Could this be the final farewell for Quinn?
One of the most popular free Mac games ever is no longer available for download from the developer. Quinn is based on the classic falling blocks game Tetris, and as such has been the target of legal threats from the owners of the original Tetris.
Developer Simon Haertel says he simply doesn’t have the time or money to fight these guys, so he’s stopped distribution of Quinn. One glimmer of hope is that Haertel says he has ceased distribution “for the time being,” which implies the situation could change some time in the future.
Meanwhile, the game is still available from the Softonic servers, but you should grab it while you can — the Tetris legal team is bound to find out.
Posted Wednesday, September 14, 2011 in Playtime
Tetris alternative: Quadra Blocks
If you’re looking for a freeware version of Tetris, Quinn can’t be beat. But it’s always fun to try alternatives, so if you’re in the mood for a different take on the classic falling bricks puzzle, Quadra Blocks is now at version 1. The feature I like best is a shadow that shows you ahead of time how the piece will be positioned on the pile — giving you the opportunity to make informed adjustments.
Posted Wednesday, June 1, 2011 in Playtime
Some good old-fashioned time-wasters from Gurlygames
If you’re sick of the bad games being offered for free at the Mac App Store, why not branch out? Gurlygames, a German developer, has four games that are about as simple as they get.
Two of them — Spaceship and Shaft — are trickier than they seem at first. A third one, Battlecookie, is easy to play but bizarre to behold. And as for the fourth, Lisa’s Body Defense . . . well, the instructions are in German — and even with the help of Google Translate I found them inscrutable. Let’s just say it looks like you have to defend Lisa’s body from bacteria.
Of the four, Spaceship is the best. You have to move your spaceship around a maze without touching the walls, while racing against the clock. Your ship has just enough momentum to make this a challenge even in mazes with just a few walls.
I also enjoyed Shaft. Your guy has to jump from platform to platform as they rise through the air. Some platforms have spikes that you must avoid to stay alive. Plus, if you miss altogether, you also wind up dead.
Battlecookie is almost too ridiculous to describe. But if you’ve ever wanted to do battle from an airborne chocolate chip cookie, this may be the game for you.
Posted Monday, February 28, 2011 in Playtime
Three retro games from Sweden
Durandal Brytting, a developer based in Sweden, has produced three modern versions of gaming classics. As was the tradition back in the day, these games require patience and thinking skills.
Explore!: Wander the desert, buy items from shops, solve puzzles, search for hidden items and stay alive. The graphics are simple but well drawn. Navigation is old school: you have to type in actions and press Enter. It appears to be based on Desert Trek.
Tess the Vampire: You play the part of a vampire wandering through a graveyard, getting into fights and sucking blood to keep up your “satiety.” You can pick up objects, try on new clothes and examine objects for messages.
Think Ahead: This one is based on a game that goes back to 1985. You and the computer take turns choosing randomly placed numbers from an eight-by-eight grid. You have to think ahead so that the number you choose doesn’t open an opportunity for your Mac to choose something better.
In a world where everything is geared toward short attentions spans, these games will give your brain a much-needed tune-up.
Posted Thursday, September 9, 2010 in Playtime
Play Angry Birds (sorta) on your Mac
Angry Birds has been a phenomenon on the iPad almost from Day 1. The birds are angry because some pigs stole their eggs. They go after their enemy by slingshotting through the air and destroying the pigs’ defences.
But what if you don’t have an iPad? Or maybe you have one, but you’d like to play it on your Mac. We don’t normally link to Flash games, because there are so many of them we could never keep up. But in this case, we’d like to draw your attention to Crush the Castle — a game available for the iPhone, but with a free Flash version you can play on your Mac.
It’s not as cute and fanciful as Angry Birds, but the basic principal is the same. You click to gather one of eight projectiles in a trebuchet (similar to a catapult), then click again to release it in the correct trajectory to destroy the defences of a king and his soldiers.
It looks like Crush the Castle has been around for awhile, but I haven’t been able to learn much about its history. If you can fill us in, please leave a comment. Also, I’m surprised there isn’t a native Mac version of the game — it seems like a hole a developer could easily fill and make a few bucks.
Update: A Mac version of Angry Birds is now available at the Mac App Store for $4.99. At least Crush the Castle is free . . .
Posted Wednesday, August 25, 2010 in Playtime
Boggle options for Mac
Boggle consistently comes out as one of the most popular freeware games listed at thriftmac. Unfortunately, that makes me feel guilty.
The reason is that the only free option for playing Boggle on the Mac is a game that is several years old and has a bare minimum of features. Basically, all it does is present some random letters in a five-by-five grid and give you three minutes to find as many words as you can.
