As much as I hate this time of year with the cold, wet, dark weather, I am encouraged that one of my favorite holidays is upon us.  Of course, I am talking about Thanksgiving.  For our non-US readers, Thanksgiving is the remembrance of how the early settlers were saved by the Native Americans who showed them how to make food from native agriculture.  Today, we celebrate that event by watching football (the American variety); eating a delicious feast of turkey, potatoes, stuffing, and more; and getting together with friends and family.   So, although the weather may be frightful, there is a lot to look forward to in the next couple of weeks.  And while you are waiting for the onslaught of family upon your home, maybe you want to relax for a minute with one of these free Windows Mobile games:

1. Halma

2. Butterfly

3. Rawalls

4. Fruitsday

5. Solitaire

Halma Sharp

This is an extremely cool game, which is actually an American original.  It was invented in the 1880’s by a plastic surgeon, and is similar to Chinese Checkers (though Halma was originally invented about 10 years earlier.)  The game is played on a square checkerboard grid (the Windows Mobile version is 8×8.)  Two players start in opposite corners with ten pieces each.  The goal is to swap sides.  The first player to land all of his pieces in the opposite player’s home area wins the game.  Pieces can be moved by sliding into an adjacent space, or by jumping over other pieces.  To win the game, you will want to find chains that allow you to jump from one side of the board to the other.  This was a great way to while away a few free minutes.

Butterfly

Here is a different take on the classic color matching game.  Like most color matching games, you have a board of colored bubbles.  In this one, though, each bubble has a butterfly trapped in it.  spin the columns to move the bubbles into place.  Connect three matching bubbles to release the butterflies.  I must say that the effect of all those butterflies being released made this game a real splendor to watch.

Rawalls

Well, here we go again with one of my favorite freeware developers Jean-Francois Mainguet.  This time, the French developer gives us a frustratingly ingenious numbers puzzle.  Here we find a simple collection of hexagons, linked together.  The board can range from six to over 40 spaces.  Each space emits light in all directions (tap the space to see the rays of light broadcast across the board.)  Your job is to ensure that the light from each space crosses into only the number of spaces written on the board.  To do this, simply open and close doors between the spaces.  So, if a space has a “1” written on it, then it must illuminate no other spaces.  A 9, however, means that you will be opening and shutting doors for a long time in order to find just the right combination.  I suggest you start with a small board in order to learn the rules and relationships.  but don’t stop there.  This game may start easy, but quickly draws you into the more complex arrangements with its addictive and unique gameplay.

Fruits Day

OK, folks.  Raise your hand if you remember the game Pac-Man.  if you do, then you will probably enjoy this clever twist on an old theme.  In this one, you play an insect (which looks to be a beetle).  you must make your way through a garden maze, eating the various fruits found along the way.  But watch out, because each level will have you facing off against an increasing number of enemy insects.  They won’t eat your fruit, but they will eat you if you touch them.  You will also want to remain mindful of the order in which you eat the fruit.  The more consecutive pieces of the same fruit you eat, the higher your score.  So, the challenge in this one is not just to eat the fruit and stay alive, but also to determine the best route to eat the fruit in the correct order and maximize your points.  I must admit that I was a huge fan of the Pac-Man genre back in the 1980’s, and I am thrilled to find it making a sort of mild resurgence.  And not only is it coming back, but to find such originality lent to what feels like an age old genre is fantastic!

Pocket Pazaak

I am a huge fan of Star Wars.  I have owned all of the movies on almost every media available.  I have read the books, listened to radio shows, even played the video games.  And if you are a fan of the Star Wars video games, then I think you have already figured this one out.  Pazaak is a customizable card game featured in the Knights of the Old Republic video game series.  And this was an extremely impressive reproduction and enhancement of the game.  I will say that if you have not learned of the game through Knights of the Old Republic, then you are going to be pretty much lost on this one.  But you can bring yourself up to speed by checking out the rules, here.  If, however, you have played the Knights of the Old Republic series, then get ready for a fantastic reproduction.  I was extremely impressed by the options, which even seemed to take the game beyond what was offered in the Knights of the Old republic series.  If you are a fan of that series, you will not want to miss this one!

That is going to bring a close to our looks at free games for 2008.  Next month, to close out the year, we will be bringing you our annual Best of the Arcade.  So, be sure to write into the comments and let us know your favorite games which have been featured in this space.  Next month, we’ll take a look at the best of the best to close out the year.  Until then, I hope everyone stay warm and dry, and has a fantastic Thanksgiving.

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The Arcade: A Monthly Roundup of Freeware Games (November 2008)

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Well, here we are…October.  Have I ever mentioned how much I hate October?  I mean sure, my boys and I get to dress up like superheroes and run around scaring people and begging for candy.  But other than that, this is one of my least favorite months.  This is the time when summer gives way to winter.  What’s that?  Autumn? Apparently, this part of the country does not officially recognize that fourth season.  We go straight from 85 to 35.  Pretty much overnight.  And this week has been the start of the 35.  Brrrrrr.  Bring back June!

With all of this cold weather, as you might imagine, we have been stuck inside quite a bit.  And that means lots of time to hunt around the Internet searching for free games.  This month, from the warmth of my wintertime cocoon, we bring you:

1. Pocket Pachisi

2. Pipes

3. Samulos

4. Turbo 21

5. BoxUp

Pocket Pachisi

OK.  Everyone raise your hand if you did not grow up playing Parchisi (or some variation like Sorry).  Yeah, that’s what I thought.  You all know what you are getting here.  Start with your four colored pieces in the Start bubble.  Roll the dice and race around the outer edge of the board until your pieces are all resting safely at Home.  Sounds easy enough.  The trick?  Well, there are three other teams trying to beat you home.  This is another fantastic board game for the Pocket PC from Oranga Programmaro.  It features the same fantastic graphics and smooth animation which we have come to expect from these folks.  And all for less than the price of a cup of coffee (significantly less if you shop at Starbucks.)

Pipes

Here is another new take on a classic game.  In Pipes, you are faced with a board filled with pipe pieces.  Some of the pieces connect together, others have a dead end terminus with a flower.  In the center of the board sits a gold piece, which is the source of your water supply.  The goal in this variation is to allow the water to flow through all of the pipes, and light up all of the flowers on the board.  Sounds easy enough, but like most puzzles, appearances and initial impressions can be very deceptive.  Combine that with the six different playing modes, and this one should hold your attention for quite some time.

Samulos

There are a lot of Tetris clones and variations out there for Windows Mobile.  And we have covered some of them in this space.  But none are quite like Samulos.  Here, the shapes falling from the top of the screen will contain colored two-colored tiles. Unlike Tetris, your goal is not to make solid lines across the screen.  Instead, you goal is to match the colored tiles and make a block of the same color.  Once you have made a block (4×4 or larger), it will explode, freeing up space for you to keep moving.  The game starts out easily enough with solid blocks broken into two colored halves.  Quickly, though the shapes and pieces become more complex and the race is on.  This is a fantastic variation on one of my favorite old themes.

