do I…” questions.

9) Pokemon Showdown

A Pokémon battle simulator.

10) Music Theory

Simple concept, hard topic: Music theory. Learn it here.

11) Bored Panda

I can’t get enough of websites like Bored Panda. It houses fun articles and is heavily skewed towards art, design and illustration-type posts. Users can submit anything they want, so if you’re also looking for a place to share your art, this or other sites like Bored Panda might be for you.

12) OnRead

Get access to 1,500,000 free books.

13) Big Think

Get ideas and insights from some of the world’s most successful people.

14) Smithsonian

Want to learn without going back to the classroom? The Smithsonian shares history and technology stories without the stuffy language. It’s edutainment in the best way.

15) Flash by Night

Remember when flash was the thing? Relive the glory days with tons of flash games.

16) Think Geek

Shopping site with pop-culture toys, gifts and all sorts of good stuff.

17) The Office Stare Machine

The Office nailed awkward office comedy. This is the perfect website to waste time on. It serves up every uncomfortable moment where The Office characters stare at the camera.

Just type an emotion into the site (like “surprised”) and you’ll get the perfect reaction gif.

18) Cracked

Here’s another listical-heavy site for humorous content. It’s not what is once was, but there’s still some great content that’ll make you chuckle.

19) Unplug the TV

When you want to watch something, and don’t know what to pick, try this. It shows a single video, usually educational, so you can learn one clip at a time. You don’t pick what you watch, but you do have the option to skip videos if they don’t suit your fancy.

20) Incredibox

Mix your own music.

21) I Waste So Much Time

The name says it all – this is a website you can waste time on. Unlike Cracked, there’s no long form articles, just memes.

22) Find the Invisible Cow

Find the cow on the page. Hint: he’s invisible.

23) Rainy Mood

Make any day a rainy day.

24) Forgetify:

It’s like Spotify, but focuses on lesser-know artists who produce great music. If you’re stuck in a musical rut, try this site out.

25) The Onion

The Onion has duped people for years. It’s the pioneer of satirical news coverage and is still the best (in this writers opinion). What’s really impressive is the number of jokes they cram into one piece of content.

Can’t get enough of The Onion? Check out r/AteTheOnion to see the funnest ways people thought The Onion was “real news”.

26) The Oatmeal

One of the best comic strip websites to waste time. Web comics can be hit-or-miss, but this is a reliable source for funny stories.

27) Twitch.tv

Watch people play video games.

28) Little Alchemy

This is a classic. Basically, you start with base elements – earth, fire, water, air. Combine them to make more advanced materials.

Eventually, you’ll be creating complex things, like dinosaurs and magnets (how do those work?).

29) Mental Floss

Find facts, trivia and quizzes on “the encyclopedia of everything”. You’ll see anything from science to tech and pop culture here, all in bite-sized chunks of content.

30) Buzzfeed

You know what this site is. Lets move on.

Don't Let Kanye Into His Zone Game Cheated

31) Honest Slogans

It’s like honest trailers, but for brand slogans, taglines and other advertising.

32) MUBI

My only problem with Netflix? Too many choices. No matter how many “suggested titles” I scroll through, I always end up watching reruns of The Office.

MUBI removes the burden of choice. The website only hosts 30 movies at a time, with a single movie added and removed daily.

33) This is Why I’m Broke

If you’re flush with cash, this site might change that. This site offers unique gifts ranging from $5 to $500,000. There’s some pretty cool products here, like:

34) Optical Illusions

Remember the whole, ‘black and blue or white and gold’ dress controversy? These optical illusions will leave you scratching your head.

Like this one – is it a duck? Or a rabbit?

35) This is Sand

Quite simply, a sand building game. It’s another flash-based site, but you can find your Zen by creating digital sand castles.

36) ODDEE

Have an odd story? Share is on ODDEE. The site keeps submitters anonymous.

And the web content is a collection of weird, odd and totally strange stories.

37) The Oregon Trail

Probably the best educational game, ever. Some of us played the Oregon Trail in school – and very few made it to the end.

38) The Tone Matrix

Don't Let Kanye Into His Zone Game Cheating

Make your own music – just click some squares and hear what happens.

39) The Kanye Zone

Don't Let Kanye Into His Zone

Don’t let Kanye into his zone. Literally, that’s the goal – keep Kayne out of his zone, or you lose.

40) Timelapse

See how the world’s changed in over three decades, thanks to Google’s satellite photography.

Bonus! Find more addictive websites to waste time on

And if these weren’t enough, here’s a bonus website for when you’re bored – the useless website generator.

Did we miss any cool websites for when you’re bored?

Don't Let Kanye Into His Zone Game Cheats

Written by Taylor Dodds