Kindle Apps Blog

Rockin Reversi is a great game for beginners.  Once you master this one, you should check out Reversi Deluxe.  It will give you a bigger challenge.

Rockin Reversi is a cute game.  I love the wording of the instruction manual.  It sounds like it is geared more towards the younger crowd.

There are three levels: easy, medium, and hard.  I beat all of them fairly quickly.  You just need to “make a sandwich” around the opponent’s pieces, as the manual says.  You win the game once you capture all of your opponent’s pieces, or fill the board with the most pieces.

Rockin Reversi also has a multi player option.  So, you can play with your family and friends.  The game is so much more fun that way.

Overall, Rockin Reversi was easy to navigate.  The 5-way toggle button went a bit crazy on the board at times, but it fulfilled the purposes by selecting the squares I needed.  The pieces are clearly defined.

The only things that were a little more difficult to read were the tips and other side notes.  They might could be in a more readable font, but I didn’t pay too much attention to them anyway.

Unlike Reversi Deluxe, Rockin Reversi doesn’t have dots to tell you where to put your pieces.  I didn’t think this made a huge difference in my ability to play the game.

Deb M.

“I knew this game as Othello when I was growing up. I used to play it with my beloved Uncle when we were on vacation at my Grandparents cabin in Minnesota. I remember spending the evening bent over the board game on one side of the table, while he was on the other, discovering the “secrets” to winning the game, together. With the wonderful memories I had of the game, this was one of the first games I bought when I got my new kindle! I’ve played it a few times already, and love the looks of the game on my kindle, and it wasn’t hard to figure out how to get started which made it nice since I’m still new with my kindle. Thanks for making this wonderful game available to play when I don’t want to read, this way I can play it, even if I can’t find someone else to play it with me now!! ”

Rockin Reversi is now compatible with the latest generation keyboardless Kindle.

Whew, Reveersi Deluxe is definitely a brain workout.  The object of the game is to end up with the most pieces at the end of a game.  In order to do this, you have to position your pieces to capture as many of your opponent’s pieces as possible.

I have to warn you, Reversi Deluxe is a challenge at even the beginner levels.  I felt like I was steamrolled by the Kindle’s pieces.  It takes practice though.  Place your pieces around your opponent’s so you can trap as many of their pieces as possible.

I liked the interface, and it fits into the look and feel of the Kindle’s e-ink display.  I could easily figure out where I needed to select my pieces.  Use the toggle button to select the pieces.  The only suggestion I have is to maybe make the dots a little bigger in the squares that are considered when capturing the opponent.

When you first enter Reversi Deluxe, there are several customizable settings available.  You can choose whether you want to be black or white, what player starts the game, and what level to play.  There is also an option to view valid moves.

Overall, Reversi Deluxe is a fun, challenging game that is great for all ages.  I encourage you to review the help section before and while you play.  It provides good tips when to make certain moves and more.

John Stenson

“Reversi Deluxe comes with many options that should satisfy every player. You have the ability to play against your Kindle, obviously choose which color you are playing (White or Black) and who will have the privilege of playing the first move. A nice touch also is the presence of statistics that keep track of all the games you played, how many you won vs lost, how many points you scored, etc… On the performance side, Kindle “thinking” time is quite fast, from 1 second at the beginner level to about 5 seconds when playing Expert.”

A good suggestion for Mobigloo to make note of:

J. Mosher

“If I may make another suggestion, it would be helpful if the beginner level had an option to show possible opponents moves that update with the cursor position; make them X’s or something distinct from the dots to distinguish them from the places you can move. ”

Reversi Deluxe is now compatible with the latest generation keyboardless Kindle.

Memory Classic is a fun, easy to grasp game for the Kindle.  Both kids and adults can enjoy this game.

Memory Classic is a tile matching game.  The tiles have cute little pictures of astronauts, dolphins, boats, etc. The number of tiles on the board increases with each passing level.

There are three types of modes: relaxed, classic, and arcade.  Relaxed mode is untimed and has 18 levels.  So, you can work your way up through more advanced levels without a timer pressuring you.

Classic mode is a timed version of Relaxed mode.  So, not only are you working on your memory skills, you’re also working on your speed.  I didn’t do so hot against the timer, but I’m sure as I get better at Memory Classic, I’ll improve my time.

The Arcade mode was cool.  It sort of reminded me of Tetris because it is a “don’t let the blocks fill the screen” type game.  In this case, you’re racing against the tiles to get them matched before the unmatched tiles fill up the whole space.

The graphics are clear and easy to decipher.  You can use either the toggle button, or keyboard shortcuts to move across the board and flip the tiles.  The keyboard shortcuts might be a better fit for the classic mode because I found that the toggle button slowed me down.  It tended to get away from me a lot.