Edgeay Turbo21

I have always been a huge fan of Blackjack.  It is one of my favorite gambling card games.  Turbo 21 is a solitaire game, loosely based on Blackjack.  Here, you have to create hands of cards totaling 21.  Make a hand with a value of 21, a Blackjack, or make a hand with five cards in it and you will earn points and clear the row from the board.  Bust by creating a hand that is over 21 and you will lose points.  Not only is the gameplay very cool (I hesitate to say original since I have covered a similar game in this space previously,) but it also features some very cool backgrounds.  Why play on a green felt table when you can fly through the streets of New York.  If you are a card shark, then you will want to check out this conglomeration of solitaire and Blackjack.

BoxUpPPC

Here is another one from one of my favorite freeware developers, Jean-Francois Mainguet.  As with most of his games, this is a grid-based puzzle game.  In this one, you will find a green block, and a number of brackets.  Most of these brackets are black, however, there is also a red one and a blue one.  The goal here is to maneuver the  red bracket into the blue bracket.  Think that sounds easy?  Well, how about this.  You can only move a bracket by pushing it with the green block.    This is another one that sounds like it should be pretty simple…until you start actually trying to maneuver those brackets around the small space that is the gameboard in this one.   Mainguet, you have done it again!

That will do it for another month here at The Arcade.  Of course, as I said at the start, the weather is starting to turn cooler which can only mean that Winter is upon us.  With winter comes the holidays and the New Year.  So, as per my tradition here at The Arcade, coming up in December, we will be taking a look back at some of the best games we have covered here in the last year.  You won’t want to miss it.  And make sure to write in with your votes (just leave them in the comments section) and let me know your favorite games from the annals of the Arcade..

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The Arcade: A Monthly Roundup of Freeware Games (October 2008)

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It is hard to believe that summer is already starting to turn to fall.  I have been noticing lately that the mornings are a little crisper…and a whole lot darker when I leave for work.  Pretty soon mowing the lawn will give way to raking leaves.  In fact, my kids have already started talking about what they would like to be for Halloween.  Of course, this time of year also means a return to our insanely hectic routine of school, soccer, Cub Scouts, and more.  It is amazing that I even had time to test one free game, let alone five.  But I did find the time to look at:

Arukube

Moonlander

Pocket Uno

Poker

Caisses

Arukube

Not long ago, I featured a fantastic game in this space, Arukone.  Arukube is the next evolutionary step in that game.  Gameplay works the same in both games.  You will be faced with a grid containing several pairs of shapes.  You must draw a line connecting the matching pairs.  The difference, as always, lies in the details.  Arukube introduces an additional parameter by telling you the required length of the line connecting the matching pairs of shapes.  By requiring the line to be a specific length, the developers have really added a whole new dimension of difficulty to the game.

Moonlander

This is a genre which was popular way back in the 1980’s or so.  I have not seen it in probably 20 years, but all of a sudden it is popping up all over the place.  It is a simple, but extremely fun game.  You captain a rocketship which is running low on fuel as it comes in to the moon base.  Use your attitude controls to bump it left and right, and your jets to soften your descent or thrust yourself back upwards.  Hit the landing pad to advance.  Hit anywhere else and you will burn in a fiery explosion (sorry, your game will end).  Every level also contains additional fuel and a rocket upgrade.  Try to grab those if you are feeling adventurous.

Pocket Uno

Oranga Programaro is quickly becoming my favorite developer of free, classic card games.  Their rendition of Uno is exquisite, allowing up to four players to swap red, blue, yellow, or green numbered cards.  Watch out for the wild cards and draw four.  Everything you remember from this childhood favorite is ready to be discovered in this one, including the frustration of having someone else go out just as you are about to play your last card and win the game.

Poker

Every Poker lover has probably spent some time with Video Poker.  It is sort of like the slot machine version of Poker.  Just place your bet and hit Draw.  You will be dealt five cards (no Hold’Em here).  Tap the cards you want to keep, and hit Draw again.  If you score a pair of Jacks or better, then you win.  Fail and you lose your bet.  I thought this was a good rendition of the popular barroom game, though I did get a bit tired of the card backs.  It would be nice if there was a bit more customization in there.

Caisses

You have all played Sokoban in one form or another.  It is an incredibly popular, and oft copied game (in fact, variations have been featured in this column previously.)  The concept is pretty simple.  You are in a room with several boxes (in this case treasure chests) and targets.  All you have to do is slide the boxes onto the targets.  Sounds easy enough.  This simple sounding puzzle game will soon have you gnashing your teeth and pulling out your hair as that last box keep sliding just past the target.  It is a fast paced and highly addictive game.  The Caisses variation originally appeared on the Nintendo DS, but was quickly ported to Windows Mobile.  With hundreds of levels to complete, you had better make sure you have enough free time before you start this one.  Because once you start, there will be no stopping until you have solved all of the puzzles.

Well, that is going to do it for another exciting month of free games.  Now, I have a bit of a confession to make to all of our dear readers.  The well is running dry, and I have been having an increasingly difficult time finding quality free games to showcase every month.  As such, The Arcade may soon have to cease as a regular item here at My Today Screen.  So, I am relying on all of you to help.  If you want to see The Arcade continue into next year, all you have to do is send me a list of your favorite free games.  You can leave it in a comment or send it to me using the Contact Us link.

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The Arcade: A Monthly Roundup of Free Games (September 2008)

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So, here it is, the end of August, and I find myself sitting in the cool dark mornings wondering where my summer has gone.  Not only did the past few months just fly by, but it has also been unusually cool here in August.  At times, it has felt almost fall-like in the morning.  So, with that in mind, I wanted to make sure we ended summer on a high note, eschewing the traditionally lazy, “dog days,” and found five absolutely fantastic free games.  This month, we’ll be looking at:

Pocket Mille Bornes

Powder

Scatto

Catchy Cadence

Son’art

Pocket Mille Bornes

I have to thank our good friend Breley for bringing this one to my attention.  Mille Bornes is another classic game, which many of you probably have played and enjoyed.

The game is derived from the small cement markers found along the roads and highways in Europe.  The French call these markers “bornes kilometriques,” or kilometer – stones.  In America, we would call them milestones. These milestones show the number of the route and the distance to the next town. Their red or yellow color also shows whether the route is a national highway or a local road.

Mille Bornes, which literally means a thousand milestones,  is a card game for two to six players.  Your goal is to move your car 1000 miles along an imaginary road, earning points for overcoming roadway hazards and other challenges, which your opponents may throw in your path.  Each hand continues until one player completes a trip of exactly 1000 miles.  Tally the points, turn your car around, and keep going.  First one to 5000 points, wins.

This is a fantastic game, and I thought they did an exceptional job of bringing it to the Pocket PC platform.  Not only is it engaging and fun, but what a great way to teach your kids about the rules of the road and potential joys and perils involved in the college tradition of the “Road Trip”.

