Hoyle Puzzle & Board Games 2008 [OLD VERSION] Reviews

• Finally Compatible with Mac OS X

  
  By AALBBXVPD9JQ6 on 2007-10-09
  I've loved the Hoyle game series (Card Games, Casino, and Puzzle & Board Games)for many years. But, the last Mac versions were released in 2002 and were only compatible with OS 9. These older versions were still playable on pre-Intel Macs, but the newer Macs with Intel chips no longer have compatibility with pre-Mac OS X software.
  
  Finally, the long wait is over and new versions of the excellent Hoyle Games are available for today's Mac users! :-)
  
  

• Hoyle Puzzle Games

  
  By A16X4OG71UFDN0 on 2007-12-03
  Excellent collection of puzzles...great audio and video effects, and the games are simple enough for general usage and complex enough for interest and stimulation.
  
  ONLY negative is that when activated the games take over your entire screen, and cannot be "reduced" to run in background.
  
  

• Better than 2007 !!!!!!!

  
  By A1BPRRT5QIKU8J on 2007-11-05
  Bought 2007 when it first came out. Hayed it and got ride of it. This one works great on my Micro XP Home Edition! It combines the prior puzzle and board games with some new ones. Good fast service !!
  
  

• Very poorly designed game. Don't waste your money!

  
  By A3M330F25F0RLF on 2008-03-20
  The real tragedy is that this could have been a top notch game if programmed correctly. It seems as though in any of the games that are based on chance, particularly the ones that use dice rolls, the game seems to be programmed to choose a "lucky" player at the beginning of the game. That player will roll doubles every other turn, or high numbers or whatever that player happens to need. You can tell who the "lucky" player is within a few turns. I can tell within 5 or 6 moves in one of these games who is going to win. It really makes the game very boring after a while and not much fun to play. It's gotten so annoying that I only play the games that rely on skill only and don't play any of the games where luck comes into play.
  
  I know it is possible to do a good job programming software for random selection because I have played many good games of this type. It is just a shame that the programmers who work for Encore(the company that makes this game)are either too lazy or not skilled enough to create such a program. Because this could have been a great game instead of the waste of money that it is.
  
  

• Hoyle is the Best

  
  By A1NZLRAZJGD99W on 2007-12-12
  Hoyle Card Games (MAC OSX) was long over due. Hated playing the old Hoyle Card Games in the Classic enviornment (MAC OS9) so tried several other OSX card games but found them to be inferior to Hoyle so migrated back to the old OS9 Hoyle games. This OSX version has many improvements and is fun to play.
  
  
• Hoyle game cd will not install
  By A1U57SGJB5ODR1 on 2007-12-28
  The CD software is not recognized on the CD ROM drive. It will not self install and it will not install from the "RUN" menue. In "My Computer" the CD software is not recognized. I tried several other CD's in this CD ROM Drive and they all worked fine. I returned the software where I purchased it and obtained another one. The same thing occurred with this CD software. The CD Software version is 14310-DVD v1.0. I called the support software number listed in the manual and a recorded message said that this software is not supported by phone.
  I went to there support website and posted a problem message, still no response ??
  
  
  
• CAUTION! product info is not clear!
  By A2BY39CV2HHJNZ on 2008-04-16
  This is a DVD, not a CD. If you don't have a DVD drive, you can't use it!
  
  
• Very Good Value. Good for Mac
  By A3HEY3AXJUNHRF on 2008-04-18
  I've never bought Hoyle software before, but this package offers mucho bang for the buck, given that most downloadable shareware games are $20 per game. There are several addictive games in here, and they run flawlessly on my Mac Pro as well as my G4.
  
  I have only 3 complaints in order of increasing importance:
  
  1. The graphics are quite low-res and lack the beauty of many of the new games for Mac that adopt the elegant graphical style of the OS.
  2. The rules for all the games are in a single pdf file, so if you click on rules, you have to wait for a pdf reader to load and then search a large document to find your game.
  3. There's little progression in games as you play longer and better. There are high scores in a menu, but each game is basically the same thing over and over, so you never get a sense of progressing through higher levels. Some games have more difficult levels to choose from, but if you select a certain level and play for an hour, you get no sense in terms of points or levels reached that you've accomplished anything.
  
  But if you want a large variety of mindless games for your Mac, there is no better deal than this.
  
