Good PalmOS games to download?

August 14, 2004 12:35 AM

Just got me a new Zire 31, and anticipating a long wait for delayed flights at Dulles today, I'd like your recommendations for good PalmOS games to download. [More inside.]

Note that the Z31 has only two application buttons -- Calendar and Address Book -- and a D-Pad (that the right term?) rather than just the up/down rocker; that makes it useless for a lot of games out there which rely on customizations of those keys. Also, the Z31 uses a cheaper low-res screen STN screen, so the graphics aren't so great, and the refresh is too slow to handle fast-moving action.

So the kind of games I'm looking for are of the slower sort: puzzles, adventures, turn-based RPG/Strategy, and DopeWars/SpaceTrader types.

Oh, and the games should ideally be freeware, of course. ;)

posted by brownpau to Computers & Internet (14 answers total)

Bejeweled's the shizzle. Not free but if you don't mind the nag screen--let me put it this way: this game was so addictive I refused to register it because I would have played more often and I already played so much it was disgusting. I had to delete it from my Tungsten so I would put the Palm down.
posted by dobbs at 12:45 AM on August 14, 2004

Oh and Sokoban is good too. It's not Bejeweled but it's worth checking out.

And there used to be a b&w game with squares on it with different patterns on them and you had to get like-pairs side by each and then they'd disappear. Object was to clear the screen. It got crazy hard and had hundreds of levels. Damned if I can remember the name though. Anyone? (The cubes had crosses and circles and stripes and whatnot on them and gravity was a factor.)
posted by dobbs at 12:54 AM on August 14, 2004

Also, try blackbox and the kyles quest adventures, especially arkham
posted by vacapinta at 1:32 AM on August 14, 2004

Frobnitz lets you play text adventure games, and there are a zillion public domain ones out there (plus, last I knew, Activision was turning a blind eye to Internet distribution of Infocom games.)

There's a good backgammon, a sokoban implementation called Boxman, Makigame, a solitaire collection including FreeCell and Klondike called Patience, a very simple one-button arcade game called SFCave, s'more puzzle games: Traffic, Vexed.

Check out games on freewarepalm.

I've yet to pay money for a Palm game with all the good free options.
posted by Zed_Lopez at 2:09 AM on August 14, 2004

Oh, and you're thinking of Makigame, Dobbs -- I hadn't read your comment closely enough.

And there are multiple Minesweepers, too. I use R_Mines.
posted by Zed_Lopez at 2:12 AM on August 14, 2004

Response by poster: Oh wow. You were right about Bejeweled.

I also found a good Rogue clone called iRogue.
posted by brownpau at 4:20 AM on August 14, 2004

DOPEWARS
posted by jaded at 7:31 AM on August 14, 2004

Kyle's Quest; there's tons of add-on levels, a playable free demo,
and even a level editor.

If you're into infocom/z-code/textmode games, there's a number of emulators as well. iRogue & PocketRogue are cool, but Ackeron
is also worth a look.
posted by Smart Dalek at 8:50 AM on August 14, 2004

Miner 2149
Bubblet
iLarn, kMoria, paleoHack
Frobnitz
posted by majick at 6:50 AM on August 15, 2004

eppy at clap clap has done an excellent semantic breakdown of the different things we call "pop". highly recommended.
posted by Marquis at 10:01 AM on August 15, 2004

i can't believe i went and posted something in the wrong thread. four years at metafilter and that's the first time. ignore the above!
posted by Marquis at 10:03 AM on August 15, 2004

Pal Add-On inquiry:
Has anyone bought or made an external battery pack for a Palm for those times when A/C or USB charging isn't practical? My Tungsten E doesn't last a day with heavy use!
posted by ParisParamus at 10:47 AM on August 15, 2004

Oh, and since you mention trade games, Space Trader is Elite with turn-based combat replacing the arcade sequences. Very good trade game, some side quests, the option to go into piracy... I consider it among the best space trading games ever made.

There's a .NET/Windows version, too.
posted by majick at 5:30 PM on August 15, 2004

I've seen Palm chargers that run on a 9V-battery, ParisParamus. I don't know if they're available for the Tungsten E.
posted by Zed_Lopez at 8:34 PM on August 15, 2004