Powder

This is a very interesting take on the adventure game genre.  Like many of my favorite games, you must battle your way through the deepest, darkest corners of a dungeon.  As you proceed, you can pick up weapons, armor, and other items which will help you as you battle your way further into its depths.

Waitaminute.  Did that say further in?  Isn’t the goal of these games typically to get out of the dungeon?  Well, that is what makes powder stand out.  You see, buried deep inside this dungeon, there is a great evil,  Baezl’bub, which has been awakened.  You must make your way to Baezl’bub’s lair in level 25 of the dungeon, slay him, and return to the surface with his heart in your hand.

This is a fantastic reproduction of a game which was originally devised for the Gameboy Advance.  This is the kind of adventure game I grew up with, and I really enjoyed the experience.  It isn’t Diablo (which is one of the most requested Pocket PC games that has never been made) but it is probably about as close as we are likely to get.

Scatto

For this one, we are going to have to imagine a whole new game.  Picture a combination of billiards and air hockey.  Essentially, the game consists of two teams, each defending opposite ends of the table.  Each team has six discs arranged in a line in front of their end.

The goal is to knock all six of your opponent’s discs off of the table.  To do this, just tap any of your discs and send it gliding across the table, knocking into your opponent’s discs.  Knock all of your opponent’s discs off and you will win the round.

At the beginning of each round, the winner of the previous round will start one row forward.  Whichever team advances all the way to the opposite side of the screen wins the match.

I found this to be a fantastically original game.  Not only did it combine billiards and air hockey, but it also contained elements from shuffleboard and a little bit of curling (though, sadly, you will not have any sweepers.)  The controls (you tap the edge of the disc you want to fire) took a little bit of time to get used to, but once you got the hang of it, this was really a great game.

Catchy Cadence

This is a fantastic new freebie from PDAMill.  Their maestro extraordinaire, Jaybot, has put together a fun little game based upon a number of his catchy songs …er…cadences.

PDAMill describes Catchy Cadence as a rhythm-music-action game.   And if you are anything like me, then you have no clue what that means.   

This is a fantastic and unique game.  What a great idea to incorporate the music into gameplay, rather than just leaving it to play in the background.  Unfortunately, it simply did not work well on my device.  In fairness, however, PDAMill did warn that it was unlikely to work.  I use a Sprint Mogul by HTC.  On their site, they warn:

If you have a QVGA non-phone device, and HTC didn’t make it, you should be good.  We aimed to make the game for all decent PDA’s, but HTC (a whopping % of the new devices out there) just decided to go the slower, weaker route with every new device they made, Sorry.

So, yeah.  That would be me.  But if you are using this one of a non-HTC device, we would love to hear from you.  Tell us what you think of Catchy Cadence.

Son’art

I need to start being more careful with the Jean-Francois Mainguet games.  I have been featuring them in this space for quite some time, and I am realizing that I have almost completely exhausted the JFM library.  Well, I guess we will cross that bridge when we get there, though I do hope he adds some additional games soon.  In the meantime, let’s take a look at the latest JFM game to make it into the annals of The Arcade.

Son’art is similar to Japanese crossword puzzles or pictograms…only different.  In this one, you need to follow the clues to correctly place the various colors in the grid.  To solve the puzzle, just follow the list scanned by the “sonart” on the edge.  Be careful, the sonart clues will show you the order of the colors in each row or column, but the scanner does not show white.  So, it cannot determine the placement or spacing of the colors.

This is a great logic puzzle game, which turns out to be much more difficult than it initially appeared.

Well, that should do it for another month of The Arcade.   I was really impressed, once again, by how many of these free games offer a product which is very competitive with comparable commercial games.

As always, if you have any freeware games which you would like to see me highlight in this space (or if you are a developer of free games) just send me the link via the contact form on the front page, or send an email to dsgoldring [at] mytodayscreen.com (replace the “at” with a “@”. And if you are just joining us, be sure to check out our archives here at My Today Screen.

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The Arcade: A Monthly Roundup of Freeware Games (August 2008)

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Here we are, halfway through the summer.  Can you believe it is already almost August?   Where does the time go?  This was a great month for me.  We took two vacations to visit each set of Grandparents.  That meant I had plenty of time to test out all of this month’s games.  And what a batch we have, including:

Peter’s Casino

Distant Galaxies

Puzzlic

Vexed

ADVpda

So, without any more chitter-chatter, let’s jump right in an check out this month’s fantastic free games.

Peter’s Casino

For the third month in a row, we have a game from Peter Balogh, the developer who would go on to found PDAMill, which is still one of my favorite game Windows Mobile game developers.  Before he started developing games under the PDAMill logo, Peter put together this small casino game, which is really extremely well done.  The game contains Roulette, Blackjack, and Video Poker.  I have to admit that I have become a bit of a poker buff lately, so I did miss not having a standard poker game or Texas Hold’em included.  Despite having some simple graphics and animation, I found gameplay to be smooth and enjoyable.  There is not currently a PDAMill version of this casino game, but based upon the fact that many of Peter Balogh’s pre-PDAMill games have been worked into their library…well, one can only hope.

Distant Galaxies

This is another very well made vertical scrolling space shooter game.  In this one, you fly a spaceship through enemy territory.  Dozens of enemies of a variety of shapes and sizes will provide a formidable opposition.  You will also find a maze of structures (I have no idea what these actually were) which can knock you out if you run into them.  One thing that really set this apart from most other vertical scrollers was the fact that the game is wider than the screen.  A lot of action might be occurring off the side of the screen, so watch out.  This is a great game for the genre, and one of the few that I did not find the controls to be too difficult for the platform.  It is simple, but fun to play.  So, strap on your flight suit and head out for space (the final frontier).  Just make sure to keep an eye on your energy meter.  When it runs down, you’ll be flying home the old fashioned way.

Puzzlic

Now here is an interesting twist on the classic jigsaw puzzle game.   You will be shown an image in a 5×5 (25 square) grid.  Get a good look, because after a few seconds, that picture will fade away, leaving you with an empty grid and a stack of 25 jumbled tiles.  Your job is to rearrange the tiles back into the grid before time runs out.  Sounds easy, but here is the twist.  Each time you attempt to place a tile in the wrong slot, it will fire rockets (either horizontally or vertically).  Any tile which is hit by a rocket will be recycled back into your pile.  So, you will want to be careful on this one.  A single mistake could completely change your progress in the game.  I found this one to be an extremely creative take on a classic pda genre.  The rockets firing out and destroying pieces which had already been placed made the game fun, challenging, and addictive.