Memory Classic is one of those games you can probably just jump right in and play, but if you need help, you can always review the instructions on the list of menu options.  Also, there are hints at the bottom of the page to advise you on the best strategies on how to play each mode.

A future improvement to consider, is a Pass N’ Play type mode where you can play with others.  Memory classic is currently only one player at a time, but you can shoot for the best scores in order to get into the Hall of Fame.

TerriTheGrape

“Looking for a fun time waster? How about a game that the both you and the kids can play? Memory Classic is the perfect matching game for all! You can play Classic Mode where you must find all of the matches before time runs out, or for a more leisurely game, try Relaxed Mode. My favorite though, is Arcade Mode where you must make all of the matches and clear the board before time runs out while more and more tiles are being added. Don’t let the screen fill up or it’s GAME OVER! It sounds easy at first, but this mode gets very challenging!!”

Pirate Stash is part of Amazon’s own collection of free Kindle games.  So, this game works very nicely with the Kindle platform.

The object of Pirate Stash is to push a treasure chest full of gold to the “X” on a different part of the board.  It is a lot like navigating a maze.  Be careful about getting trapped in the corner!  The good news is, you can always hit the back button to undo your last move.

The puzzles start out super easy, but they get harder pretty quickly.  There are beginner, intermediate, advanced, and expert levels.  In between you’ll find introduction and training to get you acclimated to the way the game is played.  I tried out the advanced and expert levels.  Those take some major strategic thinking skills.  The number of treasure chests you have to push increases as you advance through the levels as well.

Amazon has done a good job with the graphics.  They’re very clear and designed in a way that compliments the game.

Pirate Stash will keep you busy for awhile.  It includes a good sized collection of puzzles.  In order to move the treasure chest, you just use the Kindle’s 5-way toggle button.  One minor frustration for me was that the treasure chest got away from me because the toggle went faster than I intended.  Just be careful and don’t over use it.

You really can’t go wrong with downloading Pirate Stash.  It is a great quality game, and best of all, it is free.  Amazon also has a fair number of other good quality free Kindle games available to download.

Fun game for all ages!

kt simms

“I really like logical and strategic games and this is a great but simple one. The graphics are very clear – right down to his peg leg and his footprints in the sand. There are 118 puzzles (if you count the introduction and advanced training puzzles) in 7 different categories, with each category growing progressively more challenging to solve. It includes the standard game features (restart, undo, timer, reveal solution, leave the game and return to it, etc.). The “Undo” is great in that you can reverse move after move rather than only being able to undo the last one. I also like that the timer doesn’t start until you make your first move, giving you a bit of time to assess the board and plan your moves. ”

Pirate Stash is now compatible with the latest generation keyboardless Kindle.

Kids’ Classic Card Games is true to its title.  It includes old familiar card games such as War, Old Maid, Go Fish, and Crazy Eights.

If you aren’t familiar with any of these card games, you can play in tutorial mode.  I used it to refresh my memory on the rules, and to get a feel for how this particular version is played.

In War, you go back and forth comparing the numbers on your cards.  The player who gets the highest card wins and gets all of the cards from that round.  If you both get the same card, it is war.  That just means that you put down three cards face down and one face up.  The winner gets all of the cards.  This cycle goes on until one player gets the whole deck.  It is pretty simple.  I got a little bored with it after awhile.  This particular game just doesn’t have the same feel on the Kindle as it does with physical cards.

Everyone is probably familiar with Go Fish, and lots of kids learn it at a young age.  In Kids’ Classic Card Games you play against three other players.  Use the tutorial to help you leanr how to ask certain players for the cards you need to create matches.

Crazy Eights is a lot like UNO.  You just have to match up your cards with the one in the center pile by suit or number.  Eight is a wild card.  The first player who runs out of cards wins.

Old Maid is pretty simple.  Each player starts with 13 cards, with one holding 14.  The extra one is the Joker, and it doesn’t have a match.   With each turn, you give a card to the player on the left.  All cards that are matched up get discarded.  Once everyone runs out, whoever ends up with the Joker loses and is the Old Maid.

Overall, I thought this game was designed well, and is pretty intuitive as far as navigation goes.  You just use the 5-way toggle, and are playing against the Kindle’s auto generated players.  A couple of additional games to add that might appeal to older kids: Black Jack and Hearts.

Candace Kiekhefer

“I puchased this game today and was not disappointed. I think Sonic Boom did a fine job putting this together. All 4 games use a standard deck of cards to play with. The cards themselves are very clear and easy to read. Each game plays in a timely manner with no lagging on Kindle’s part. There are no complicated control moves to learn. I have played each of the games and they all play the way we all learned how to play them when we were kids.”

Kids Classic Card Games is now compatible with the latest generation keyboardless Kindle.

