One of the main characters of Jamsterdam, crossing a bridge over a canal in Amsterdam.

Jamsterdam is an adorable mini-game about trying to be a jazz musician in Amsterdam.

As a struggling musician in Amsterdam trying to make ends meet, you pick up a singing gig alongside a canal, as passersby throw coins for you to collect. Your cap, full of coins, slowly depletes as bills come in. Dwindling on your last coins, your world slowly turns to gray, and your music moves from freeform jazz to something more of a funeral dirge. All until you can’t pay your last bills—ending your gameplay.

The game brings whimsy and spirit to the act of feeding the capitalist machine. The vibrancy of colors is tied to how much cash you have on hand. It also seems that, in Amsterdam, no one has a sense of aim, so the denizens throw their coins everywhere, including nonsensical places, like the canal. When you’re short on cash, your dash for coins becomes even more hectic.

Was I a good singer in Jamsterdam? Well, let’s say I really embraced freeform jazz.

Jamsterdam is short, adorable, and gets its point across quickly. You’ll enjoy the few minutes you spend in it. Jamsterdam was made by nothke and Ferran, with procedural music from YenTing Lo. It is available on itch for Windows, macOS, and web.

The Missing Quests Season 1 is Complete

The Missing Quests was a season of sharing small indie games by Alex Guichet.
Stay tuned for new writing projects, or a potential next season of TMQ.
Alex Guichet @alexguichet
A screenshot of the main gameplay of Ramen Rave, showing a timer, ramen, eggs, and flavor packers.

Ramen Rave, by Andy Bae, is just your average cooking platformer—if a “cooking platformer” were a standard game genre. Tasked with making ramen for your friend Jammy’s birthday, you must use your platforming and utensil skills to make a perfect bowl of ramen. Shoot away flies and undesirable ingredients while allowing only right ingredients in—such as eggs and flavor packets.

Matching the quick preparation time of instant ramen, Ramen Rave is a fast mini-game experience that is done in just 3 minutes. The pressure stacks up as time goes on—more and more ingredients fly by, requiring you even more quickly and accurately, lest earn a lower score. When the timer runs out, your score is tallied up and added to the leaderboard.

Ramen Rave is available on itch.io for windows.

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