Part IV: The Best of Free Mac OS X Games:
Board Games and Card Games  by Cate Defrise
NOTE: Some downloads are older compressed files and might not be compatible with newer Macs. Also, some freeware may now be shareware.

Reversi (also known as Othello)

Ultimate Othello

Download 455KB
The object of this classic board game is to have the majority of your color discs on the board at the end of the game. Features network play with chat and multiple enhaced AIs.

Other free Reversi / Othello Mac OS X games: Blue Reversi, Reversi Unlimited and xTrap

Chess

JinChess

Download
JinChess is an open source, cross platform, graphical client (interface) for the Internet Chess Club and the Free Internet Chess Server.

Other free Mac chess games: Glyph Chess, Gnu Chess as well as the pre-installed Free Chess game in Macs (look in your applications folder)

Backgammon



GG Backgammon

Download 3.9 MB
GamesGrid Backgammon for Mac OS X connects you to the premiere backgammon community on the Internet. With thousands of players around the world, GamesGrid offers something for backgammon enthusiasts of all levels, including daily tournaments, one-on-one match play, and much more.

Other free Backgammon games for Mac OS X: Gnu Backgammon

Free Cell

ns Free Cell

Download 60KB
Unlike Klondike (probably the best-known solitaire game), Freecell is quite winnable. In fact, the vast majority of Freecell hands can be solved.

Other free Mac Free Cell Card Games: Freecell

Goban

Download 7.9 MB
Use Goban to play the game of go against the program. Play with people on the Internet go servers or your local network. Observe live pro and amateur games on IGS, the Internet Go Server. Review and analyze games. Browse through joseki or fuseki libraries... Goban is a powerful, simple, fast Go board for Mac OS X. See Japanese Games

One Card

Download 678 KB
Play cards which match another card in colour or value.  There are also special action cards such as Wild, Skip, Reverse and Draw cards which make the game more interesting.  The first to get rid of all their cards wins the round.  The winner then scores points based on the cards left in other players' hands and the first player to reach the goal score wins the game.

Tic Tac Toe Plus

Download 60 KB

Standard Tic Tac Toe with a plus mode option where only each player's three most recent moves remain in play, i.e. when a player makes their fourth move, their first move is removed, and that square is cleared for possible selection by the opposing player. This method removes the possibility of a stalemate

Solitaire

Solitaire

Download 597 KB
If you are also looking for your favorite Klondike, Freecell or Mac Spider Solitaire game, you got it with Simply Solitaire. These games are the old standbys that fit in perfectly when you need a good game of solitaire during a short, relaxing break.

Mahjong

Farmers' Mahjong

Download 1.4MB
Remove all tiles from the board. You can only pick them up in pairs by clicking the first and double-clicking the second tile. Removable tiles must lie along the edge of one of the tile levels.

Other free Mac Mahjong games: xMahjongg select,Note: These are games that use the tiles from Mahjong, however, it is NOT the original game of Mahjong.

Poker

Ugly Poker

Download 361 KB
A straightforward, simple fun video poker game for Mac OS X.

Other free Mac Poker games: Cocoa Poker

Boggle

Boggle

Download 1.3 MB


Boggle is the classic 3 minute word game. Mix up the board, and then try to make as many words as you can before the timer runs out! Play on your own or against your friends. This game allows 4x4 or 5x5 board play, for even longer words, and more of them.

Battleship

Battleship

Download 1.1 MB
Battleship is a Macintosh version of the classic board game that allows play over a network or across the internet. Battleship is Carbonated so it will work in Mac OS 9 and OS X.

Other free Mac Battleship games: Battleship Suite

Checkers

CheckersX

Download 735 KB
Checkers or Draughts is played on a board of sixty-four squares of alternate colors, usually as black and red. Capture all of the opponent's men, or block them so they cannot be moved, the person whose side is brought to this state loses the game.

O No. 99

Uh-Oh

Download
Uh-Oh! 99 is a game based on O’No 99 published by International Games in 1980. Not to play a card that causes the point value of the discard pile to reach 99 or more. The game is an elimination game. Each time a player cause the point value to hit 99 or more, a chip is loss. When a player has caused the point value to hit 99 or more four times, that player is out of the game.

Others

iHearts
Download
Card game, Hearts

Yahtzee

Tintin Yahtzee

Download 119 KB
Yahtzee game with Swedish rules (slightly different than the original Yahtzee) using the characters of the classic cartoon, Tin Tin, as dice faces.

Other free Mac Yahtzee games: Simple Yahtzee, Skalmac Yatzy,
Doozee, iZee, jahtzee, Tahtzee

Others

War Extreme
Download 80 KB
Based on the card game, War

Romi
Download 1090 KB
Romi lets you play Rummy Tile (RummyCube, Rummikub, Rami) games against the computer at 3 different levels.