Continuing with my series on computer games that can be downloaded from the internet, we could have a look at jigsaw puzzles. Most allow you to set the level of difficulty and also use your own photographs to create new jigsaws. But finding a free program that works well is impossible. If you want a good jigsaw program on your computer, you will have to pay a small amount at least.

My own favorite is Jigs@w Puzzle Platinum, a shareware program that gives you 60 minutes of playing time to decide whether you like it or not before buying. It costs only $19.99 and, to true jigsaw addicts, it is well worth the price.

As well as doing everything expected of such software, creating new puzzles, allowing you to decide how many pieces are in a puzzle, it has a very smooth interface and a gallery where you can hang your completed pictures. I used it for years before it ever became “platinum” and it never crashed or faltered.

The alternative to owning a program is to play online. There are many sites that provide jigsaws free of charge but they do have their drawbacks. Most use either Java or Shockwave to create the puzzle and, on my machine, that makes them jerky in operation. If you are determined to play for free, however, they are usable, at least.

The sites I looked at are:

Free Jigsaw Puzzles

Jigzone

Puzzle House

Again, you can choose how difficult you want the puzzle to be, although this means picking the picture that contains the right number of pieces. The puzzles tend to be very simple, however; probably not quite what the real jigsaw devotee wants. But, as they say, you get what you pay for!

So far in this series on free computer games available on the internet, we have looked at crossword puzzles, mazes, chess and checkers. All of these have been completely free, with the unlikely exception of checkers, but, if you are prepared to pay a few dollars, the horizon broadens to take in all sorts of very enjoyable games.

My own favorites are strategy games, games that put you under no time pressure but rather require a certain amount of thought to solve. And of the ones that I have tried, the best by a long way is a little game called Slay. It is a very simple, easy-to-learn, conquest game but it requires considerable thought to keep winning on the higher difficulty levels. The basic game includes hundreds of scenarios (essentially different islands that you have to conquer) but the addition of a map editor means that you can design your own scenarios too, thereby extending the life of the game indefinitely.

There is a free demonstration game that can be downloaded so that you can see whether you like the game or not. Price for the full game is $30.00 but, for only ten dollars more, the programmer, Sean O’Connor will give you all nine of his Windows games, some of which are great fun. His game, Conquest, is one of these and is very similar to the boardgame, Risk; if you have played that game, you will know immediately how to play Sean’s version. Most of the others are strategy games of varying difficulties and complexities, with the single exception of Football-o-Saurus which, as the name suggests, is a game of football played by dinosaurs. It sounds silly but is surprisingly enjoyable.

So, for a mere $40.00, you can have hours and days of fun with these games. I thoroughly recommend them. To download demonstration versions or buy the full games, go to Sean O’Connor’s site.

For those who like a good game of chess but lack someone to play with (that has been my problem with the game most of my life), there are excellent free programs available for download on the internet. I looked at a few but can recommend two, Arasan 9.5 and AlphaChess 3.

Arasan has been around for ages, as you can see from its version number, and I can remember playing it ten years ago on my old Windows 3.11 computer. As a result, it is tried and tested and has no bugs; it is a serious program and will beat you every time on its harder settings. Fortunately, you can dumb down the computer opponent by limiting the time it has to think about its next move.

You can alter the appearance of the board, selecting the colors and the size, and it will give you a hint on your best move, if you ask it nicely. But it’s the playing strength that makes Arasan a professional program - this one is for those who take chess seriously.

AlphaChess is more about fun, I think, although it is perfectly capable of giving you a hard game. It has three settings for strength of opponent and is easy to beat on the weakest level. Like Arasan, the colors and pieces can be altered to suit you but I found no way to enlarge the board. A nice touch is that it will make sounds as you move pieces; these can be turned off too if they irritate.

Either of these programs are well worth a try, although my preference is for Arasan as an old friend. There are others, too, and you can sample most by googling “free chess programs”.

It was when I looked for free checkers programs (or draughts, if you’re English) that I found myself defeated. There are plenty that claim to be free but invariably they are loaded down with intrusive advertising or limited to a ridiculous extent. My advice on checkers has to be that you should avoid “free” programs, therefore, bite the bullet and shell out a few dollars for a full program.

It’s a great pity that such a popular game should be so badly served by the programmers but that is the price of fame, I guess - they figured they could make money from the millions who would want to play checkers whereas chess, with its smaller fanbase, offers fewer prospects of getting rich.

In my post, Online Crossword Puzzles, I promised to to let you have information about other free puzzle games available online. Today, I thought it would be good to have a look at maze games.

Years ago, when I was still running the Windows 3.11 operating system, I had a maze game that was the perfect combination of ease of use, difficulty and yet do-ability. It was clever in that you dropped a trail of colored sand as you wandered through the maze, this allowing you to know when you had previously visited an area (which can save a lot of time).

I have searched everywhere and cannot find it, however, so must content myself with telling you about MazeMaker by Larry Blake. This is a bit less involving than the program I was looking for in that it is unable to construct mazes as complex, but it is fun and can present a challenge when played on “Restricted View” mode. As you can see from the screenshot, the maze is viewed from above and, when the whole maze is visible, it is just too easy. “Restricted View” narrows the visible area to a very limited portion of the maze and this is more difficult and, therefore, playable.

The program keeps track of your time and lets you know when you have beaten the previous best score. There are many other forms of maze than the straightforward rectangular type so the game has enough variation to keep one’s interest.

Incredibly, this proved to be the only freeware maze game I could find; all the others are shareware and cost money, as well as probably being over-heavy with graphics and fancy bits. When mazes are your thing, you want something clear and without distractions.

So, if you like solving mazes, my recommendation is MazeMaker. It downloads and installs quickly and easily - give it a try!