All of HandyX”s Kindle quizzes are set up the same way, and Ultimate Shakespeare Quiz is no different.  I took a Shakespeare class in college as part of my English major, and going through the questions in this app reminded me of a lot of the plays and ideas I learned in that class.

Ultimate Shakespeare Quiz includes questions about a great many of Shakespeare plays, as well as additional facts from the sixteenth century.

There are plays mentioned that everyone recognizes such as Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet, as well as more obscure plays that are not quite as familiar unless you are a fan of Shakespeare’s plays, or have taken a class on them.

You can play either casually through all 1000 questions, or you can go round by round.  If you want to test your speed, you can use the timer.

When you go through the questions, you’ll go through a string of hard ones, and then get a really easy one.  It is almost like comic relief.

The hardest questions for me were the quotes from the plays.  You really need to be familiar with the different plays: Merchant of Venice, King Lear, etc, in order to answer the questions. But one trick that helped me was knowing the characters’ names.

HandyX really presents a good challenge with their Kindle quizzes.  I’m not sure very many children can answer them, but they’re great trivia for adults on a long car ride or any other similar type situations.

So, overall, I was able to refresh my memory from Shakespeare class, and also learn new and interesting terms and definitions from Shakespeare’s time.

Electra

“I got this for my Kindle at a great deal. This game is the most begged for in our car as well as for afternoon activities. It came in handy one morning when we were dealing with a neighborhood crisis and my 10 year old grabbed my Kindle. I think She is half way through and only missed 3 questions. I’d recommend this for all parents who want to supplement their children’s education and since it is on the Kindle it is quiet when you need your children to be quiet. Though in our case my children get loud over who said what in Hamlet or a Midsummer”s Night Dream and a few others that they are quite familiar with.
This game is addictive!”

Ultimate Shakespeare Quiz is now compatible with the latest generation keyboardless Kindle.

Link Four is the Kindle version of the old, familiar game called Connect Four.  The object of the game is simple.  Just connect four pieces to win a match.

Link Four has three levels.  I honestly couldn’t tell a lot of difference between easy, medium and hard.  I think it has a lot to do with the player’s method of playing, and where they place their pieces.

I played all levels against the Kindle, but you can do two player.  I think it is always more fun to play against a human rather than a robot.  There’s so much more personal strategy going on.

The Kindle got me a lot with the diagonal matches.  So, beware of those.  They can add up quickly.  You can also connect four pieces vertically and horizontally.

If you know how to play Connect Four and are familiar with Kindle games, then you should be able to just jump right in.  The help section’s always there if you need it.  Quickly return to the main menu by selecting that option that comes up when you press the menu button.

As with many Kindle games, the primary navigation tool is the Kindle’s 5-way toggle button.  I got a little frustrated with it because the arrow at the top of the grid kept moving faster than I intended.  So I’d accidentally drop my chip into the wrong hole.

If you have a newer Kindle, this shouldn’t be as much of an issue.  The toggle button is a lot better with the newest models.

Link Four is a simple game, and the graphics are easy to see and intuitive.  The design is not anything fancy, so they fit the overall purpose of the game just fine.

the chips are white or black, and you can choose which one you want to be.

Link Four is well worth the 99 cents.  I think it is a great travel companion because you don’t have to worry about lost pieces.  It is a good way to keep kids occupied in the car or in doctor’s waiting rooms.

Link Four is a great game for kids, and brings back fond childhood memories of playing Connect Four.  It also provides enough of a challenge to make the game enjoyable for adults as well.

S. Randall

“Definitely enjoyed this game! I definitely recommend buying this to other Kindle game lovers! As the other commenter said, worth the 99 cents~”

Link Four is now compatible with the latest generation keyboardless Kindle.

Jewel Quest Solitaire is a lot of fun, and for newbies to the game, it includes one of the best tutorials I’ve seen so far in the Kindle game collection.

Most of yo are probably familiar with the basic Solitaire game, and its variations.  Jewel Quest Solitaire is a much more interesting form of the game.

Your goal is to remove all of the piles of cards with the highest points possible.  There are different ways to get more points: play cards of the same suit, use the wild cards, and more.

Remove the cards from the piles and put them over the Foundation pile cards in ascending or descending order.  If there aren’t any cards that fit this criteria, then you have to draw ones until they come up.

Jewel Quest Solitaire involves a bit of strategy when you determine what cards to add to the Foundation cards.  Some are stand alones, others reveal more cards.  Check the “rules” section for more information on what the best strategies are.

One added twist on Jewel Quest Solitaire is that it is kind of like a scavenger hunt of sorts.  As you complete each game, you unlock more, and every game gets you close to discovering Professor Percy Pack’s lost jewels.