  
• moving pieces is annoying
  By A12UC38O8WI6T4 on 2008-02-28
  First I have 2003, and upgraded to 2008 and am glad I did not uninstall 2003.
  Cons my favorite game isn't in 2008. My major con is moving pieces in games like checkers and pachisi. it takes a about a minute sometimes to get a piece to be released where you want it to go and twice now in pachisi when I was trying (my last piece both times) to get a piece in the home stretch, I must have put I too near the regular area and it planted the piece around the board, so the piece would have to go around again. In checkers, and I checked that it was a legal move, it wouldn't release at all.
  Pro a lot of new games
  
  
  
• Feels like a beta
  By A3VBN5TZAWFQYZ on 2008-04-14
  The game may claim to work with OS X, but that's stretching the definition of compatible. If you have multiple users with their own account, each user must register the product separately, and cannot see the other scoreboards.
  
  In just an hour or so of play, the chess product was revealed to be buggy, especially about end game rules. It declared a draw due to insufficient material when the human player had a queen, a rook, a knight, and a pawn or two. (There were also legal moves for the computer player). The mahjongg tiles product was trying to do matches against buried tiles.
  
  Don't expect even a passable chess opponent on the normal difficulty setting. As an unrated chess player, I should find the normal mode at least a passable game, instead of beating it so readily as to be boring.
  
  I haven't even had the time to look at the other games. We wanted a couple of the popular board games, a decent mahjongg solitaire game, and maybe one or two more. Instead, we got what might eventually be a usable product, but certainly isn't one yet.
  
  The scoreboard was more primitive than what I'd find on the freebie mahjongg games that come with some Linux desktops.
  
  The patch that is listed on their website is a Windows .exe, no mention made of a Mac patch. If you want a Mac puzzle/board game, don't select with this product unless you are truly desperate, or have tried many other options and they are even worse.
  
  
• Older version just fine!
  By A3JKNZYNX4MJGW on 2008-04-20
  If you own an older version, I would recommend you stay with what you have. The graphics have been improved but the sound effects in the new version, specifically Triple Yacht are annoying.
  
  
• Sudoku doesn't work on Vista
  By A27AFB8SNJQXZN on 2008-01-07
  I have other Hoyle games so when I saw a Sudoku for Vista by Hoyle, I just knew it would be good. I have a PC with Windows XP and it works great. I also loaded it on my laptop that has Windows Vista. All the other games work but Sudoku won't work. I emailed Hoyle and they sent me a patch. Still didn't work. They figured out what graphics I have and sent me to Intel for another update. It still doesn't work. It's really a great game but not if Sudoku is what you want and you have Windows Vista.
  
  
• Beware
  By A1A87R8XV2HVG7 on 2008-01-18
  This does not work on Windows Vista, it says it is compatable with Vista but it will not load. I tried to get tech help but they never got back to me. I loaded it on my desktop that has XP and it works but the Sudocko doesn't work at all. I kind of wish I hadn't tried to upgrade, they did get rid of the music glitch and it is all on one thing now, but still not sure if it was worth the cost.
  
  
• Awesome
  By A31Z94U5XHFF2K on 2008-03-12
  I truly enjoy Hoyle games. I don't like the help feature of the game. The older board games took you directly to the help section for the game you were playing when you clicked on help. You have to search extensive for the section you want in the newer versions. I have purchased both the Board and Card Games for 2008. The board games doesn't respond to the mouse as efficiently as the card game does. I have to click more on the puzzle/board game than I do for the card game.
  
  
• The wait is over
  By AXPW1IM1FJBFH on 2008-04-08
  This was my favorite game by Hoyle but getting a new powerbook left me game-less. Thank you we all enjoy the games on this new CD. It includes a good varietyof puzzles and games. We would like to see more items to purchase as you win points. That has been fun. Well worth the price.
  
  
• Many many many bugs - don't even bother buying
  By ARWEQVFXDMMVL on 2008-08-13
  There are quite a number of bugs in this game. The most noticeable ones are:
  1) In chess, the game will frequently end on a 3x repetition when this has not occurred (and usually when pounding the computer)! Come on - it gave me that once after I captured a piece!
  2) In pachisi, it is very difficult to move the pieces - it frequently does not register where you have dropped it.
  3) Many of the Hoyle Bucks goals do not register when they occur.
  
  There are other minor irritants, but these three are the major ones.
  
  
  
• Encourages Addictive Behavior!
  By AN7SIH0K678D7 on 2008-01-21
  I haven't begun to play all the games included in this game set. I'm stuck in the Anagrams and the Slide Tiles. I'm awful in the anagrams, and I'm determined to do better. The Slide Tiles is a version of Mah Jong, that is positively addicting for me. I spend hours at it. When you "win", a wide variety of awards are presented from a certificate, to a dancing cow, to an audience giving you a standing ovation and clapping. The game has very good graphics. I'm totally satisfied.
  
