Card Games and Puzzles
The PC has always been a great environment for playing card games and solving puzzles, so we've found several excellent programs for you. Whether you prefer classics such as solitaire or you're fond of more recent challenges like sudoku, we have something here that you're sure to like.
Amazing Jigsaw
The name of this program says it all: Here, you'll get amazing jigsaw puzzles to solve. The photographs are beautiful, the game offers dozens of puzzles, and challenges range in difficulty from easy to medium to hard. The easy puzzles have 35 pieces, the medium choices have 48, and the hard ones have 165. The included timer lets you see how long you take to complete each puzzle.
The software works as you would expect. Simply grab pieces and move them around; you can also easily rotate the pieces. To make solving easier, you can have a thumbnail of the completed image appear. The game also allows you to turn music and sound on or off, as well as to save puzzles that you haven't yet completed.
Download Amazing Jigsaw | Price: Free
EclipseCrossword
Anyone can solve crossword puzzles--the real challenge is in creating them. And that's where EclipseCrossword comes in. No, it won't turn you into Will Shortz, the crossword editor for the New York Times, but it will make creating crosswords simple.
You'll need to come up with the words and the clues; after all, you have to do some work. But crafting the clues is all the fun. Type in your words and their associated clues, and save them in a word list. You can save the list just for a single puzzle, or save it to a master list from which you can generate multiple puzzles. The master list is the better bet, because after a relatively short amount of time, you can have a large list of words from which you can fashion lots of puzzles.
Once you decide on your word list, tell EclipseCrossword the size of the puzzle grid. It then goes about its work, fitting all the words into a neat puzzle. You can review the puzzle and make any changes you want, including changing the size of the grid.
After that, the fun begins. You can publish your puzzle in assorted ways. The simplest method is to print it; to do that, save the file to disk, and then print. You can save the file in several formats, including PDF and RTF. You can also save the puzzle as a ready-to-upload Web page, complete with JavaScript or a Java applet for interactivity. Or you can instead have the program create it as a noninteractive Web page; this setup requires the user to print the puzzle out.
Download EclipseCrossword | Price: Free
Mahjongg II
For a long time, Mahjongg solitaire games were quite popular on the PC. While those days are largely past, that doesn't mean you can't play them--and this simple, straightforward version of the game is a good option.
Mahjongg on the PC is very different from the real-life game, in which several people play in a fast-paced competition, often with gambling involved. In the single-player PC game, you're given artfully arranged piles of tiles, and you must remove available matching tiles until you've removed them all--or until you wind up with no legitimate moves and you lose, which is a far more common occurrence.
Mahjongg II is a small, basic interpretation, but it has some nice extras, including hints for when you get stuck. It also keeps track of your score, as well as the time you take to finish the current game.
Download Mahjongg II | Price: Free
Patience
Are you a solitaire connoisseur, someone who thinks that having a dozen free versions of the game isn't remotely enough? Then you'll want Patience, which comes with more solitaire games than you can ever play unless you're locked up in solitary confinement--more than 200 of them. You get 14 major types of solitaire here, with many variants of each game. Just reading the names themselves is entertaining: How about playing the Tam O'Shanter variant of Sir Tommy Type solitaire? Or the Demon Fan variant of Fan Type solitaire?
If you're like most folks, you'll likely have no idea how most of these solitaire types and variants are played, but that's no problem at all--the software offers all the rules. The interface and card play aren't as sophisticated-looking as what you'll find in Solitaire 3D (see below), but you'll forget that in no time as you get immersed in playing.
Download Patience | Price: Free
Pure Sudoku Free Edition
Have you been caught up in the sudoku craze yet? If not, here's a brief primer: It's a logic puzzle in which you must fill in the blanks on a nine-by-nine grid so that every row and column contains the numbers one through nine, and every three-by-three square contains the numbers one through nine. No number can repeat in any line, row, or three-by-three square. The puzzle starts with a group of numbers already placed, and your task is to complete the rest.
Many newspapers publish sudoku puzzles daily or weekly, and you can find many books of them as well. This program is an easy way to get sudoku on your PC, for free. Start the program and choose your level of difficulty, and you're ready to go. Filling out the puzzle is simple: Click a number, and then click the square where you want the number to go. If you enter a number that is already present on the same row, column, or three-by-three square, you'll be informed of your error.
One important thing to remember: To put multiple possible numbers in any square, right-click instead of clicking. That way, you can narrow down the potential answers as the game proceeds. It's almost impossible to solve sudoku puzzles without this ability, so make the right-click your friend.
The creators of the game also have a for-pay version that provides extras such as tips and the ability to save games. But you don't need to pay anything to have fun--the free version is very good already.
Download Pure Sudoku Free Edition | Price: Free
Solitaire 3D
What's the biggest time-wasting PC game of all time? No doubt it's solitaire; people have whiled away countless hours sliding cards around on their computers. The next time you're on an airplane (or in a meeting, for that matter), and you see someone engrossed in their PC, peek at their screen. Don't be surprised if you see solitaire there instead of spreadsheets.
In this program you get a set of handsome-looking 3D games that feature good sound effects and animation. You'll find the usual variants, such as Klondike and Spider, but you'll also encounter others you most likely don't know, such as Beleaguered Castle. Solitaire 3D comes with six free game types; if you want to play the main other versions, you'll have to upgrade to the for-pay version.
Download Solitaire 3D | Price: Free
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