Vexed

This is another new take on a classic arcade style game (originally, Vexed was designed for the Palm OS).  In Vexed, you will be faced with a board with various colored blocks.  All you have to do is match two or more like-colored blocks together to clear them from the board.  Clear the board and you will advance to the next level.  Sounds easy enough, but it quickly becomes extremely challenging and exciting.  Probably the most impressive part of the game are the level packs.  I was shocked to find how many different levels and level packs were included in this game.  One of my real frustrations with puzzle games like this is that there never seem to be enough levels.  As soon as you get into the game, you are done.  You won’t have that problem with Vexed and its over 40 level packs (each pack contains dozens of levels).  So, sit back, strap in, and get ready to wrap your brain around Vexed.

AdvPDA

The final game we will be looking at is called AdvPDA, which stands for Adventure PDA.  Now, I am going to be honest here and tell you up front that if you do not remember the 1980’s and the TRS-80 (vividly) then you will not enjoy this game.  This is a game for the older crowd (never thought I would be considered the older crowd).

Back when I was a kid…like I said, in the 1980’s, computer animation had really not been invented yet.  most graphics were pretty simple, and many utilized still pictures and a great deal of text.  You played these games by typing commands and reading (a lot).  So, rather seeing a knife on the screen, moving your character to it, and clicking on it (or something similar).  You would read a line of text that looked something like this, “you move the blanket and find a knife lying on the bed.”  You would then type, “get knife,” and be told that you had picked up the knife.

These games were both exciting, due to the amount of imagination involved, and also frustrating as you played multiple guess trying to figure out which commands the computer understood.  Often, these games would devolve into you typing a curse word, only to have the computer calmly retort with, “I’m sorry.  I do not understand **&**@&!”

Adventure PDA takes 15 of these classic, text based adventure games and bundles them together into one package.  So, go ahead and give it a try.  Enjoy the terror that we used to call video games.  You’ll be shuddering all the way back to your Wii (or you could sit back and enjoy filling in the gaps with your own imagination.

Well, that should do it for another edition of The Arcade.  I hope you enjoy playing these games as much as I enjoy sharing them with you.

As always, if you have any freeware games which you would like to see me highlight in this space (or if you are a developer of free games) just send me the link via the contact form on the front page, or send an email to dsgoldring [at] mytodayscreen.com (replace the “at” with a “@”. And if you are just joining us, be sure to check out our archives here at My Today Screen.

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The Arcade: A Monthly Roundup of Freeware Games (July 2008)

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Welcome back to the Arcade.  I have to admit, June has been a little bit of a crazy month for me.  As most of you know, I used to be pretty involved with Just Another Mobile Monday.  A few months ago, I left that site, and shortly thereafter, Tariq and I founded My Today Screen.  Well, almost as soon as I got moved in here and unpacked all of my boxes, I got an email from Patrick, the founder of Just Another Mobile Monday.  For personal reasons, he needed to leave JAMM.  A mention became a discussion, and almost before I knew what had happened, I became the new owner of that site.  Frankly, the whole thing is a little overwhelming, but here I am.  I’ve been spending quite a bit of time getting reacclimated with the team over there, and planning JAMM’s major relaunch (June 25th for those of you who were wondering).

So, June has been a bit hectic for me in this crazy online world of ours, so it has been nice to take some time here and there and relax while testing this month’s freeware games for The Arcade.  And what are the games that served as such able distractions for me lately?  Let’s take a closer look at:

1. Arukone

2. Oliver’s ActionPack

3. Dust Digger

4. Crimson Fields

5. Pocket RackO

Arukone.

This is another entry from French puzzle-game designer (not to create a pigeon hole there or anything), Jean-Francois Manguet.  I am pretty sure I have mentioned in this space what a fan I am of his games.  In Arukone, like most of Manguet’s games, you are faced with a square shaped grid.  The size of the grid depends upon the difficulty level you select.  A variety of shapes (you can choose symbols, letters, or numbers)  are scattered across the game board.  Here is the catch, each shape has a twin.  Your job is to find the twins and connect them by drawing a line from one to the other.  Sounds easy enough?  Well, there are two complications.  First, you must connect the shapes without crossing any other lines.  Second, you must use all of the spaces in the grid.  If any spaces are left open, then you lose.  Plain and simple.  I know, it still sounds pretty easy.  But give it a try.  Not only is it much more difficult than these basic instructions would imply, but it is also terribly addictive.  I find myself turning to Arukone almost every time I had a few seconds to spare.

Oliver’s Action Pack.

It always interests me when you start to unearth the components that would later become a Windows Mobile powerhouse.  It is almost like video game archeology.  Here, we have another pillar in the pre-foundation days of PDAMill.  Now, I cannot say for certain whether Oliver Lovaszi, who created Oliver’s Action Pack, is still associated with PDAMill.  I can only tell you that I have seen his name crop up in association with a number of projects he worked on, in those early days of Windows Mobile, along with the likes of Peter Balogh (founder of PDAMill).  So, even if unconfirmed, Oliver clearly has a connection to the founding of PDAMill, and his Action Pack goes straight to the roots of that fantastic company.

Oliver’s Action Pack is actually three games in one, all of which are based on a shoot-em up type theme.

• In Galaxy Clone, you must fly your spaceship vertically up the screen, while waves of asteroids and enemy ships fly down upon you.  All you have to do is blast them to survive.
• Snow Wars is a game which has been around in one form or another for quite some time.  It is a really well made first person action game, in which you are engaged in a simple snowball battle.  Other kids will run across the screen, ducking behind barriers and dodging your throws.  All you have to do is hit them before they hit you.
• Heaven’s Gate is probably the most original concept I have seen for a game.  Basically, you are a guard at the gates of Heaven.  Souls ride to Heaven by hanging onto balloons.  But watch out, because the Devil has sent his minions to try to infiltrate Heaven as well.  All you have to do is lob your arrows to shoot down the devils, without hitting any of the innocent souls.

I thought all three games were well made, although some of the graphics were a bit on the crude side.  They also all suffered from a repetition of action problem.  In which they were fun and exciting at first, but quickly became boring after wave upon wave of the same action flew across the screen.  Nonetheless, it is exciting for me to see a game like this, which is clearly the early attempts of individuals who would go on to become pioneers in the Windows Mobile industry.  Video Game archeology, indeed.  Almost like finding the lost early works of Masaya Nakumura.

Dust Digger.

Here we are with another nice remake of a classic game.  In Dust Digger, you will find yourself burrowing through underground caves, in search of the many jewels hidden in the catacombs.  Watch out though because there are a variety of creatures haunting these caves.  Come into contact with one of these devils and it will be lights out for you.  And that does not even take into account the boulders which have been buried deep in the Earth.  Unearth a boulder by digging out the ground beneath it to make it fall straight down.  Dig around the side, and it will drop in that direction.  Just make sure you are not standing beneath the rock when it falls, or you’ll take a bump that may leave you down for the count.  I thought this was a fantastic remake of a classic arcade game.

Crimson Fields.

Would you like to play a game of chess?  No?  How about thermonuclear war?  If you have ever dreamed of throwing an entire army at your enemy, but could never quite muster up the money to attack a free nation…well, maybe you should check out Crimson Fields.  This is an impressively made turn-based strategy game.

