Kindle Apps Blog

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.

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!”

When I first started playing Maze A Thon I thought, “wow this is easy, and I can knock this out in 30 minutes.”.  Then I got further into the puzzles and boy did the mazes get much harder!

There are three modes: Classic, Wrap Around, and Cubetastic.  Classic is just a basic maze.  Wrap Around allows you to go out of the maze on one side and come back in on the other side.  This is where the mazes get hard, because you’ll find that the the places you want to get to are blocked off.  So you have to use a bit of strategic thinking to figure out the best openings to enter and exit.

Cubetastic is really cool.  It adds a new dimension to the maze.  You are basically walking around a cube to get to the prize.  There are openings that automatically send you to cube’s side that is next to the one you were on.

Your navigation tool is the Kindle’s 5-way toggle button.  Keep an eye out for the hints at the bottom of the page.  They provide helpful navigation hints and keyboard shortcuts.

Maze A Thon’s graphics are great.  The maze just consists of simple lines.  It is pretty easy to tell where you need to get to.  In the Wrap Around and Cubetastic levels, the openings are marked with arrows.  The arrows could be a little darker, but I think they work for the look and feel of the maze.

Maze A thon is a great game for all ages and expert levels.  Beginners can start off easy and work their way up.  Experts can get a challenge on the harder levels.  It is a great time filler, and I found it very addictingsed.

Bruce Horn

“From a software point of view, it is a very clean and well-written game that makes good use of the e-ink display on the Kindle. The text and menus are easy to read and don’t unnecessarily blink the display, which takes some effort to optimize. ”

9

“This game kept my 6-year old entertained on an airplane for well over an hour. That alone makes it well worth the price. She learned it in seconds, and after that, I didn’t have to help her until we got to the cube mazes, and those challenged both of us.

If you have a kid, and don’t mind losing control of your Kindle for a while, don’t hesitate to buy this one.”

I encourage you to try Blossom for Kindle.  It is such a fun game.  You connect pipes to a watering can to irrigate flowers.   There is a long history of pipe connect style games for computers.  Blossom is a variation of those.

Blossom takes a bit of strategy and moving around.  I connected pipes, then ended up with ones that were left over.  The good thing is, you can easily undo and keep working towards getting all of the pipes connected to the watering can.  It took me awhile to get all of the pipes connected to get all of the flowers watered.  If you get stuck, you can always press “H” to access the hints.

If you are familiar with Kindle games, you can probably just jump right into playing Blossom, since it only requires navigating with the toggle button..  If you are new to Kindle games and how they’re set up, feel free to check out Blossom’s Help section.

There are 120 puzzles. The difficulty levels range from easy to expert and have 30 puzzles in each difficulty level.  As the difficulty level increases, the puzzles get bigger.  So, there are more pipes and flowers to connect.

The navigation is pretty simple.  The Kindle’s-5-way toggle button rotates the pipes around.  The graphics are easy to see, and I think this game works well with the e-ink platform.

Blossom has excellent reviews.  One suggestion for Braintonik is to allow time after a completed game for the player to review their results.  This can be helpful for improving strategy and speed.

Julie Schmidt

“I love this game. After reading the other reviews I remember I had a game with vines and flowers for my computer. This is the same idea you connect the water supply to the flowers, when connected the flowers bloom. The neat thing is the flowers bloom differently depending on which side the water comes from. I have completed the Easy, Medium, and Difficult levels. I was delighted to find there is an Expert level. I was going to have to start over or find something else to do! Now I have a few more days of enjoyment. You will not regret buying this game. ”

Catherine Shaffer

“This game is very easy to learn and understand, even without reading the tutorial/how-to. Clicking the boxes to rotate pieces, making sure they line up with the water source and the flowers (pipes turn black when water is flowing; flowers “bloom” when water reaches them). There’s some strategy added to it, but, on easy, this game can seem like an easy relaxer instead of a splitting headache.”

Kee-Ko’s Quest is a barrier removal game. There is another game for Kindle called Blocked that is a similar type of game, yet much more basic.

The objective is to remove blocks or objects from Kee-Ko’s path so that he can rescue his trapped friend.

Each level is a room, and the difficulty level increases with each room you successfully exit.  There are 100 rooms, and as you get up into the higher level rooms, you’ll be thinking about some tough strategies.

Kee-Ko’s Quest is really easy to grasp. Each object has a letter on top of it to match up with the letters on the Kindle’s keyboard.  You will still use the toggle button to move the pieces around. You have the freedom to move them back and forth to figure out which combination will provide the best opening for Kee-Ko to exit the room.

I can definitely see how this game can get addictive. I found myself playing it for quite awhile. It is a fun game for all ages.  I also liked it better than Blocked because I was moving actual objects as opposed to just rectangles.

Graphic wise, Kee-Ko’s Quest, was designed well for the purposes of the game. They could be a little clearer, but I was the most impressed with how the game is designed to make it easy to find the pieces you need to move around by the letters on top of each car.

