Five Or More

At last, something based on something I'd never played before. It's still a game of the "casual" type, and not the kind of thing I usually play, but it was a welcome diversion none-the-less. In its default "balls" mode, it had the most appealing graphics of anything I've played in Linux so far. Which does not say much at all, but for what it's worth, Five or More looks good.

It's a matching game at heart - you have to get five or more of the same type of tile (default tilesets: balls of different colors, and shapes of different colors; the balls look much better, the shapes look like everything else in Linux gaming so far) in a row, vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. Each turn you can move one ball, and after each turn three balls are placed on the field. The grid on which you're playing doesn't expand, so eventually (unless, of course, you are godlike and lucky) the grid fills up, which results in the end of the game.

You're awarded points on the basis of how many in a row you clear; 2pts each for 5 n' 6, and from 7 on up you get bonus points as well. I found it hard to get more than 8 with any consistency at all, but more power to ya if you can better that. Just not my thing.

This is another time-waster. It's a casual game, but like the rest of these casual games with Linux, if you want to, you can make it a strategy game full of complexity, though not too much complexity as your options are limited and you can only see one move ahead as far as the drops go. Five or More is no PopCap game, but it's nice-looking, with a simple concept and a bit of that addictive-replay-value that all casual games of any decency have (and that wears thin for me after a dozen playthroughs or less, personally).