Which army you control will vary according to which of the 17 different maps you choose to play (including a very nice tutorial.)  In addition to battling the computer, you can also play head-to-head, across a computer network, or via email.

Basically, though, you control an army.  Yes, an entire army: infantry, ships, tanks, aircraft.  The works.  In each turn, you can move your units around the map, attack enemies, and even construct new buildings and units (hint, new buildings can increase the number of different units you are able to build).   If you enjoy turn-based strategy games, making war, or just blowing stuff up, then give this one a try.  It is a fantastic game, and very comparable to other games in the genre which often can cost $30 or more.

Pocket RackO.

If you have never heard of the card game RackO, then I am afraid you may have missed a significant piece of your childhood.  This was always a favorite game growing up (but then, in case you have not noticed, I am sort of a card game nut).

RackO is not played with an ordinary deck of cards.  Instead, it has a special deck of 60 cards (no suits).  The object of RackO is to create a row of ten cards, in order from lowest to highest.  To begin, you will be dealt ten random cards, which are placed in your rack (hence the name) in the order they were dealt.  You may not change the positions of any cards within your rack.  In order to make a winning hand, you will need to exchange cards from your hand with the top card in the discard pile or the top card in the draw pile (face down).  On each turn, you may draw one card and exchange it with any card in your rack.  When you exchange cards, however, the new card must be placed in exactly the same position as the one it is replacing, so there is a lot of strategy involved with knowing just the right placement for each card.

The player who creates a RackO (row of ten cards in order) wins 75 points.  Each other player will earn points based upon how close they came to a RackO.  Play continues until one player breaks 500 points.

This was one of my favorite games growing up, and I am very happy to find that the shine has not worn off as an adult.  Not only is it an incredibly addictive game, but it is also a fantastic game for children who are just learning to count.  Putting cards in order, particularly without significant context, is fantastic practice for youngsters.

Well, that should do it for another month of The Arcade.  It is getting toward 2:00 am, which means I should probably finish up and post this one.  I was really impressed, once again, by how many of these free games offer a product which is very competitive with comparable commercial games.

As always, if you have any freeware games which you would like to see me highlight in this space (or if you are a developer of free games) just send me the link via the contact form on the front page, or send an email to dsgoldring [at] mytodayscreen.com (replace the “at” with a “@”. And if you are just joining us, be sure to check out our archives here at My Today Screen.

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The Arcade: A Monthly Roundup of Freeware Games (June 2008)

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Welcome back to The Arcade: A monthly Roundup of Freeware Games.  We are glad you found us.  My Today Screen continues to enjoy exceptional growth as more readers find us every day, and The Arcade has been enjoying the fruits of these successes, growing right along with the site.  Thanks to the generosity of Patrick Jordan over at Just Another Mobile Monday, the entire unedited archives of The Arcade now appears right here on My Today Screen.

In the meantime, you did not come here to read about what we have done before.  We are here for one reason, and that is to discuss the free goodies that many developers like to offer.  So, let’s get right to the action and take a closer look at:

1. Peter’s Gamebox

2. Greedy Penguins

3. Hit or Miss Solitaire

4. Space Invaders

5. Pocket Zidane v. Materazzi

Peter’s Gamebox

Holy Freeware, Batman!  Let’s kick this edition off right with a whopping 8-in-1 freeware game pack.  And not just any eight games, mind you.  These are all classics.  What wil you find in here?

• Blocks and Blocks 2: Two different Tetris Clones
• Snake: You direct a growing snake around the grid, trying to earn points by gobling up the fruit.   Don’t run into your backend, though, or it will be game over.  This was one of my favorite BASIC games on my old 386 DOS machine, and it is still just as fun today.
• Cannons: Another Scorched Earth clone.  I love it!  Lob missiles and other munitions at your opponent’s cannon until one of you is blown into oblivion.
• Mahjongg:  This is the first of several matching games in the gamebox.  You will find an assortment of tiles on the board.  Just find two that match and remove them.  Rinse and repeat until all of the tiles have been removed.
• Same: This is similar to the Bubble Breaker game which came with your device.  just tap groups of like colored balls to remove them an earn points.
• Squash: Who doesn’t love an Arkanoid clone??
• Mah’ River: Another matching game, and the only game in the pack I had never played before..  This time, you must search a grid of tiles to find two adjoining tiles with the same picture and color.  Remove them from the grid and keep going.

Wow.  I mean, this is really a pretty slick bundle.  Frankly, as I was playing I kept expecting some trial to run out.  The games are all well made, and the choice of which games to include is outstanding (though there was an abundance of color and tile matching games).  What a great way to kick off this issue.

Greedy Penguins

Start at the top and work your way down with your choice of four different penguins.  Sounds pretty easy doesn’t it?  Well, this vertical-scrolling game is anything but easy.  You’ll start at the top platform and watch as the platforms scroll from the bottom toward the top.  Your goal is to keep your penguin moving toward the bottom of the screen, without falling off.  It feels a lot like running the wrong way on an escalator.  Along the way, you will find a variety of platforms, including: bouncers, conveyor belts,and even spikes.  Coins and fish are arranged strategically around the maze, and you will want to collect them in order to earn points (coins) or regain your health (fish) which can be lost if you hit the spike along the way.  Fall off the bottom of the screen, or run out of health and it is game over.  You can play by yourself or head to head against another person (collect the most coins to win).  I thought this was a fantastic (and usually pretty quick game).  It would have been nice if you could play with more than one life or have some kind of checkpoints.  I did get a little tired of starting over from the beginning every time.  Otherwise, this is a fantastic, fast-paced game which will leave you breathless by the time you finally reach the bottom (if you reach the bottom).

Hit or Miss Solitaire

It is no secret that I am a nut for solitaire games.  I have reviewed an awful lot of solitaire packs and have included a number of free variations here in The Arcade already.  Heck, I even judged the category in the Smartphone and Pocket PC Best Software of 2007 Awards (the 2008 edition is coming up fast). So, it should surprise no one to find another solitaire card game here in The Arcade.

Hit or Miss Solitaire is really quite a unique game.  The idea is to move all of your cards from the Stock Deck (which is where they all start) to the Foundation Pile.  Like any good story, there is your beginning (stock deck) and end (foundation pile).  Of course, we have ignored the middle, which is where all of the action takes place.

On each turn, move the top face down card from the stock deck and place it face up on the discard pile.  Then, compare the value of the card to the value indicator on the top of the gameplay area.  If they match, then your card can be moved to the foundation pile.  Of course, every time you move a card, the indicator changes (it counts up from A to K).  This is one of the more challenging solitaire games I have played.  Not only does it require quite a bit of luck (getting the right card to match the moving target in the indicator area) but also quite a bit of mental acumen, which most solitaire games do not necessarily rely upon.  Without a certain degree of mental toughness, you are likely to just let that playable card go sailing by as you tap-tap-tap away for the next card.

