Welcome to "Penny Arcade", a new regular feature in which I will be looking at some of the great freeware games available today for the PocketPC.  This is the first edition of "Penny Arcade", and if all goes well, it should appear here on a monthly basis. 

In this inaugural edition, I’ll look at the following five games:

1. TripYzee!

2. Ball’s Clues

3. Free Pong

4. Wood Puzzle Deluxe

5. Whirlwind 21

TripYzee!: TripYzee is an excellent clone of the classic dice game, Yahtzee.  There are two modes in TripYzee, Regular Yzee and Triple Yzee.  In regular mode, you compete in a classic game of Yahtzee (Yzee) in which you roll the dice and attempt to score various combinations on your score sheet.  TripYzee adds an additional twist to the classic game.  Instead of scoring a single column, your score sheet contains three columns.  The first column is the classic scoring column, the second column is worth double points, and the last column is worth triple points.  Deciding which column to score adds an exciting and complex new dimension to the game.  TripYzee is available from TheXter’s PPC Page.

Ball’s Clues: This is fantastic clone of MasterMind, the a popular board game, in which you try to guess the order of four hidden colored balls.   Mastermind is an old favorite game of mine, and this clone did not disappoint.  In Ball’s Clues, the computer selects a combination of four colored balls, which remain hidden from you until you solve the puzzle.  Your job is to guess the combination of balls (colors and positions).  You make a guess by selecting one of the six colored balls for each of the four positions.  With each guess, you are given two clues: how many balls you have correct, and how many colors you have correctly positioned.  You’ll have to use all of your wits, and all of the computer’s clues to solve each puzzle.  This is quick and fun game, which has become a staple on my device.  Ball’s Clues is available at PocketPC4All.

Free Pong: Pong is the original ancestor of all video games.  In fact, at one time, this was simply called "The Game".  Gameplay is fairly simple.  Each player controls a paddle at opposite ends of the screen.  A ball bounces between the paddles.  The object is to score a point by shooting the ball past your opponent’s paddle.  Score 21 points and you win.  This clone is an excellent rendition of the old game.  I particularly appreciated the updated graphics which allowed me to enjoy the game without feeling like I was playing a dinosaur.  Free Pong is available from IntelliArt.

Wood Puzzle Deluxe: This is an excellent puzzle game with fantastically drawn graphics.  You are provided with a variety of puzzle pieces made up of blocks arranged into irregular shapes.  The object of the game is to fit the pieces together to form a perfect square.  As an additional bonus, the blocks and backgrounds in this game are all fully skinnable.  You can even use any bitmap drawing or picture as a background.  Warning — this game is highly addictive and much more challenging than it appears.  It is truly the Rubik’s Cube of handheld games.  Wood Puzzle Deluxe is available from Allekai.

Whirlwind 21: What do you get when you cross solitaire with blackjack?  An incredibly entertaining new solitaire card game.   In Whirlwind 21, you start with a deck of cards and five empty piles.  Turn over the cards from the deck one at a time and place the card onto any of the piles.  The object is to create a pile which adds up to 21, without going over.  When a pile totals 21, it will be cleared.  In order to facilitate gameplay, a running tally of each pile’s score is shown on the screen.  Bonus points can also be earned for a Five-Card Charlie (a pile consisting of five cards whose total is less than 21), a Natural (scoring 21 using only two cards),  clearing the entire board, or playing the entire deck.  The game ends when you reveal a card from your deck which cannot be played on any pile.  This has been a mainstay on my handheld for months.  You can download Whirlwind 21 from Jonathan Misurda’s website.

I hope you enjoy all five of these games as much as I did.  They are all entertaining and offer entertaining a level of gameplay and graphics which is usually reserved for commercial products.

If you are a game player or developer, and would like to recommend a freeware game for use in a future installment of the "Penny Arcade please email me at doug@justanothermobilemonday.com.  All requests are welcome.

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