42 is a domino game for 4 players which is similar to the card game Spades. In this program, you are Player #4 and the computer plays the other 3 positions. After the dominoes are dealt, each player bids to see who gets to name the "trump suit." Players 1 and 3 are partners, and Players 2 and 4 are partners, just like in Spades. Games can be played for marks or for points.
The included 42.txt file explains how to play 42, and it provides many strategy tips. The game includes a Hint mode which will suggest a domino for you to play, and it has a Cheat mode which allows you to see all of the dominoes in the other players' hands (this can help you learn some strategy as you watch the choices which the other players make).
This is a freeware DOS program which runs fine in Windows. It is a strategy and logic game which is good for older kids.
42 Website
(also see my reviews of other games at this website:
Booby Trap,
Four In A Row 3D,
and
Solve It! 3D).
This is just like the Connect Four game which you can buy at the store, and it can be played by one person (against the computer) or by two people (against each other). The object is to be the first person to get four disks in a row. The tricky aspect is that your colored disks drop from the top of the game board, and they fall straight down until they reach the bottom of the game board or until they land on top of another disk. In this way, you can stack up your disks to make four in a row vertically or diagonally, as well as making four in a row horizontally. To play, you simply click on the column in which you want your disk to fall.
This is a freeware logic and strategy game, and it is good for older kids.
In this one-player puzzle game you are trying to line up the laser beams so that they hit all of the coins. In order to do this you need to find the right places to put the mirrors and other objects in order to bounce the laser beam(s) around the screen. At higher levels there are coins of different colors, and you have to use laser beam splitters and prisms to create the proper colors of laser beams in order to hit the colored coins.
This is a free demo (15-day limited trial version) which is good for kids 8-ish and older.
The object of Booby Trap is to determine, in the shortest period of time, which squares are safe to walk on and which squares contain booby traps.
The numbers along the top and down the left are clues to tell you how many Safe Spots there are in each row and each column. Use the mouse to mark every square with either a Safe Spot symbol (blue) or a Booby Trap symbol (yellow), and then click the Defuse button to see if you have located and defused all of the Booby Traps. The online Help describes how to play the game, and it provides strategy ideas for different situations.
There are 3 difficulty levels, and each level has a Hint Mode which will start you off by showing you the solution for 1 row and 1 column.
This is a freeware logic and quick-thinking puzzle, and it is good for older kids.
Booby Trap Website
(also see my reviews of other games at this website:
42,
Four In A Row 3D,
and
Solve It! 3D).
In this puzzle you are trying to scare the mouse into the hole. The puzzle board is a 10x10 grid, and each level starts out with a mouse on one square, a hole on another square, and usually one or more animals on other squares. There is an area below the puzzle grid which contains one or more animals, and your job is to drag those animals onto the puzzle board so that when you "run" the puzzle it will cause a chain reaction which ultimately scares the mouse into the hole.
Here's how it works: When you "run" the puzzle by clicking the GO button, a cat will move in a straight line, and when it goes past the mouse then it will scare the mouse, causing the mouse to move in a straight line which is perpendicular to the direction that the cat is going (in other words, the mouse runs away from the cat). Similarly, as a dog moves in a straight line, it will scare away any cats that it encounters (dogs only scare away cats). As a bear moves, it will scare away any dogs that it encounters (bears only scare away dogs). As a lion moves, it will scare away any bears that it encounters (lions only scare away bears). As an elephant moves, it will scare away any lions that it encounters (elephants only scare away lions). So the order of rank is elephant, then lion, then bear, then dog, then cat, then mouse (and the mouse will scare away any elephants that it encounters!). When you have placed the animals on the puzzle board, click the GO button to "run" the puzzle. As the animals scare away other animals, then those animals will begin moving, which will scare away other animals, and so on. If you have set up the board properly, then the mouse will eventually be scared right into the hole.
There is a free demo available for downloading, or the game can be played online. Younger kids (5-ish) can get the hang of this puzzle, although the puzzles get quite challenging fairly quickly. This is a fun family activity since little kids will probably need some help "looking ahead" to see how the chain reaction needs to be set up, and then they can experience the excitement of clicking the GO button to "run" the puzzle and see if the chain reaction worked.
This is a freeware checkers game for 1 or 2 players.
This is a chess game in which you are playing against the computer. When you run the program, choose "Play against a chess engine or match two engines," then click the OK button. You are White and the computer is Black, but you can change colors under the Mode menu. To play, click the piece that you want to move (it will then be highlighted) and then click the new square. You can also simply drag a piece to its new square. To get a hint of what move you should make, click Hint under the Help menu. The hints are given using the coordinates of the chess board, so if you're not familiar with the chessboard numbering system then click the Options menu, select General, then select Show Coordinates. This will put the numbers and letters in the appropriate squares (as in the picture).
This is a freeware strategy and logic game which is good for older kids.
This is not actually a game, it is a program which helps to prevent young children from accidentally pressing the wrong keys or clicking on the wrong things. It hides the System Tray and the Task Bar (including the Start button), and it hides the Desktop and all running programs. In Parent Mode you can specify which programs are available for the child to use, and then only those programs will appear on the tool bar when Child Mode is activated. Returning to Parent Mode requires pressing CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+P, which is something that a young child is not likely to do accidentally. There are two potential situations to be aware of, however. The CTRL+ALT+DELETE key combination (for rebooting the computer) is likely to still be active even in Child Mode, but the chances are slim that a child will accidentally press those keys at the same time. Also, some programs which you allow your child to play might have certain features such as a File Open window (for loading or saving data, for example) which might allow the child to accidentally do something such as deleting a file, for example. Again, the chances are slim, but it is something to be aware of.
This is a freeware program.
Child Proof Website
(also see my reviews of other programs at this website:
Drawing for Children,
Game Maker,
Motion Planning,
and
Tangram).
This is not actually a game, it is a drawing program for children which has many different features such as drawing lines, circles, railroads, pipes, bubbles, grass, etc., with many different pens, stamps, cliparts, backgrounds, and special effects. In many cases the left mouse button will do something different than the right mouse button. Also, pressing the SHIFT key on the keyboard will often increase the size of the objects, and the CTRL key has different effects. The ALT key snaps objects to a grid.
This is a freeware program.
Drawing for Children Website
(also see my reviews of other programs at this website:
Child Proof,
Game Maker,
Motion Planning,
and
Tangram).