Space Invaders

Hello 1980 and the Atari 2600.  Any of our readers over the age of 20 probably remember the Atari 2600 and the classic game, Space Invaders that was included in the package.  My friends and I must have spent hours blasting away at the tiny green aliens as they marched across their track, getting ever lower as the blasted away at our bunker shields.  Now, in his perfect style, Jean-Francois Manguet (who is quickly becoming one of my favorite developers of free games) has expertly and accurately recreated this classic game, with the original colors included.  I found the controls were a bit tricky on my Mogul, but not so much that it deterred me from enjoying this game.  Perfect for you nostalgia nuts out there…or for you kids who want a taste of the 1980’s era technology that mom and dad had to put up with when we were your age.

Pocket Zidane v. Materazzi

This is one for you soccer (or futbal in Europe) fans.  Most of you probably recall this bizarre incident from 2006 World Cup, in which Zinedine Zidane headbutted Italy’s Marco Materazzi in the chest.  Don’t remember that?  Check out this clip to see the inspiration for the game Zidane.

In this game, you play Zinedine Zidane as he is swarmed by drove after drove of Italy’s finest soccer (futbol) player, Marco Materazzi.  Just keep headbutting them in the chest and they will drop like flies.  But watch out, let any of them run roughshod over you and, or worse, get past you,and your health will reflect your poor efforts.  This is a great and whimsical game for all of you soccer fans out there…especially fans of Marco Materazzi. [Note: In the link above, you will find the download link in the right hand sidebar.]

Wow.  Talk about a bonus edition of The Arcade, today we brought you a whopping 12 games for the price of five Uhm, yes, I know they were all free.)  Four standalone games and an eight game pack.  Not too shabby at all.  I hope you enjoy playing these games as much as I enjoyed finding them .

As always, if you have any freeware games which you would like to see me highlight in this space (or if you are a developer of free games) just send me the link via the contact form on the front page, or send an email to dsgoldring [at] mytodayscreen.com (replace the “at” with a “@”. And if you are just joining us, be sure to check out our archives here at My Today Screen.

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The Arcade: A Monthly Roundup Of Freeware Games (May 2008)

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When I was in college, there was an enormous uproar when late night comedian David Letterman left NBC, and moved his show to CBS. Everyone wondered whether the show would be the same. Would he be able to maintain what he had started? CBS was a different environment and culture. Would the David Letterman formula work there? Of course, we know now that he thrived at CBS.

Why am I telling you this? Well, longtime readers know that this is not the first installment of The Arcade. I created this feature over at Just Another Mobile Monday, where I published and refined it for well over a year. When I left JAMM, I determined that The Arcade was something special that I wanted to take with me wherever I might land. Obviously, Patrick was kind enough to agree.

So, here I am. After a brief hiatus, I am bringing my show to My Today Screen (though technically I suppose, this whole dang site is my show…but you know what I mean.)

For those of you who followed The Arcade over at JAMM, welcome back. For you newcomers, let me explain how this works. Each month, I scour the web, searching for free games. There are a lot out there and finding good ones is rarely a problem. Then, at the end of each month (on my calendar, it falls on the fourth Sunday), I post a roundup of five free games. Of course, I do take suggestions and recommendations, so if you have a favorite, please let me know. And if you are a developer, and you have a free game available, I am happy to feature it here.

So, with all of that having been said, welcome to the first post of the second edition of The Arcade. Today, we will be looking at five fantastic games:

1. CardHue

2. ArithmeTick

3. Xump

4. Creatonia

5. Clickball

Cardhue: Once again, we find ourselves with a fantastic, free puzzle game from Jean-Francois Mainguet. Like many of Mainguet’s games, this is a grid-based puzzle game. The size of the grid changes based upon the selected difficulty level. On each of the four edges around the grid is a symbol (you can also choose to use letters or numbers). At the end of each row or column associated with that symbol, there is a number. This number tells you how many of each symbol appear in that row or column. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to place all of the symbols in the correct spaces. In addition to placing the correct number of symbols in each row or column, you must also watch for identical symbols (or blank spaces), which may not be adjacent to each other vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. This is another one of those games with deceptively simple rules, just place the symbols in the grid. But the more you play, the more complicated the game will become as you learn all of its hidden intricacies.

ArithmeTick: This is a game which I had been planning to include in The Arcade for several months. Every time I receive a newsletter from Smartphone and Pocket PC Magazine, there is an add included for Space Time’s free game, ArithmeTick. Seeing this ad time and again, I knew this was a game I would have to try and eventually include in The Arcade.

The concept behind this game is simple, just solve the given math problems. Put your addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division skills to the test with three different levels of difficulty. While some of the problems presented may appear easy, you will need to move quickly with only 30 seconds on the clock (but don’t worry, each correct answer will add time back to the clock). Despite the fact that this game was everything I hated in second grade: row after row of math problems, it is extremely addictive in its simplicity. Oh, if only Mrs. Harper could see me now.

Xump: Here is another game that ended up being much more difficult than it initially seemed. All you have to do is maneuver your ball across the track in order to destroy all of the blocks. When you begin, there will only be two different blocks:

• gray blocks which are indestructible islands
• blue blocks which are destroyed by a single touch.

Before long, however, you will encounter several more complex block types, including:

• dark blue blocks which require two touches to destroy
• arrow blocks, which will always slide you in the direction of the arrow, as soon as you touch them
• warp blocks, which will transport you to another section of the maze.

This is a game which sounds easy, but can become frustratingly difficult. Xump will have you wracking your brain for hours at a time, trying to figure out how to get that one last square and move on to the next level.

Creatonia: This is another game from Inscenic which spent most of its life as a commercial release. A few months ago, however, Inscenic announced that Creatonia would be joining Galaxy Gate and Retro Detonation as free offerings. And really, I have to applaud Inscenic for the doing so.

Creatonia is a role playing game, focused on the Great Gods Uprising Tournament, a series of physical challenges designed to crown the best of the best. You play an aging warrior, who has already achieved greatness by winning this tournament. Now, it is your focus to train the next great winner of this competition. At the beginning, your apprentice will be unskilled, making frequent mistakes. The more you advance through the game, however, the more skills and abilities your apprentice will acquire. So, select your novice pupil and get started, you have 150 levels through which to guide him along the way to victory.

Clickball: The other day, when Brian reviewed Smartbox’ Farkle, he carefully drew a distinction between two-minute games and games which will take you days, if not weeks, to complete. Clickball is the ultimate two-minute game. Each level consists of a single screen. On that screen is a bouncing white ball. All you have to do to move on is tap the white ball. Sounds easy enough. But watch out for the black balls. They will be bouncing across the screen, trying to block you. Tap one of them and it is game over. A complete game can take as little as only a few seconds. But once you start playing, you will frequently find yourself muttering, “let me give that another try. I know I can do it.” The only frustration I found was once you miss and hit a black ball, you have to start all the way back at the beginning. It would be nice if you could start from any completed level. Like most basic puzzle games, it is simple in design, complex in game play, and completely addictive.

