Summer Fun
Mac Tip #83/18-Dec-2002

There are many things in life I just don’t “get”: politics, calculus and computer games are chief among them.

I seldom take to computer games. Shooting people on screen doesn’t appeal, nor does building empires or whatever and I’m hopeless at chess and the like.

There is however one game I do play: Bejeweled. You don’t have to beat the clock (though you can if you wish), the rules aren’t too complex, it’s colourful and has pretty good music which is easy to mute.

Bejeweled offers you a grid of coloured “gems”. You must swap pairs of gems in order to create a row or column of three or more the same. When you achieve that those gems disappear and more gems drop down from the top. That’s it. As you match up gems you achieve a score and when the game’s over (if there are no more possible moves) your score is eligible for the High Scores list.

One word of warning: it tends to hook you in. Anyway, even if you’re not a games person, do give it a try.

This game is Mac OS X only (sorry you “niners”!).

If you run OS 9.1 (or X) and want to try out a game you might give Tranquility a go:

It’s a very different kind of game and I didn’t initially grasp the point. This article though provides a good introduction.

I haven’t yet had a chance to come to grips with Tranquility, but it comes highly recommended.

In any case, it’s the holiday season — if you haven’t played any games before, just have a go.