The ancient quest for buried treasure and wisdom can be found beneath the ground in Egypt. Saqqarah is a story of ancient gods, good and evil, riches and knowledge. You are to unveil and conquer what lies beneath the Pyramid of Saqqarah put there 1000 years ago.
Your journey begins at the Temple of Isis. All the other temples are locked until you complete the necessary levels. The temple has been ruined by Seth, the evil god who was placed below the pyramid of Saqqarah. The puzzle is a match 3 or more colors and light up the entire board. You click on a color to swap position with another piece and make a match of 3 or more gems. If time runs out you lose the level and must start again. You will be assisted by Khufu a blue talking primate. Every 5 moves Khufu will charge one of the tokens with explosive power. By destroying the obstacles you will finish faster. Matched gems fall to the ground and the scarab sweeps them away for Khufu to cast helping spells. If you want the scarab to work faster, click on it and see it scurry.
If you are stuck and cannot make any more matches, click on the shuffle button, but be wary that the next time you need it, it will take longer. When you have combos your score is higher. The token of Seth will block your moves, and you must destroy them if you can. After completing a level you will come to the Bonus Rounds. The Glyph of Magic will have you matching hieroglyphics at the bottom of the screen with rows of options above.
Each temple offers different types of puzzles. One is making a pattern with the gems to light up the boards and the other is to make the longest chain of the same color with the gems instead of swapping.
I got to the 3rd temple quite quickly and am anxious to find out what kind of puzzles with its many levels await me. This Mac game has great graphics and appropriate music, but I did not enjoy the announcer every few minutes talking loudly about each event. It was okay a few times, but after that it became annoying. I did like the fact there are 7 different kinds of puzzles in this one game. It gives you a variety of plays in one location. More bang for your buck.
Features of Saqqarah:
-Over 500 Levels
-7 Different Puzzle Game Mechanics
-Earn Ranks, trophies, Magic Powers
-Hidden Object Bonus Rounds
Rating: 
A Fairy Tale is a delightful Mac game to play. It is different from other Mac games because the play is not a straight match swapping or sliding game. You do match colors but they do not have to be next to each other.
The game is simple to pick up through the step-by-step tutorial given by an elder elf. The object is to match the flipped tile or a group of tiles to the same color and symbol any where on the board. The bigger the groupings of tiles the bigger your score will be and faster you complete the level. If a gem appears and you find a pick, match the 2 pieces so you get the gem. Your total gem score is shown to the right. Also when you see the 2 faces of the elder and they are lit up, you can match them for a tremendous power-up. With the connected bombs make matches under them and they will light up and you can match the 2 for an explosion.
Some of the blocks in this game are the flowers you need to match a flower embedded tile to cause the blossoms to fall down, and the fairies in cobwebs. The only way to free them is to match tiles all around the web. This game is timed and you have only 3 lives. When your time is getting close to expiring a fairy floats down and gently reminds you to get a move on or else lose a life.
The bonus games start off easy but increase in difficulty as the levels get higher. The tiles show you where the fairies are located and after it is flipped, you are to find where they are. This is a form of a memory game.
A Fairy Tale also has a very intricate story line about fairies and their quest to fight evil. This is not always easy for the 3 young elves who are given only a bottle and a staff and are told to go seek the Tree of Wisdom. This is all told in a comic strip mode and is very amusing since the tree really had no clue to what they wanted.
This Mac game is a relaxing and fun play when you are in the mood to just be entertained. The music is soothing and aids in the play even though it is timed, you do not feel rushed. The graphics are colorful and good. A Fairy Tale is an excellent game for the whole family to discover the outcome of the 3 fairies.
Features of A Fairy Tale:
-New Type of Puzzle
-Unlock “Master Quest”
-Fun Story Line
Rating:
Jewel Match 2 like Jewel Match is an aesthetically beautiful game with background pictures of fairytale castles and scenery. The graphics is what makes this Mac game different from other match plays.
The game is to match 3 or more gems in a row either vertically or horizontally to remove the jewels from the board. To finish a level you must make matches over the golden squares. When the amulet appears at the top of the board you must make matches below it to get it to the bottom.
