Palm OS Games Wish List 2007

We use affiliate links. If you buy something through the links on this page, we may earn a commission at no cost to you. Learn more.

Dear Santa

What I REALLY want for Christmas is to get this review done. Maybe I bit off more than I could chew- reviewing a list of good Palm games, after all, is a tough thing to do, especially since a lot of my favorites are now discontinued! Let’s try to move on, however.

Here are some of the games I go back to over and over, that do not take a long time to learn or play, and that do not chew up a lot of system resources.

ASTRAWARE

Several of my favorites come from this powerhouse of a company:
Bejeweled 2, a previously reviewed and very addictive game for $19.95.
Sudoku. This is a feature-rich version of the popular number game if you like this sort of thing as much as I do. For me, it was well worth the $19.95. I tried many of the freeware versions, but this version offers a lot of flexibility, downloadable puzzle packs, and several levels of helps that you can avail yourself of. Besides, when I do the ‘paper and pencil’ version, things get messy- the e-version is always nice and clean.
Bookworm is a ‘Boggle’-like game for one person that has several interesting twists- exploding letters, bonus words, an extensive dictionary, and a somewhat ‘Tetris’-like flavor make it a pretty unique game. $19.95.
Text Twist is almost a cross between a word jumble and hangman- make as many words as you can from the selected letters in a fixed amount of time. No big bells or whistles other than a button that mixes up the letters to help spur your thought process. Great brain-stretcher for $19.95!
Traffic Jam. A well-done version of the sliding block game ‘Rush Hour’. You jockey cars and trucks around to free your car. Several levels and simple rules makes this a great game. $9.95.
Farkle has been reviewed earlier as well. $14.95
Mars Needs Cows is a rather dumb litle game for $9.95 in which you set objects in the barnyard to ‘bounce’ animals into the alien’s abducting beam. They have a shopping list and you help them get what they need. The first few levels will suck you in to the point that the premise almost makes sense!

I would have listed Insanaquarium, Hellfire, Cake Mania and more (I could pretty near cut and paste their entire product list here!), but they either appeal to more specific tastes, use more resources, or take longer to play, etc.

FREEWARE

As a life-long cheapskate, I love freeware. In fact, in some cases, I prefer the freeware version to commercial versions! Some titles I would like to share here include:
Vexed, a nicely done combination of a sliding block puzzle and Tetris. Quick, simple gameplay with a nearly-endless increasingly challenging levels. If you like Bejeweled, give this a try! This is one of those gems that is better done than many commercial programs.
Backgammon 3.1 is a slick little Backgammon game that I prefer over most commercial versions. However, it is old (2001) and hard to find now. A good commerical version is Handmark Backgammon, or you can try one of the many other versions that are available.
PilOth and StaBu are Othello/Reversi clones. Each has a few weaknesses but still manage to beat my pants off me most of the time.
Mirek’s YahDice is a simple but well-done version of the classic game ‘Yahtzee’. Perhaps it gives a few too many of the high-scoring ‘5 of a kind’ rolls than real die would, but I’m not complaining!
DopeWars. One of those vaguely ‘guilty pleasures’ I have. It is a quick version of a trading game/business simulator with a somewhat reprehensible theme. However, it also includes a smaller number of variables compared to other versions like ‘Space Trader’, which befuddle my poor, aged brain.
Pyramid Solitaire only takes a few minutes per hand but is as challenging as Freecell or Spider Soliaire. Another nicely done freeware program!
The Prison. A ‘Breakout’ clone that has been reviewed earlier.

There are a gazillion other freeware games worth at least an honorable mention here: Bomb Canada, Towers of Hanoi, Matchsticks, and others that may lack a polished interface, or that loose their appeal once solved, or that are glitchy on newer Palms, but I have to get this wrapped up, so…

OTHER GAMES

Some of the other games I recommend include:
Pocket Mobility’s Quizzler. This is a freeware ‘Reader’ with a commercial ‘Pro’ and ‘Maker’ versions and a library of free and for pay quizzes. You can also create your own quizzes for fun or education. I could wish that the interface looked a little more professional, but it is a nice pack with plenty of free quizzes to get you started. So far, few of the other trivia or quiz games I have tried come close to being as good as this one, with the exception of the commercial version of ‘Trivial Pursuit’, which is actually a very different sort of program.
Palm Guy’s Ten Thousand. A share-ware version of ‘Farkle’ that I prefer to the commercial version, and only $5.95!
Landware’s Shanghai. The Palm version of the old Windows’ ‘Mah-Jong’ is slick and plays well. Some of the characters are a bit small on the screen, but you have access to dozens of character sets- dinosaurs, math, space, and more. Every version of this game has certain quirks and their own take onsome rules, so it is not exactly like the Windows version, and every now and then it has programming glitches- like a semi-transparent piece that lets you click on the one under it- but overall it is a nice game for the $14.95 asking price.
Wolcott’s Picture Logic, the ‘fill-in-the-blanks’ art puzzle, is a nice challenge. Buy the main program for $12.00 and find hundreds of free puzzle packs on-line.
Red Mercury’s Acid Spider Solitare and Freecell. Yeah, there are other good versions out there, but I am partial to the layout and features of Red Mercury’s versions. For $9.95 (on sale now) each, I get hours of time-wasting…, er, I mean ‘time-filling’ entertainment!
Stand Alone’s Crosswords for Palm Straight-forward crossword game that can download new puzzles from several sources. A good selection of helps and features can help speed things up if desired.$19.95.

