lately i've been playing big bang board games on the mac. they've got several classics: 4-in-a-row, backgammon, checkers, chess, mancala, reversi, and tic-tac-toe. the graphics are slick but i get annoyed by the dumb comments the computer player gives. you can be the character of the sun or moon. both are gods. you also have two options for board pieces. a classic look and a fancy look.

i've been trying to play them all and win them all, of course. tic-tac-toe is such an easy, simple game that it sucks when you lose. when i first met twiddle thumbs and we would play tic-tac-toe, she approached it from such a different strategy than i was used to so she would beat me until i understood her sneaky methods. it doesn't appear that the computer learns your strategy and improves their moves or gets tougher. in fact, 4-in-a-row is a cinch to win. i loved playing backgammon on a palm pda because i would win a lot and it went by fast. i'm not into backgammon as much with this set, perhaps because i am used to the palm version (the game play in this board is reversed) and i like another game in the set much more. checkers is something i was never a big fan of but it's a standard. chess? fuck chess! i never learned the rules. i know japanese chess. i try to play the other chess by japanese chess rules and it doesn't work. in fact, i'm forgetting japanese chess rules. i played it as a kid. that reminds me that i want to play another japanese game, hanafuda. i was into it as a kid but have completely forgotten the rules. i wonder if my mom has a set and rulebook?

anyway, back to the big bang board games. mancala is a game i've played before on the pc or somewhere, i just can't recall. however i never played it much so i'm still not sure what to do and the strategies. i'm not even sure if i understand all the rules. needless to say, the computer seriously kicks my ass at it but still i managed to beat the computer once or twice at it. the game i have been hooked on is reversi. you could play this on a board in front of you in real life, but it's a pain in the butt to flip all the pieces over so i much prefer this electronic version on the computer. after a couple days falling in love with the game above the other games in the set, i wanted to play against a human. the downside is that you can only play a human opponent on a local network. but i got twiddle thumbs on and whooped her butt once or twice or fifty.