Ed Pegg

“This is very similar to Blocked, which in turn is based on Rush Hour, the ThinkFun puzzle originally developed by Nob Yoshigahara. These are sliding block puzzles on rails. The definitive book on the broader subject (no rails) is Sliding Piece Puzzles. One of the best physical non-rail sliding block puzzles available is Anti-Virus.

It’s odd that Rush Hour is being copied before the the more general sliding block puzzles. Anyways, Kee-ko’s Quest is much more user-friendly than Blocked, by a long shot.

The images all look hand-drawn, but they all mesh together well. The puzzles are well ranked from easy to hard. There are various badges to earn. This is a challenging set of puzzles. ”

Golds on the Road

“I have only gone through the first 15 rooms, but it requires a bit of strategy and thought, but not more than my poor little brain can handle. My frustration level on puzzle games has a low threshhold, and this gamre works for me in that regard. “

With a little strategy, Tic Tac Toe by 7 Dragons can be one of the easiest games out there.  The Kindle version is well done, and does its best in simulating the pencil and paper versions.  It includes three difficulty levels, large, easy to read graphics, and includes a good instruction manual.

You can play either the Kindle, or another player.  There are three difficulty level settings: easy, medium, and hard.  I beat them all pretty quickly using a good strategy that I found.

Tic Tac Toe is a good kid’s game because it teaches them how to play strategically.  In the “old” days you could find kids playing it when bored in class, or even on playground sets.  The Kindle player setting can help them get introduced to the game and work their way up in skill level.

For adults, I highly recommend playing in two player mode.  No matter how good and “human like” the Kindle gets as a player, it can never replace the real thing.  I also think that playing against another human being would be more interesting and challenging than playing even the hard Kindle player levels.

Tic Tac Toe is pretty intuitive as long as you know your way around the Kindle’s keys and the 5-way toggle.  I immediately just jumped in and started playing   You can choose whether you want to be “X” or “O” at the beginning of each game.

If you’re new to Kindle games, feel free to press the Menu button and click on the Help option.  You also can access the different difficulty levels from the Menu, which saves the hassle of returning to the Main Menu each time.

If you get tired of this particular version of Tic Tac Toe, you can always try out the other Tic Tac Toe and Tic Tac Toe 2 Player Kindle game that was designed by Jon Larimer.  In terms of quality and reviews, the 7 Dragons version is much better.

Samuel J. Perry

First of all, this is Tic Tac Toe, not ChessMaster Chess. It is a simple game that anyone with a reasonably good IQ will be able to beat or draw every single game, regardless of the difficulty level selected. It is good brain food for the children as they learn the algorithm themselves and reach the level of win/draw every game. I find it an excellent choice for my little daughter as she rides in the car, or just a nice distraction from time to time. It makes her feel good to do battle with a game that she can beat. I recommend this game, but dear me, remember it is Tic Tac Toe, nothing more, nothing less.

Tic Tac Toe is now compatible with the latest generation keyboardless Kindle.

There are two games for Kindle with similar names, but are completely different, and are made by different companies. They are Doodle for Kindle and Doodle Fit. I think they’re both great games to have on your Kindle, and can provide hours of entertainment.

If you’ve ever played Tetris, you’ll recognize the shapes used in Doodle Fit. It is a puzzle game. You have to fit all of the available pieces into a shape. They can’t be rotated, but you can moved them if they are in the wrong place at first.

There are a ton of puzzles included: about 250, so Doodle Fit will keep you occupied for awhile. You earn hints along the way to use as you need them. There are a limited number to go around, so spend them wisely.

Some puzzles have multiple solutions. Levels will be unlocked depending on what solution you go with. You can go back and retry a level to get another solution if you want to play the alternative set of unlocked levels.

The graphics are good for the purposes of the game. I think they can be better, but they don’t detract from the game’s overall goal. I encourage you to review the Help section in the menu options. I was a little confused by how to get to the actual levels when I first saw this big set of really small shapes in the beginning.

So, as a beginner, you’ll work your way through some really simple puzzle shapes. You can get through these pretty quickly and get up to the more complicated ones. Doodle Fit is a great game for all ages.

BarbZ

“This is really cute…. it looks very natural on the screen… like a hand drawn doodle notebook (which does make it slightly difficult to see) complete with a “spiral binding” on the cover page.

After you place the blocks, patterns fill in, so you never know what’s coming in the completed solution. Adds a level of interest.

The game is easy to use (once you figure out the navigation… read the Help section before first use. Then, start, and it will become clear.) Note: to switch pieces, use your PAGE forward and back buttons. Otherwise, it’s all the 5 way. And, from the first page, hit the 5 way button on the upper left shape to begin the game. It loads a single shape for you to work on from the next page.”

Red Hot Sudoku  on the Kindle is just the regular Sudoku game we all know and love.

I really like the way they’ve done the graphics. The grids are large and easy to see. You can also “pencil” in possible numbers in a square before you make your decision.

If you aren’t familiar with how Sudoku works, here’s the basics:

Start with a 9×9 grid that has 9 3×3 grids built into it. There are some numbers already added in to get you started. They can be helpful, or annoying depending on how well you fit your numbers in.

You will need to fill every column and row of the 9×9 grid with 1-9, all numbers used once.

Make sure you fill each 3×3 grid with 1-9, all used just once.