The newer the Kindle, the better the graphics are going to be.  You use the 5-way toggle button for all navigation.  When you first get into Jewel Quest Solitaire, a tutorial will guide you through each step of the game.

The only major complaint I have about Jewel Quest Solitaire is that sometimes it was hard to see what cards were marked.  So I had to look around to try to find the one that was selected.  Again, this probably is not such a big issue with the newer Kindles that have crisper e-ink displays.

Jewel Quest Solitaire is a really new game: just released in September, 2011.  So, there hasn’t been much time to build up reviews.  I think it will be a big hit, and a fun game for all ages.

slimwolf

“Jewel Quest Solitaire for the kindle is very similar to the PC version of the game which I love. The game movement is very smooth and intuitive and there are 70 unique levels which makes it a great value. If you like solitaire games- this is one of the best on the market.”

Jewel Quest Solitaire is now compatible with the latest generation keyboardless Kindle.

There is a popular game called Bejeweled or Bejeweled Blitz available for the PC, smartphone, and tablets such as the iPad.  It relies a lot on color, so it isn’t the best fit for the Kindle.

The current version of the Kindle doesn’t have color options, but Mobigloo  has created a comparable game called Jewels that relies more on patterns than than shapes and colors.  The patterns ad more depth to the game because they require you to pay closer attention to detail.

The goal of Jewels is to match up three objects with the same patterns and shapes.  The shapes are all just basic geometric shapes: circle, triangle, square.  Remember to pay attention to the patterns inside the shapes.  Some shapes are similar in structure.

In order to select and move a shape to match it with others you have to select it first with the Kindle’s 5-way toggle button.  Once selected, you use the toggle button to match it up with the others.  The extra step is more cumbersome than just dragging the shape on a touch screen, but it works best with the current Kindle platform.

Other than the look and method of moving the shapes, Jewels is basically the exact same game we’re all familiar with.  You can choose to play casual, untimed games, or timed ones that test speed and accuracy.

If you get stuck, and can’t find a match, there is a hint option available, and a help section in the menu.  Overall, Jewels is a pretty simple game to grasp, and can certainly keep kids and adults alike occupied for hours.

MamaCat

“I’ve always loved the jewel games, but because this game is in black and white it’s more difficult than playing it in color. Also, some of the jewels are similar in design so it takes more time for you to connect the right ones. Definitely a fun game and will keep your brain in shape!”

Roxanne Mchenry

“I’ve played popgame’s bejeweled online for a long time, and so I was intrigued when I saw this game was available. The basic premise is the same and you will have multi-levels drop if you match the right 3 jewels. I liked that the game does have a dropping visual effect, but I dislike having to use the 5-way controller to swap jewels. It works about as good as it possibly could with the limitation of the Kindle. I would rather play this game on a color device as an app– maybe on the new Kindle Fire when it comes out!”

Did you know that there is a Cocktail Mixer app for the Kindle?  No more flipping through cumbersome books to find cocktail recipes!  I am especially excited about this one.  It includes both alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks.  So, it is a real treat for all ages.  Not to mention, it is cheap!

There are 350 drinks to choose from.  I’m sure bartenders would laugh at me for being so in awe at the size of the collection. From an amateur’s point of view, that is quite a selection to choose from.  Now that it is finally Fall, the Apple Strudel and Apple Cider slider sound especially good.  There are cocktails for every season.  Check out the Cocktail Browser section for cocktails by theme or occasion.

Of course, when you first enter the program, it reminds you to drink responsibly.  There are coffees and other sweet non alcoholic mixed drinks available for kids or non drinkers.

You can search Cocktail Mixer’s database in several ways.  Search by cocktail name or by the alphabetical index.  You can also search by cocktail ingredient.  Do you have random ingredients sitting in your kitchen that you don’t know quite what to do with?  There might be a cocktail in Cocktail Mixer’s database that can use those ingredients.

You can also enter up to three ingredients and come up with available drinks that use them.  There are drinks for every occasion.  From casual to formal, breakfast to nightcap, Cocktail Mixer has it covered.

Cocktail Mixer is very easy to navigate with the Kindle’s toggle button.  Use it to switch through the selections, and use the keyboard to search for drinks you may already have in mind by typing in the first letter.  The quick searching and easy to read recipes make this Kindle app a great reference guide.

The recipes are easy to follow and don’t require much preperation effort.  I can’t wait to try some more of the drink flavors out.  In addition to the apple flavored drinks, the coffees and mint flavored drinks sound delicious.

Maybe HandyX or another Kindle developer can create a recipe database for food and desserts.  I think it would be awesome to have an “quick cooking” recipe guide.

I am eager to hear how others like Cocktail Mixer, and their experiences with trying different recipes.  I am always amazed at the ideas developers come up with for the Kindle, and this one is quite creative.