Pocket Uno is a Windows Mobile version of the classic card game, whereby you need to be the first person to get rid of all your cards. It's a faithful recreation of the original, with the same colors and designs on the cards and exactly the same rules.

It actually takes a little while to get into Pocket Uno. For starters, the program first launches in Esperanto for some bizarre reason. Luckily, you can change this to one of five other languages via the 'Lingvo' option. Also, if you've never played Uno before you might want to read the rules on the Internet or in a book first because there is no help file included.

There are several options available in Pocket Uno to help you customize your games. There are three difficulty levels, controllable animation speed, plus the ability to toggle on and off the background display. Unfortunately though, you can't change the number of computer opponents (it's set at three) and, more crucially, there's no multiplayer option.

Despite these shortcomings, Pocket Uno is still and enjoyable and well-presented version of a card game classic.

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Here are some of its main features:

* Play against the computer or a friend.
* Simple and intuitive user interface
* Choose from 8 levels of skill.
* Export to PGN
* Save & load games
* Opening move libary

All in all, this is a well designed, simple and free way of practising your Chess and improving your strategic thinking.

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The graphics aren't very good but the game itself includes three levels of difficulty and one or two player modes. In addition, it includes options to customise the game board, changing colors environment, activating/deactivating the sound, among other possibilities.

If you're a beginner then don't expect much help from this game, but if you're looking to hone your chess skills and progress in difficulty TeKnowMagic Chess represents a nice way to do so on the bus.

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Which is why it's a little surprising to find this version in blue and yellow. Now I'm all for bold changes but blue and yellow are two of my worst colours.

Still you'll be glad to know it really makes no difference whatsoever.

It's a strategy game where you have to deploy your pieces in the best positions to overturn those of your opponent. Once all the free squares have been filled, the person with most of their pieces on the board wins.

Play it and you'll get the hang of it in seconds. In this version there are three levels of difficulty and best of all up to three of you can play at the same time.

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The rules are included, and pretty easy to pick up. Helpfully, the program will show you all available moves for each piece, which makes learning the game a cinch. The original game had a 16x16 board, whereas Halma Sharp is half the size, which makes for tighter and faster games. On the other hand, while you are getting the hang of the rules, you will no doubt lose often and quickly, even in easy mode!

The board is bright and clear, and the menu is easy to navigate. As a way to exercise your brain for a few minutes here and there, it's a nice little game to play. It's possible that due to the small board, you will find there are limited tactics for success, but in the short term it's fun.

Nice bite-size strategy for your Pocket PC

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Major features include:

* Supports game numbers up to 2 billion, including the Microsoft 32,000
* Unlimited Undo available
* Guest mode
* Adjust the number of available FreeCells, from 4 to 0

This open-source, addictive solitaire-style game is a must for all Pocket PC game lovers.

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The dangerously addictive game is now available for Pocket PC, in the shape of Miner. The game is virtually a direct port of the original Minesweeper, where your objective is to identify the mines and clear all the squares on the board in the quickest time possible.

Miner is pretty simple to play with the stylus. You just select the flag or detonate tool by clicking on the appropriate icon, then tap the squares on the board that you want to mark or explode.

There are three different difficulty levels to choose from in Miner, although unfortunately, you can't customize your own grids or define the number of mines you want to hide, as you can do in some other Minesweeper clones. Other features include the ability to set the menu size, and a 'Champions' section, which gives you the top times in each difficulty category.

It would've been nice to see some extra functions, such as in-game hints or a history log of your performances over time.

That said, if you're looking for a simple, no-frills Minesweeper fix, Miner matches up to the original Windows version very well.

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