I found myself having to move some numbers around after I got through the grid. The grids are a good challenge, but also good for beginners.

There are 33 puzzles to choose from. You can have the game randomly pick a puzzle for you, or choose one yourself. There are also bonus puzzles.

If you don’t have numbers on your Kindle keyboard, you can use the letter equivalents: QWERTYUIO instead of 1-9. I think the only people who will have to use this are Kindle 1 owners. I have a Kindle 2, and there are numbers on my keyboard.

From the main menu, you can change your settings to reflect the numbers or letters, depending on what keyboard you have.

The 5-way toggle button is the main tool to use. You can use it to annotate and insert the numbers. I like the font they use for the numbers. It makes them look more like they’re handwritten.

There are a couple of alternative choices for you if you want to try other Sudoku like games in addition to Red Hot Sudoku.  I encourage you to try EA’s version, and Futoshiki. Futoshiki is awesome, and adds a new twist with < and > symbols.

The one review available is by a professional puzzle maker.  The reviewer provides good insight on what can be done to make the puzzles trickier.   The interface is great.  I hope more reviewers will post because I’m curious to know what they think about this one compared to the other Sudoku Kindle games out there.  It is also good to get perspectives from players of all skill levels.

Volume 1 of the NY Times Crosswords for the Kindle is a great set for beginners, or veterans who need a few easy puzzles to pass the time.

I admire anyone who does crossword puzzles on a daily basis. Even these easy ones have clues that I’ve never heard of. I am amazed at how easily some of my relatives and friends can answer clues that seem impossible to me.

NY Times Crosswords start off easy, and get progressively harder throughout the week. The first volume includes Monday-Wednesday puzzles, each in sets of 10. There are quite a few volumes available for the Kindle, so there is something for every skill level.

Navigation was fairly easy. I had a hard time seeing the numbers in the squares though. I don’t really think they can be any bigger without crowding everything into the screen. The newspaper equivalents are even smaller.

Navigation is primarily done through the 5-way toggle, but there are keyboard shortcuts if you need help with certain clues.  The 5-way is not the easiest tool to work with, but it can get you around the puzzle. You can reveal one letter, or the whole word if you need to. Good way to practice if you aren’t familiar with the way crossword puzzles work.

You aren’t limited to just one word answers. There are phrases as well.  Brush up on your quotes and common sayings.

The one thing I like the best about the Kindle version of the NY Times crosswords, is that it still gives you the same look and feel. The grey toned screen with the e-ink still gives you the “look and feel”of a real newspaper. You don’t have to worry about smudge marks. Computer versions are just not the same. They’re hard on the eyes, and aren’t as portable.

I am excited about having these crosswords handy. They’re a great way to keep the brain sharp and preserve mental well being.  Once you complete the 30 puzzles in Volume 1, try 90 more in Volume 2.

Gary Severance

“The puzzles are entertaining, most often following a theme. Some puzzles have circled letters that are repeated in more than one clue. Some have circled letters that when combined spell out a phrase or series of items related to the puzzle theme. Some crosswords have clues containing a single box that contains 2 letters. Finding these same two letter boxes in other clues sets the stage for answering an Across and a Down clue starting with the same box.”

Peg Solitaire has the best ratings that I have seen so far.  It is really inexpensive, but you definitely get a well executed game for that great price.

I spent a few minutes looking over the instructions.  They explain the basics of the game well.  You’ll also notice some personalizations such as “quick move” and “animations” that can make the game better fit your preferences.  Fancy graphics are great, but they can also take away from the flow of the game.  So I’m one who prefers speed over graphics.  But, others might feel differently.

Have you ever noticed the little coffee table peg solitaire games?  This is the same idea, but the pegs are arranged in a variety of different shapes.  There are linear shapes that only allow you to move your peg horizontal or vertical, or triangular based shapes that allow a lot more moves.

Your ultimate goal is to skip over all pegs and remove them from the board, except for one in the double highlighted square.  Arrows tell you what direction you can go.  The game is complete even if you make it to the last peg without landing in that special square, but it will prompt you to decide whether you want to play again to see if you do make it.

In a lot of Kindle games, when pieces are moved around, they leave a shadow or trail.  Peg Solitaire doesn’t do that.  The pegs move very smoothly.  The color contrast is well done.

Clueless Nerd

“You get a wide variety of puzzles and the interface is very easy to use. You can easily “undo” moves when you can see you’re on the wrong track as will definitely happen when you try the harder ones (or if you’re like me even the easy ones). And even better, it’s about the price of a soda. You would spend at LEAST 5-10 times that amount of money for a solitaire board IF you can even find one these days. ”

There is another Peg Solitaire game for the Kindle that is created by Nice Games.  It is a dollar cheaper, but quality wise, it doesn’t quite measure up to the Compulab version.  The Compulab version also has more games and a better variety.  But, if you want more games, you have this one available to you.

Another idea for future version: pegs with fancier shapes.  Something interesting to look at while playing.  But at the same time, they don’t want to be so elaborate that they would slow down the game.

Peg Solitaire is now compatible with the latest generation keyboardless Kindle.