When I left Just Another Mobile Monday, a number of our devoted readers inquired about this column. I received quite a few emails asking about The Arcade, and I have to admit, I had many of the same questions. This feature has always been a labor of love for me. I really don’t think, after all this time, that I could stand to see someone else take it over. At the same time, I was not sure whether I would be able to find a new home for it. Of course, in the end, everything worked out, and here we are with The Arcade (v1.2) at My Today Screen. I hope you enjoy playing these games as much as I enjoy finding them each month.

As always, if you have any freeware games which you would like to see me highlight in this space (or if you are a developer of free games) just send me the link via the contact form on the front page, or send an email to dsgoldring [at] mytodayscreen.com (replace the “at” with a “@”. And if you are just joining us, be sure to check out our archives both here at My Today Screen, and all of the previous editions over at Just Another Mobile Monday.

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The Arcade: A Monthly Roundup of Freeware Games (April 2008)

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[Note: This article was originally posted on Just Another Mobile Monday on February 18, 2008

Well, the unseasonably warm weather we had been enjoying passed yesterday with a terrible windstorm, followed by freezing rain and ice.  It was bad enough that I kept expecting to find a pair of ruby red slippers poking out from under my house.  Alas, no such adventures took place (unless you count the green plastic slide that went flying out of the backyard).  Now that it is cold again, I realized our readers would need some nice indoor entertainment to distract from the sub-freezing temperatures.  And what better way to thaw out than sitting in front of a blazing fire (in the fireplace), leaning back in your favorite chair, and playing a few games on your Pocket PC.  Why the only way that could get better would be if the games were all free.  And so, hearing your call for some nice, free games to distract you from the winter cold, I decided to move this month’s edition of The Arcade up a week and get it to you as soon as possible.  No need to deprive you of these five fantastic games any longer than we absolutely have to.  This month, we will be looking at:

1. Realms

2. TangledBugs

3. Pocket Checkers

4.Magnets

5.3210

Realms:  If you are under the age of 30, then this is probably about to make absolutely no sense to you whatsoever.  So, you all can just skip on down to the next paragraph.  For the rest of you, let me take you on a journey back through time.  The year is 1980.  The hit arcade game: Asteroids.  You all remember this one.  In your triangular outline of a ship, you have to blast your way through digitized outlines of giant asteroids hurtling through space all around you.  Occasionally, a spaceship flies by, signaling the end of the round.  Of course, you blast that ship for an enormous bonus.  For you younger readers, it looked something like this (compliments of Wikipedia):

OK.  Dream sequence over.  Now, let’s return to 2008.  Three-dimensional graphics with exquisite detail rule the landscape of today’s video arcades.  A simple game like Asteroids has long since made its way to the video scrap yard…or has it.  Enter Space Time Arcade to essentially ask the question: what if you mixed yesterday’s Asteroids game with today’s technology.  The result is a visually stimulating, fast paced, rocket flight through space.  And don’t go thinking you are going to get away with fighting against passive asteroids this time.  Sure, there are giant shards of rock smashing into you at all directions, but they are no loner your main objective.  Now, these asteroids have been turned into mere obstacles, keeping you from your real objective, which is usually the destruction of an alien vessel or group of vessels.

The basic idea behind Realms is that you must journey through all six realms (each of which contains 30 levels), destroying the baddies and collecting credits along the way.  You will want these credits later in order to upgrade your ship and purchase special weapons.  This is a fantastic re-imagining of one of my favorite games, with a whole host of new elements included to ensure that it is completely updated and ready to blow you away (or technically blow away the aliens).  The only complaint I had were the controls which struck me as a bit counterintuitive.  Once I became accustomed to them, however, it was no problem to control my ship.  This is a game which I would gladly have paid for commercially.  Thankfully, Spacetime Arcade, the developers behind many math-related games, have decided to let you have this one for free.  And I suggest you take them up on that offer before they realize that giving this one away may not "add up" very well.

TangledBugs: "Oh what a tangled web we weave…" and this game is going to require all of your skills to untangle it.  No deception here, much to Shakespeare’s chagrin.  Just a bunch of spiders (each level will add a handful of the creepy critters) spinning webs in various intricate patterns as they move about the forest.  Of course, these spiders have no regard for one another, as their webs criss-cross and tangle over the screen.  Your job is to move the spiders about the screen so that their webs are completely untangled.  If you place a spider in a position which crosses no other lines, it will turn green.  In order to clear the level, all of the lines must be green, meaning that they cross no other lines.  There are two modes of play: Clasic Play, in which you can take as much time as you need to maneuver the spiders and untangle the webs; and Sudden Death, in which you will find yourself in a race against the clock to untangle the woven tapestry of spiders.   There is also a commercial version of the game, which includes additional variations.  Add to that the clever animation and graphics (when you quit the game, the spiders all drop their webs and scatter off the sides of the screen), and you will be bound to get tied up in this game for hours.

Pocket Checkers: Pocket Checkers is a direct contrast to TangledBugs.  Whereas that was an extremely original game with unique graphics, Pocket Checkers is one of the most well known and popular board games in the world.  Heck, for many of us, Checkers was among the first games we learned after Candy Land.  I was really quite impressed by Pocket Checkers, which had exceptional graphics, and more options that any free game really should.  There are four different colors for the pieces, and each side can choose any of the colors.  Additionally, you can choose whether one or the other side is going to be controlled by the computer; or whether you want to play head-to-head with another person.  And if you do choose to play against the computer, there are  three different difficulty levels, meaning the game is never going to be too easy or too hard for you.  According to their website, a new update should be coming soon, which will include the option of playing either international rules or American rules.  I am extremely impressed with the attention to detail in this game, particularly with four different colors and multiple levels of difficulty. 

Magnets: This is the second game I have featured in the Arcade by French developer, Jean Francois Mainguet (the first was Hitofri in March 2007), and I am fairly confident that it will not be the last.  Like all of his games, Magnets is simple and well designed, making for smooth gameplay.  Magnets reminds me a lot of the game Japanese Crossword.  It consists of a square grid, which can range from 4×4 to 8×8 blocks.  Your job is to follow the clues and place all of the magnets on the board.

Each magnet has a plus side and a minus side.  Like real magnets, opposites attract and like poles must not be next to each other.  Additionally, a 2×2 square can never be fully occupied within the grid.  Along the top and left of the grid are numbers, which reflect the number of positive magnets which must be in that row (negative ends are not counted).   Now, follow the clues along the sides to place the magnets in the white squares (each magnet uses two squares) on the grid.  Sounds easy enough, but even the smallest grid quickly becomes complicated as you immerse yourself in this challenging puzzle.

