More often than I’d like, people tell me, “There are NO games for Mac!!” Immediately I feel defensive and smartly retort, “Yah hahn!” I’m not crazy (I think) and get a bit sensitive whenever someone disses anything Mac. What was I talking about?

If you’re looking around aimlessly for a Mac game for your small kids, grandkids, nieces/nephews, friends and neighbors’ kids, you’re in the right place because Lua Lua may be your next game acquisition. Lua Lua is, in fact, a set of 7 different games so you really get a bang for your buck, and you’ll receive free updates when they add any new games. And you thought there was no such thing as a free lunch.

The overall design of Lua Lua is a perfect match for small kids because it showcases bright and colorful graphics with some very cute and cuddly animals, and lots of them. A purple and yellow cursor as large as a quarter will help the most mouse impaired little ones. Yes, the artwork is very simple but remember it’s for kids so the graphics are basically clean and inviting, very easy on the eyes.

Lua Lua is set for full screen game play only, which seems to have been done on purpose. The interface is amazingly obvious; however, if a child doesn’t know what to do and just clicks randomly, nothing will go awry; he’ll eventually discover what to do easily. You see, the basic premise of Lua Lua is to be a rewarding experience that incorporates a “Win-Win” scenario with everything a child does, from the clicking of the main menu to the game play of each game. Finally, any actions performed on your computer by the child can’t harm your desktop; therefore, your precious files will remain intact, secure and untouched.

My favorite of the 7 Lua Lua games is called, “Catch A Match” where you have to click on pairs of the same animal as they fall from the top of the board and make their way downward. It starts out easy enough with just a dog but several of these same dogs. You then click on a pair and they disappear. Slowly but most surely, different animals in increasing numbers appear, some rocking back and forth, others spinning around more vigorously, making it progressively difficult to find matches. It sort of reminds me of that episode of "I love Lucy" where she's working the conveyor belt at the chocolate factory. Never fear, if you fail to make any matches, life goes on! No horrifying “BZZZZZ! You lose, discouraging sounds.” or having to try to hide excess pieces on the board! Simply play as much as you like, regardless of how many pairs you’re actually making. It’s still challenging but it’s also rewarding (and non-caloric).

The game called, “Soopa Koopa” is another stimulating game where an animal is displayed at the top of the board and you have to re-create it below by sliding split images together until you remake the animal in question. There are 2 sets of slices initially but the more you play it will eventually reach a maximum total of 8 slices you’ll have to re-assemble.

In “La La Land” animals will "sing" a phrase for you. You must repeat the exact phrase by clicking on the corresponding animal(s). If you’re familiar with the game, “Simon,” the game with the lights and tones you had to mimic, “La La Land” is the Lua Lua equivalent of that game except with animated animals and animal noises. Each time you repeat the sequence correctly, an animal sound is added to the queue (Your progression will be displayed in the puzzle line at the bottom of the screen.)

The best part is: if you give a wrong answer, the animals will repeat the phrase until you find the correct sequence! How awesome is that?!

“Thinky Thinky” makes you do just that: thinky thinky. The board is filled with 16 question marks arranged in a square formation and you must turn them over (like a familiar memory game with cards) and eventually find pairs of animals. This is a great memory game for kids.

“Taquin” is a slide puzzle made up of a picture (the little chick) on a space of 3 by 3 tiles except one tile is missing. Click on the tiles next to the empty space to slide them over. The tile will slide into the empty space. Each time the puzzle is solved and the bird's picture is rebuilt, the tiles will be mixed again (The computer will increase the difficulty level, mixing the pattern more and more each time you rebuild the picture.)

My only issue with Taquin is that I’d like to have more animals to choose from when playing this slide puzzle. For now, you are limited to playing with only the little chickadee. An update maybe?

Lastly, a set of kids’ games could not be complete without a Tic-Tac-Toe! In this case, it’s “Pig-Tac-Dog” and while most computerized games of this sort end up in a draw, this one amazingly lets the player win quite a bit if not all the time! Yay!

Recently added is "Drag n Drop" where you must fill the correct shape with an animal, much like filling in a square shaped hole with a square block except with Lua Lua, you are working with cute animals.

The music of Lua Lua works without a glitch; it's a perfect match with the game play and the graphics, plus it’s pleasantly relaxing.

Overall, Lua Lua gets 5 beach balls because it’s wonderfully put together, its premise to incorporate a “win-win” scenario in the game play couldn’t be more positive, the music, the graphics and the variety of games all seamlessly come together so naturally.

Lua Lua is not only a fantastic Mac game; it’s really 7 fantastic Mac games! (By the way, Lua Lua is also available for PC. And there are free Lua Lua icons on the Phelios.com site. Click here Free Mac Icons. Lua Lua is available online for $19.95 at the Phelios Computer Games site.

Download Lua Lua for Mac here (7.7 MB) --- Download Lua Lua for PC here (7.7MB)

Rated 5 out of 5


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