But how do you keep track of those words? Well, you have to use a pencil and paper. It’s not exactly cutting edge — so I decided to look for alternatives.
One of them is Boogle. Yes, you read that right — a deliberate misspelling of Boggle. It, too, is getting long in the tooth, but you can at least keep track of your words within the game, and get a ruling on whether the words are valid. It’s a step up, but on the other hand, only one person can play at a time.
And there is a tricky part. Technically, Boogle is $10 shareware, but in reality it appears to be abandonware. There is no way of paying for it, and the occasional nags can easily be dismissed.
So, yes, Boogle is an improvement — but not much. To get the Boggle experience you truly deserve on a Mac, you’ll have to go with a version published in 2009 by iWin. The game, at a cost of $19.95, offers nice graphics and all the features you’d expect. It’s actually licensed by Hasbro, so you know you’re getting the real deal.
In my heart of hearts, though, I’m still hoping there is well-done free word game out there that at least comes close to Boggle. If you know of one, please share it in the comments.
Posted Tuesday, April 6, 2010 in Playtime
Compliments of the house
You’re the most beautiful reader who has ever visited thriftmac. You’re brilliant and I admire you.
OK — enough kowtowing. On the other hand, if you like that sort of thing, you can have it on your Mac at regular intervals. Toady is a fun app from Mr. Fridge that pops up a compliment in the top right of your screen at timed stretches of your choosing.
The app is automatically updated with new flattery, so you don’t have to worry about it becoming stale. Admittedly, though, a steady stream of praise could eventually give anyone a swelled head — so you can alternatively set Toady to give insults instead.
“Even your imaginary friends don’t like you.” “You have no friends.”
Hmm, that’s a bit harsh. But what if you were to install it on someone else’s Mac?
Posted Saturday, February 20, 2010 in Playtime
Freeware indie games for Mac
TIGdb has a ton (643 at last count) of indie games. You can browse, read reviews and download. They’re available for a variety of platforms at a range of pricing. But I was able to do a search that produced no less than 50 freeware games for Mac OS X, including the wonderful Glider Pro from 1991. The great thing about indie games is that they tend to push the envelope, and you’re more likely to find innovative stuff that doesn’t make it to the mainstream.
Posted Saturday, November 28, 2009 in Playtime
Marathon lives
The first-person shooter Marathon first came out in 1994, back in the dark days of the Mac when there were precious few games being developed for our beloved, but beleaguered, operating system.
Bungie — the game’s creators — was treated almost like a hero for having faith in the Mac. People snapped up the Marathon trilogy and made it a minor hit.
I was reminded of Marathon when one of the members of thriftmac headquarters came home raving about Halo. This game was at one time presumed to be a sequel to Marathon, but instead Bungie disappointed us by going to work for Microsoft and the Xbox.
It all seems like ancient history, but Marathon lives on thanks to the tireless efforts of fans — and thanks to Bungie for making the code open source. A special program called Aleph One has been created that allows the game to run on OS X with smoother graphics and a larger screen resolution. Aside from this, completely new textures have been created to make the games look even better. Major conversion scenarios have come along, and some are still being updated with artistic restorations.
Marathon was probably one of the best games ever made for the Mac. If you haven’t tried it, you should. If you haven’t played it lately, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at what’s new. Start here.
Posted Sunday, November 8, 2009 in Playtime
Barricade
Mathieu Rossignol has a game called Barricade that he’d like us to know about — so we gave it a whirl.
Gameplay has you trying to move one of a set of marbles — space by space — up through a board to the top, with each move determined by the roll of a dice. You can choose which marble to move, and you can move in a number of directions — so be prepared to do some strategizing.
If you’re lucky, you’ll have the option of landing on one of several black marbles interspersed on the board and use it to block the path of your opponent — hence the name Barricade. You can also send your opponent home if you land on one of their marbles.
Overall, it’s a great game, but there are some caveats. First, it was created with Java, which feels a little weird on the Mac. Second, the interface is very much Windows-esque, which can be a turnoff. But if you’re willing to overlook these points, and just get into the game, Barricade can be a lot of fun.
Posted Wednesday, May 6, 2009 in Playtime
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You'll find nothing here but 100 per cent, totally free software for Mac. There are no demos, no crippleware, no "freemiums." The only exceptions are for programs supported by tasteful ads. In some cases, developers ask for a donation — and we encourage you to make one if you find the program useful. Let us know if you find an app here that is not totally free, and we'll delete it. And if there is a program that deserves to be here — but isn't — we'd like to hear about that, too.