Well, Santa, I hope I have done my part to help you find the right program for the Palm users on your list! Now- maybe you could do ME a favor… Have you seen a good Palm version of any of these games?
– ‘Hexxagon’? The 7-Up company had a cute version called ‘Spot’.
– ‘Laser Tag’- any of a dozen programs in which you position mirrors or barriers to lasers. I especially like the versions in which you have a small laser tank to try to shoot a designated target.

12 thoughts on “Palm OS Games Wish List 2007”




  1. Gadgeteer Comment Policy - Please read before commenting
  2. The Palm game scene looks pretty lonely to me after the abrupt departure of PDA Mill and their beautiful games like the GameBox casual series and Snails (a Worms clone). I’m glad, and surprised, that Astraware hasn’t followed suit.

  3. For a laser/mirrors game for Palm try Aargon:

    http://www.handango.com/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=1&platformId=1&N=96804&productId=71476

    I’ve bought lots of games for the Palm, but most of my favorites are the simple freeware ones that are a lot closer to the “Zen of Palm”. Astraware’s titles look pretty, but they are slow to load and exit, and have poor feedback. Click on something and wait a beat for the program to respond. They work like “gasp” winmobile games.

    Currently on my Centro I have three bought games (BeCrossword, MegaGammon, and Scrabble) and six freeware gems: Microban (a sokoban game with tons of free levels), Patience (the best solitaire game for palm and it’s free!), PocketBo (a great SkipBo card game clone, Puzzles (more about it below), Shisensho and Traffic.

    Puzzles is a Palm port of a collection PC freeware games called Simon Tatham’s Portable Puzzle Collection with 27 separate logic puzzle type games (my favorite is Tents). You can find the Palm version here:

    http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~jharvey/puzzles/

  4. Thanks for the link Julie. I played Vexed many a moon ago, but it looks like it has come a long way with high-res and lots of new levels.

  5. Yeesh. I work my fingers to the bone sweating over a hot keyboard to do the review and post a link, but Julie gets the thanks. 🙂

    Mark- I like sokoban games, and like Microban. Thanks for the reminder- it is one of the games that I have ‘lost’ over time. I don’t like the freeware ‘Traffic’, but the base game play is solid. I know I have tried Patience- I’ll have to look for it again.

    Thanks for the links- I’m always on the lookout for good leads! Although Aargon is not being nice for me right now- the free trials are not working for me. Such is life!

  6. Awww now Mark, don’t be a hater ;o)

    Speaking of Sokoban, anyone else out there just not see the point of that game? I mean who in the right mind finds a game to be fun that requires you to add numbers together? That is just wrong! ;o)

  7. Julie- I believe you’re thinking of Soduko, which I agree is intensely boring after two games. Sokoban involves pushing boxes around a “warehouse” maze to get them into correct position and can be quite interesting.

    Mark- When I saw Vexed mentioned in your review I went right past it because I had played it and finished it long ago. Julie’s link prompted me to look again and find it has been updated a lot. Here’s a link for Patience.

  8. oops, Sudoku was exactly what I was thinking. My thinker isn’t working too well as I have a horrible headcold… As for Sokoban, love it!

  9. Jeez- now I have to admit to my Sudoko semi-addiction.

    I find that I play a round of Astraware Sudoku about every other day, and the daily paper version a couple times a week. I am not sure it is so much an addiction as it is getting bored with older stuff.

    I find I get a game, play the bejeebers out of it, and then regret registering it. Right now, I am getting kinds tired of Sudoku and going back to Spider Solitaire… which I was bored with before.

    I need a new addicting game. I need it NOW!

  10. Hi Mark,

    Just spent the last age writing my own shootemup game for the palm.

    As I enjoy a challenge would love to see if you like it enough to put it on your list.

    TheBelt2120

    Regards
    Cat

    [Edited at October 11, 2008 02:52:10 AM.]

    [Edited at October 11, 2008 02:52:35 AM.]

Leave a Reply to Mark Adkins Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *