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One New Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 70 / 71
Date: October 01, 2004
Author: Amazon User

The Puzzle and Board games are both included here, on two CDs. One major improvement over the 2004 version is that after installation, the games can now be played without the CD.

There are no new characters to play with, but there is one new game. Zilch, a dice game, has been added. In addition, the Facemaker does have several new characters that can be bought with earned Hoyle Bucks. These, like the others, can talk and are animated. Hoyle Bucks can also buy some alternate game boards and alternate dice, another new feature.

These Hoyle Sierra games are highly recommended.

Great Investment

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 69 / 75
Date: October 03, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I bought this after previously owning the 2003 version of board and puzzle games. One major improvement is the cost. I used to pay 60 or more to upgrade each new version of Hoyle from year to year.
I like that they included MAximum pool; though you need to unplug your gamepad or joystick from the USB port or the pool game won't run. I agree that sometime it is ridiculous to pay each year to get a few new games. But I feel the Hoyle has had the most user-friendly, presentation of classic games. I don't have errors running the games though the online system has bugs in it.. Nonetheless. you get three new games from last year. The game can be installed to the hard drive without needing the disk. The pool game is great. Plus you get a few games you can download onto a PDA. 36 games for 20 bucks is a great deal.

Review on latest 2006 Version.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 48 / 48
Date: August 18, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Don't have previous version, 2006 version not on Amazon, but figured someone might like to know about the current version. First off you can load the games on a computer and don't need the CD's to the play the games. Here is the list of games from the content page from the manual since the box does not tell you all the games it comes with.
1. anagrams
2. crosswords
3. edge tiles
4. sudoku
5. kakuro
6. jewels
7. drop it
8. gravity tiles
9. hangman
10. mahjongg
11. maze racer
12. maze raider
13. memory tiles
14. placer racer
15. rays
16. slide tiles
17. solitaire arcade
18. star collector
19. incredible machine
20. time breaker
21. word searches
22. backgammon
23. battling ships
24. bump 'em
25. checkers
26. chess
27. chinese checkers (6 players, human or computer, with human players taking turns in front of the computer)
28. dominoes
29. master match
30. maximum pool
31. pachisi
32. reversi
33. rummy squares
34. wordox
35. word yacht
36. yacht

The box says over 45 games and there probably is, I just listed the ones the content page mentions. Hope that helps someone make a decision if they want to buy it, it would have helped me. System requirements Pent III 450mhz, 128 Ram, 700 mb hard drive space, 16 mb video ram. I don't think those are set in stone since it will run on less then that but better to be safe then sorry. I think it just depends on the game, since most of the games in this set are not fast action and lots of 3D graphics.

Great Value for the Price

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: June 26, 2006
Author: Amazon User

It's Christmas or someone's birthday, and your cash is running low. What game to buy? This one. For under 20 bucks you get a very entertaining assortment of games, some cute, some educational, and some addictive. Wordox is a powerful version of Scrabble (tm) with a vengeance. There are differences, since Scrabble is still copyrighted. For example, in Wordox you must work from the same set of letters, and each letter earns the same number of points (more or less). The interesting twist is that you get to take away from the opponent's points by extending his words, as in converting take to intake. Pool is very good, and Captain Scurvy (one of the computer players) is a sharp shooter. But use your brains and you can whoop him in Carom, a version of pool with three balls, two of which you must hit with your ball. The traditional board games, such as Checkers and Chess are average. If you play as red in the following sequence, F3-E4 G6-H5, G2-F3 E6-G5, E4xG5 H7xG5, F3-E4 G8-H7, E4xF5 H7xG6, etc., you can win the entire game without either side kinging a piece. Better checkers games are available for free (e.g., GuiCheckers). Thus, don't expect to become a checkers or chess master by practicing with Hoyle. I could write a 4 page review about this package, but suffice it to say, I can't think of anything else you can buy for under $20 that will give your kids this much entertainment. There are many sick games out there on Xbox, PS2, Game Cube, etc. Destroy all Humans is one of them. Try to steer your child to Hoyle. The kid will learn much more. Ultimately, isn't this what you, as a parent, are after?

Good games, but the software has bugs

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 11 / 13
Date: February 23, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I do like playing the games, but feel compelled to write this fairly negative review of the Hoyle Games pack I've now had for two months. There are a few little things about the interface which are irritating. There's no way configure most of the games beyond a very basic level. Double clicking doesn't work very well (in the games that support it.) Even when you check "don't ask me to confirm my selection" you still have to click at least one "are you sure?" button every step of the way. All in all, a pretty good game pack, but could be coded much better.

Hoyle Puzzle & board Games 2005 review

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 15
Date: September 02, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Large variety of interesting games with clear instructions on how to play.

Just Leaning

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 15
Date: September 17, 2005
Author: Amazon User

When I first got this game I didn't know how to play Chess. But now at 42 yrs old I know how and I'm very good. All the games are exciting and a lot of fun.

Puzzle & Board Games

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: August 09, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Some of the games are very addictive. There are a few nits I want to pick. I would like to be able to access their dictionary that they have set up for the word games. I've never seen some of what they call words. I'd also like to be able to clear the high score tables. You can delete your statistics, but that doesn't clear off the high score tables in any of the games.

I like Facemaker, don't particularly care for "Hoyle Bucks," and am very thankful that you can shut off the comments from the computer players. Of the two, I play more of the puzzle games than I do of the board games, but am glad to have both.

WARNING - SOME GAMES ARE PROGRAMMED TO CHEAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 10 / 13
Date: May 19, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I've done some statistical studies on the various games and some of the games in the collection are programmed to cheat. The backgammon and battleship are especially bad. In backgammon, if the computer goes first, it wins 80% of the time. If you go first (and know what you are doing, you will win 65% of the time). 75% of the time the computer wins the initial toss.

If the computer hits you in battleship on one of its first two shots, it wins 80% of the time.

The chess has several rule error flaws with the 3x draw (if the computer makes 3 moves the same, it forces a draw - the rule is if BOTH sides make 3 moves in a row it's a draw).

The checkers game will not jump unless it gets two jumps (or there's nothing left to do but a jump)

It is a shame, because the game has a collection of excellent board games, the graphics are very good, the characters "trash talk" can be amusing from time to time (and you can turn it off - Rhett is especially funny!)

Game has taught me to like games,... and is a good teaching tool.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: January 17, 2006
Author: Amazon User

The graphics, sound effects, and the virtual playmates are great. My favorite character is Hedda, the competitive german world class champion...I like when she gets a bad hand,.. over and over,... and then comments about it,...it cracks me up. I like the sounds of the tiles turning,... and how you get something for winning,... like dancing bears on your screen, and hoyle bucks to buy new things for your characters playing area, game boards,

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