Pobs

Pobs is a strategy game that is billed as mixing Checkers and Reversi. That's a pretty accurate description of this interesting little game... and it's free. At that price you can't afford to not download it.

The game is simple... on a hexagonal board you have tokens and so does your opponent. A move can be one of two choices... a) add a new piece to the board in an empty space that is adjacent to any of your existing pieces or b) use an existing piece and jump over a possibly occupied space to another empty space. In either case all opposing pieces adjacent to your newly captured space become yours. And so it flows back and forth until the board is full.

The AI seems strong and the game offers a variety of modes such as a Quick Play mode. The game also sports three difficulty levels. One of the more interesting aspects of this game is that there are different board configurations (aka levels) that add to the challenge. You might even be playing against more than one AI opponent on a given board.

My only irritant with the game is the annoying plink sound it uses universally when selecting a menu item or making a game move. I feel like the author auditioned a variety of possible noises and went the most obnoxious one he found. After hearing it twice you'll want to mute this game.

But all in all this game is a lot of fun to play and a solid challenge. It placed in the ADC2 competition and at a list price of $0 it's a title you can't afford to ignore. Take a look at the following video if you'd like to see the game in action, but for an unknown reason they've dubbed over the game's exciting plink sound...