Kana Balls for iPhone and iPod Touch

Posted on 10. Feb, 2010 @ 9:08 am by in Language, Media Views: 1,025

My good Twitter buddy @papajohn let me know that he had a new Japanese-related application called Kana Balls in the iTunes Store so I gave it a try.

Fun stuff! Despite the possibly awkward name… Kana Balls is a slick application!

This app will help you learn to read Japanese Hiragana and Katakana quickly. It doesn’t teach you Japanese vocabulary or how to use the Hiragana and Katakana, but after a few rounds with this you’ll really feel the speed reading workout. It’s good frantic fun and a great addition to any Japanese study routine.

Touch the red ぷ to proceed, starts off easy, only 2 balls.
It quickly becomes a madhouse though. Remember, those balls are bouncing!
Good score for 1st game while taking screen shots huh?

@papajohn gave me some promotion codes to distribute so if you’re fast you can try it out for free. If you’re not fast, don’t worry, Kana Balls costs less than a cheeseburger in the iTunes Store and is well worth the money if you value your Japanese skillz.

To use the codes, go to the iTunes Store, click REDEEM on the far right under QUICK LINKS, and enter the code to download the app for free. Unfortunately the promo codes only work for customers with a U.S. iTunes Store account.

Promo Codes for Kana Balls:
RWW4NHRLW6PW
MXRHL76H9HNP
EKWAY9XMPA7F
RR3HKLTJLPYL
4F3AX63TYNPY

Each code can only be used once. First come first served!

Here is a link back to @papajohn’s blog with his post introducing Kana Balls.

Enjoy!

Harvey

  • http://kanjiwarrior.wordpress.com/ Kanjiwarrior

    I used the last code, this is a pretty fun app, I like it a lot more than NihongoUp it’d be cool if there was one that had kanji too and I totally think it could be done the same way. This app is great for practicing kana readings since it can go both ways ひらがな to カタカナ and ローマ字.

  • http://www.m289.net/ M289

    Boo! While I love the application, all they give away is those US only promotion codes :’( (Which obviously won’t work in Europe :P )

    So I had to buy the application, I probably have no real use for it, but it just looks great plus I like supporting “devs that make nice stuff” :)

    JapanNewbie: you should release some new apps, I already bought all your current ones ^__^
    (I know I asked about Android apps before, but I just happened to be in Hong Kong, picked up an iPhone and… well it just happened ;-) )

    Gotta catch ‘em all!

  • http://globalmaverick.org/ John B

    M289, thanks much for the support! I’m really sorry about the promo codes, but those are all that we get from Apple. I really have no idea why they only work in the US app store, but that’s the way they are. :(

    Kanjiwarrior, look for KanjiBalls in the nearish (next several months) future. It’s coming, but there are some data display issues (i.e., handling multiple readings gracefully, etc.) that need to be dealt with before it can be released.

  • Gordi

    Are you planning on porting this to Android?

  • http://globalmaverick.org/ John B

    Gordi, eventually I’d like to port all of my apps to Android, but for now, with the resources I have, I have to stick with a single platform.

  • http://www.japannewbie.com Harvey

    The real question is whether or not anyone has beat my high score…

  • http://globalmaverick.org/ John B

    If anyone is interested, there is now a Lite version of KanaBalls if you’d like to try the game out before you buy. http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kanaballs-lite/id356350258?mt=8

    Also, KanaBalls 1.1 is coming soon, and will include Facebook Connect integration, so you can publish your scores and challenge your friends (so you’ll be able to find out whether or not your high score stands up, Harvey).

    • http://www.japannewbie.com harvey

      Oh, it’ll stand up… It’ll stand up alright! Looking forward to it!

  • http://www.m289.net/ M289

    Haha, well a score of almost 30K is quite impressive.

    I play the game almost on a daily base when on my way to work(Bus/MTR) and so far I only scored a mere 16K.
    I’m not about the quit just yet though, but I wonder how to reach that 30K :P

    I’ve got to hand it to Harvey, most impressive ;-)

    Oh and John B. I am quite distracted by the nice wallpapers, any chance they might be up for download somewhere? I especially like the cityscape ones.
    Congratulations on an app well done. I love the design, very clean.

    Eagerly awaiting the 1.1 update :-) I love it when devs update their apps instead of moving on.

JapanNewbie
    Twitter Feed

Welcome to JapanNewbie.com! My goal is to get you excited about Japan and the Japanese language. Love it! This blog has been around for more than five years now, so be sure to dig into the archives and use the search. You never know what you might find!

Recent Comments:




  • Photos on flickr