Random gold and silver coins will appear and you must click on them so you can earn monies to buy useful items in the shop to use in your play. The fireball is one that will destroy gems both up and down the grid. The gem matches will fill your bag full of jewels (located in the upper right hand side). When the bag is full, you can buy a bigger chest to store your gems. The jewels are used to buy parts of the castle that you are building. Other helps are the mana for spells needed to activate and use whatever power-ups you have purchased. You just click on the mana to place on top of the screen until you are ready to use it. The hammers from the first game are again here in this second one. The hammers depending on the strength could destroy either one or all the same colored jewels. The map shows where you will be building your next castle and the levels.
The blocks are the boxes where you need to make 2 matches to clear and the single and double chains. The hours glass timer on the right is used in the timed play but not the relaxed one.
Jewel Quest 2 is very much like the first game where the graphics and background scenes are amazing, and the music is slow and soothing for a relaxed play. I enjoyed this second version better than the first with the extra play in earning coins and gems to buy extras in the shop and build castles.
Features of Jewel Match 2:
-150 Levels
-8 Power-ups
-Gather Mana to activate Power-ups
-Build 7 Fantasy Castles
Rating:
Zenerchi is a positive state of mind created by solving the puzzles of life. This is an ambitious claim for a mind puzzle, but perhaps they are right. A beautifully designed Mac game Zenerchi is a calming, but challenging puzzle. Its concentric circles are a different play from the usual rectangular swap format of match 3 or more colors game.
In this game you rotate the circular ring of colors around until you are able to make 3 or more of the same colored pieces to match. This will re-energize the Color Container and allows the Zenerchi to grow. The level is complete when all sections of the Color Container are filled. Larger matches will fill the container faster, and when the time runs out, the level is over. You can gain time by completely filling a Zenerchi Color Container. After completion of a level you are awarded an expert quote. This can be a philosophical quote from a famous person.
The extras are 5 or more matches will create a small burst and by double clicking on it will explode 4 surrounding pieces. Color blockers will prevent rings from turning. This will stop you from making matches. The only way to get rid of the blockers is by making matches on them or to activate a burst near by. The binders, will hold 2 pieces in rings together and will stop movements. To rid the binders you need to make matches on either of the blocks and this will destroy the binder. Sometimes bursts will unbind the pieces. It is imperative you break the binders as soon as possible, because too many binders will end a level.
You begin with the Journey Mode until Zen is unlocked. In the Zen mode there are addition blocks such as the enigmas where 2 rings will rotate in opposite directions. Also numbers on the bands will decrease by 1 on every turn and when the number reaches 0, it will turn into a blocker.
Zenerchi is a well thought out Zen-like puzzle with many useful phrases for your life lessons. It also is an interesting change from the usual swap 3 match game. What I liked about it was the lack of a story to slow down your play, the beautiful, intense colors and the soothing music.
Features of Zenerchi:
-50 Levels
-Journey or Zen Mode
-3 or more matches
-Power-ups
Rating:
Coyote Tales is a very complex story about saving the world from annihilation. There are 2 sisters who come across 2 gods, one a coyote and the other Max. The 2 sisters are commissioned to save the world. You choose one of the sisters as your person. Tlethl is the impatient sister of fire and the game is timed. The other is Alt and she is the calm sister of water and hers does not have a time limit.
Long ago the gods kept the world in order but there was an unbalance and problems needed to be solved. You must challenge the 15 gods to earn the right to face them. This is a hidden object game with excellent graphics and interesting colors to reveal the mysterious items. If Max feels you need help or you messed up, he will surround the item with petals. In addition to that help you need to look for flowers since every 5th flower will get you a heart to help you look for objects (all on the upper right side of the screen). A great help is the list where you view the words or the picture of what you need to find if you are having trouble locating any one item. If you are looking for a pumpkin and when you change the list to view image and find the pumpkin is green, then you look for the green background to search for it. This really helped a lot. After finishing your level, your magical staff gets more powerful so you will soon be able to face the gods.
The hidden object play is the main part of this game, and there are many side puzzles to solve as well. One side puzzle is to match 3 or more items game, and another is to fill the water jugs to the precise measurement. Some of the mini puzzles are more than challenging, but you can skip them and continue on with your main play.
Coyote Tales has great hidden object games with many mini puzzles. All the games are interesting and clever, but the dialogue from the cartoon characters is a little annoying. Of course, if you are into that kind of cocky humor, this game may entertain you. However, you will find the puzzles themselves are good, solid plays in Coyote Tales.
Features of Coyote Tales:
-Aztec Theme
-17 Mini Games
-Save the World
Rating:
