Kindle Apps Blog

Scrabble has been a real hit for Kindle users since its release on September 23.  It includes a lot of cool features to help you improve your playing strategy..

The Kindle edition of Scrabble includes both solo and multi player versions.  In the solo game, you’ll play against a computer with a choice of three difficulty level settings.  The Best Word feature provides you with the best word options that would make the most out of the double and triple word scores for a turn.  Too bad you don’t have that hint with the regular board game. I’m sure many people will make good use of this feature.

Statistics tracking is included to help you strive to improve your game each time you play.  You can also take a look at past moves that both you and your opponent have made throughout the game.  It looks like the players are going to have to get a lot more secretive about the way they play strategically.

The reviews for the Kindle edition of Scrabble are great, and one reviewer pointed out that the Kindle’s five way controller makes playing the game really easy.

Another reviewer noted that the graphics are well done, and the game has just enough complexities to justify the higher price of $4.99.  This is about the same price as the best games on the iPad and iPod touch.  So you get what you pay for in most cases.  When I think of paying $5 for this game versus $30 or more for a Nintendo DS game, it puts things into perspective.

The full board on the regular Kindle is quite small, but the new and improved graphics on the latest generation allows it to remain crisp and easy to see.  The Kindle DX certainly provides more board room on its bigger screen if you have one.

As for the game itself, Scrabble is a challenge.  It is fun to come up with creative or crazy words.  I get a real kick out of beating the “unbeatable” experienced players.  Now, with the game available on my Kindle, I can take it anywhere and play it while I wait for the bus, the doctor’s office or at home on a rainy afternoon.

For more information about Scrabble, check out this Kindle Scrabble review on Kindle Review Blog.

Kindle Checkers is another app that is likely to emerge quickly. I’t pretty much the same deal as with chess. Being able to play against Kindle CPU if you are beginner or against web-service. Controlling the game with 5-way controller is even easier since there are only 32 squares to choose from as opposed to 64. Also because the game is not as complex Kindle CPU would be able to provide more of a challenge to a human player.

Kindle Chess

Kindle Chess is very likely to be among the first released apps. There are many ways to implement this game on Kindle platform.

The game will likely take advantage of Kindle’s free 3G Internet connectivity since onboard CPU isn’t doesn’t have enough computing power to challenge anyone except for very novice players. Experienced players will have to test their skill against server somewhere on the web or against their home PC that can use 100% of its computing power and memory to challenge the human player.

Another scenario would be human vs. human play. Kindle owners would be able to engage in either fast paced blitz tournament style games or take it easy and enjoy slow play-by-mail type matches at one turn a day or even a week. Since chess is social and highly competitive game I wouldn’t be surprised if some Kindle Chess application would also have social networking features.

If I were the owner of one of the online chess websites or existing PC chess games I would start working hard on creating a Kindle version and add value to the whole services by making it available on Kindle.

Implementing chess on Kindle isn’t likely to present a major ergonomic challenge since 64 squares on the board can easily be navigated with 5-way controller or player can just type their moves on the keyboard (e2e4)

Kindle Sudoku

Update: As of November 19, 2010 Electronic Arts has released a Kindle version of Sudoku on Amazon marketplace. You can download it here an start playing right away.

Since little is known right now about KDK and the way it will integrate with Kindle software I can only speculate about which Kindle apps will be available. And this is precisely what I’m going to do.

Kindle Sudoku is likely to the among the first application to appear in fact I believe that there will be multiple versions of it by several companies. Sudoku is a very popular game, it doesn’t require fast screen refresh, colors and any computing power or memory. On top of that it’s not encumbered by trademarks or copyrights so everyone is free to implement it in any way they like. Kindle keyboard and 5-way controller are good enough for playing Sudoku (I have to admit that touchscreen with a stylus would have been the most perfect).

In fact if you look at Amazon’s official KDK page, one sample app that is displayed on Kindle there is Sudoku.