  
• old guys like me....
  By A1B258U4S34KC3 on 2008-02-18
  We don't get too excited over all the latest computer games. We prefer more traditional games of startegy that can be played on the computer. They help keep the mind and memory sharp. There's a really nice selection of games on this disk that I can play on my HP desktop at home and my Powerbook at work. :)
  
  
• kinda boring
  By APKJ8AH13KOTD on 2008-05-17
  Hoyle made a big mistake by putting this game on a DVD Rom. The people buying it, older people mostly, probably don't have a DVD Rom drive and will be angry they can't run the game.
  
  Overall I found the games kinda dismal and disappointing, even though there was a lot of them. High ZZZZ factor.
  
  
  
• Works on some machines, but is buggy
  By A3GO3S2EG5NNW6 on 2008-05-27
  I purchased the Hoyle Game package to run on an iBook G3, specifically to get the Maj Jong game. It turns out that the code has been written for the next generation of display hardware as it has no display on the iBook G3. I have been using it on an iBook G4 and later models. The user interface is very cumbersome to use, requiring that you go through a character selection process each time that you play a game. The actual Maj Jong game is disappointing in comparison to the old Shanghai version of the same game. There are lots of games in the package, but again most of them seem to be fairly simplistic. I would not purchase the package again and would only recommend it to someone who does not have high expectations other than getting a lot of games in one package.
  
  
• Hoyles puzzle & board games 2008
  By A3V02BUV3BBJ1S on 2008-05-28
  This is one great games to play, I love the search a word, the gravity tiles and most of the others. (Even though there are some I haven't tried. But each night you find me at my PC playing these games. I will also keep checking back to see if you have any more games like these. Thanks again. Jean
  
  
• HOYLE PUZZLE AND BOARD GAMES
  By A2F0NH9BRDW87Q on 2008-07-12
  Have not used it because it absolutely will not go on to my Vista computer. Help line at Vista has been zero help. Have to say Amazon is great in that it came quickly.
  
  
• A Very Satisfying Suite of Games
  By A2D832OA6Q5ZAS on 2008-08-07
  The Hoyle Puzzle & Board Game CD actually gave me far more than I expected for the <$20 price. It features many of the games I used to play in my youth and, unlike a previous set that came with my computer, isn't filled with bugs and work-arounds. In fact, the computer-characters' responses are quite clever and challenging, forcing me to hone my skills and, after playing dozens of games, I haven't come across any real errors. The characters (and you can create new ones) are given a large vocabulary of appropriate remarks, including responses to either compliments or insults.
  
  I am particularly impressed with the sophistication, variety and detail of the billiards game set - it allows all kinds of shots and even 'English' on the cue ball.
  
  Minor annoyances: it takes seven or eight clicks (with waits between) to exit from Billiards, and the 'cosmic' accompaniment to the Sudoku is tremendously distracting to me, even though I like how each square allows highlighting all possibilities for that square.
  
  
• Be sure you have time to kill!!!
  By A1W3ZBVGSPA4PJ on 2008-03-29
  This pc game is so addicting that you won't want to do anything else. It is just a bunch of games that you may have played with your brothers and sisters before computers came around. They are relaxing and not full of killing and hate. Just some old fashioned game night play with a few updated games mixed in.
  
  
• forensic buff
  By A3BWHLUFH4RUQR on 2008-04-05
  This Hoyle isn't that good for this amount of money. If you could get each game individualy it would be better.
  
  
• BEST puzzle collection EVER!!
  By ANJ0S9VJ7D2LB on 2008-04-06
  The Hoyle puzzle collection just keeps getting better and better. Fast and challenging games and puzzles, lots for one, two or more players.
  
  
• Great Games
  By A1J2YAWTGK4Z19 on 2008-07-07
  I thought this software was great. This version has more games included than the earlier software. Its a blast!!!
  
  
• Love games
  By A10CRTMUOFPZ1Q on 2008-07-08
  This game works well on a PC or a Mac. It has many great games.
  
  
• Know way of knowing
  By A3LWK83K6JJVK on 2008-08-29
  The disc was empty so I was unable to install or use it. The seller would not respond to my emails or snail mails. I also left a bad review with Amazon for the sale. I really wanted this game disc, but am reluctant to make further purchases, since this was a total waste of money. I am bitterly disappointed through no fault of Hoyle.
  
  
• HOYLE PUZZLE GAMES
  By A3LLWU1P39T7SV on 2008-09-29
  This product is absolutely fantastic! I have Microsoft Vista and this was easy to install. I have had hours and hours of pleasure with the great assortment of games. I also have the Hoyle cards games and I would recommend this too.
  
  

• Hoyle Card Games 2008 [OLD VERSION]
• Hoyle Casino 2008 [OLD VERSION]
• Monopoly 2008
• More Brain Games
• Scrabble