3210: This is another unique and addictive game.  Here, you control a cannon which pans back and forth across the screen.  Tap the screen to fire a ball.  The ball will bounce about the screen, finally coming to a stop.  But once it stops, the real fun begins as it begins to expand.  The ball will expand until it hits a wall or another object. Land a shot near the edge and it will hardly expand.  Stop in the middle of the screen, however, and the ball will fill almost the entire screen.

When you fire a new ball, it will have a "3" written on it.  Your task is to make this three countdown to a "0" by hitting the ball with another one.  Sounds easy enough.  Hit it once and the "3" becomes a "2", hit it again and you are at "1", and then a third time makes the ball disappear.  You will score a point for each ball you successfully remove from the screen.  Of course, it can’t be all that easy.  There is a line drawn near the bottom of the screen.  If a ball bounces past that line, then it is game over.  I found the addictive gameplay more than made up for the minimalist approach 3210 took to graphics and animation.

This was probably the most fun I have had with any edition of The Arcade.  The five games included in this edition of The Arcade were all impossible for me to put down.  And when I did finally stop playing one, I almost always loaded another, only to get lost in that one as well.  So, please be careful with this list of games.  I don’t want to hear about anyone’s employer complaining that they are not getting their work done because of playing Realms, TangledBugz, Pocket Checkers, Magnets, or 3210.

To see previous editions of The Arcade, check out our archives, exclusively at Just Another Mobile Monday.

If you are a game player or developer, and would like to recommend a freeware game for use in a future installment of The Arcade please email me here at JAMM (doug [at] justanothermobilemonday.com, but replace at “at” with a “@”. All requests are welcome.

[The address for comments has changed.  Please submit any suggestions to me at dsgoldring [at] mytoday screen.com or use the contact form.]

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The Arcade: A Monthly Roundup of Freeware Games (February 2008)

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[Note: This article was originally posted on Just Another Mobile Monday on January 14, 2008]

Welcome back to The Arcade.  I hope you are all well rested from the holidays and ready for another action packed year of free games.  As you can see, we have a new animation this year, which fits right into the new look of the site.  So, Happy New Year, welcome to 2008, and now let’s sit back and enjoy:

Fishcopter

Be The Last

Chess Puzzles

Magic Bubble

Mine Fields

FishCopter: This is a side scrolling arcade game, in which you must guide your character through a cavern, avoiding the tops and bottoms of the cave as well as a variety of obstacles along the way.  Fishcopter recreates a classic arcade style game from the 80’s (I remember playing similar games on the Atari 2600).  The twist, however, comes from the location of the action.  Rather than piloting a spaceship through an asteroid, as was a common theme in this genre, you must guide a fish (actually a school of fish) through an underwater cavern.  Watch out for sea urchins, shells, and other fish, which can quickly end your adventure.  Gameplay is fairly easy.  Left alone, gravity will pull the fish toward the bottom of the screen, crashing them into the bottom of the cavern.  Your intervention, however, can move them upward.  Momentum alone can then steer them into the top of the cave, so you will also need to steer them back down toward the center.  Try to stay near the middle (which, of course is where the enemy creatures tend to live).  This game did a fantastic job of recreating a classic game…complete with a 1980’s era soundtrack for the complete retro adventure.

Be The Last: This puzzle game challenged me almost as much as any game I have ever played.  Essentially, you are faced with four columns of explosives (each time you play, the layout will change).  Players take turns destroying the explosives in each column.  On each turn, you may choose an explosive located anywhere in one of the columns.  It will explode, destroying all of the bomb, as well as all of those above it.  Whichever player destroys the last bomb (hence the name) on the screen wins.  This sounds like a fairly simple concept, and really, it is an extremely easy puzzle game to play.  Of course, the real difficulty lies in the strategy of the game. In order to be the last, you must correctly determine the number of bombs to explode on each turn.   And that is where it becomes much more like chess than checkers.  This is a fantastic game for anyone who enjoys a math or strategy challenge in the morning.

Chess Puzzles: One of the oldest ( and arguably most popular) board games in the world is Chess.  There are hundreds of chess games and variations available, and dozens on the Windows Mobile platform alone.  Of course, the main problem with Chess is that it is not a quick game.  When great players meet on the Chess board, a game can last hours, if not days or weeks.  So, what is a Chess enthusiast to do when he wants to practice but does not have time for a long, drawn out game?  Chess Puzzles takes care of this problem by providing you with a variety of Chess-based scenarios.  Use them to hone your skills, learn new strategies, or just enjoy a little Chess-based fun.  Of course, if you run out of puzzles in the included pack, there are plenty more available for download.

Magic Bubble: I will admit that I am a bit shocked to be writing about a color matching game which was not published for Windows Mobile by Astraware.  They are, after all, the undisputed heavyweights in that genre, staking much of their reputation on the Bejeweled series.  Every once in a while, however, you find a “little guy” who steps in and stirs the pot with his own unique look at a genre.  In this case, it is Manbolo, with their fantastic color matching game, Magic Bubble.  Here, as in Bubbles or Bejeweled, you will be faced with a wall of colored bubbles.  Your goal is to match three or more to remove the bubbles (which will be instantly replenished).  Bonus points are given for clearing multiple groups with a single move.  You control the board with a translucent magnifying bubble.  Place this bubble over any group (up to three will fit) and you can spin clockwise or counter-clockwise.  Spinning the balls allows you to change their positions, and connect them to the proper sequence to form long chains of balls.  Watch out, though, when that line at the left reaches the bottom, it will be game over for you.  This is one of the best color matching games I have ever played for Windows Mobile, which was not named Astraware.

Mine Fields: We are all familiar with Mine Sweeper, the classic Windows game.  In fact, I have used this space in the past to bring you several free (and commercial) variations.  Now,we turn our attention to Mine Fields.  Imagine Mine Sweeper, however, instead of a square board filled with square spaces, you will find an irregularly shaped board, filled with hexagons or triangles (in addition to the tradition squares).   Gameplay is identical to Mine Sweeper, but the different shaped spaces make for an extra challenge.  A hexagon, for example, can border up to six other spaces, instead of the traditional four.  Additionally, changing the shapes of the spaces means the board will no longer form a square.  These long, narrow, and oddly shaped boards increase the challenge of the game.

This month’s edition of The Arcade reminded me a lot of parallel dimensions.  Everything looks familiar, but just slightly askew.  You say Asteroid Explorer, Chess, Bejeweled, and Mine Sweeper; I say Fishcoptor, Chess Puzzles, Magic Bubble, and Mine Fields.  Welcome to the alternate universe that is The Arcade.

To see previous editions of The Arcade, check out our archives, exclusively at Just Another Mobile Monday.

If you are a game player or developer, and would like to recommend a freeware game for use in a future installment of The Arcade please email me here at JAMM (doug [at] justanothermobilemonday.com, but replace at “at” with a “@”. All requests are welcome.

[The address for comments has changed.  Please submit any suggestions to me at dsgoldring [at] mytoday screen.com or use the contact form.]

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