Free Mah Jong For Windows

10 Best Free Games for Windows Phone 7

It's true: Windows Phone 7 hasn't quite kept pace with the Android and iOS platforms . However, just because it's not the Apple or Google of gaming in the mobile space doesn't mean that there isn't a lot of developer attention and activity. In fact, since our last roundup , Microsoft announced that the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace surpassed ten thousand apps . It makes sense then, to take a look at what free games have arrived in the past few months and to sniff out the crème de la crème. (Don't worry, we'll also be taking a look at the for-pay games, too.)

The theme of this free games roundup could be puzzles and ninjas—with a dash of pirates (Pirates Assault Free) and space ships (Mars Runner). No fewer then eight of the ten contenders can be categorized as either ninja—NinjaBoy+, Pandas vs. Ninjas, Shuriken Ninja, and Slice and Throw—or puzzle-related—Flow, Mahjong, Jewel, Word Search. The selection doesn't reflect any bias on my part (I'm a predisposed to pirates, personally); it's all the Windows Phone 7 developers.

Criteria for building this roundup was simple: The games had to be free, fun, and current (released in March or later—several titles just arrived this month). I dismissed a few titles because ads were too intrusive, and more than a few because I didn't feel they were fully refined. Because many of these games are brand new (version 1.0), I wouldn't be surprised if, by the next roundup rolls around, some familiar titles make the cut.

The fact is that Windows Phone 7 is still a young platform, and while there are plenty of major titles available for pay, finding good free games still requires a bit of detective work. Check out the complete slideshow for this collection's winners, and comment with your own discoveries—they could join the next roundup.

3D Mahjong Solitaire Free : match up tiles in this Mahjong game ...

For anyone out there who likes a good game of Mahjong, this is perfect for you! I have to admit I was quite surprised at how good this free game is.

This is an XNA based game which has nice menus & two modes of play; Free Play & Mahjong Champion. In ‘Free Play’ you can choose any game from the extensive list of tables whereas in Mahjong Champion mode you have to do them in order to win badges & you only get a limited number of hints to use up.

The gameplay itself is pretty smooth & looks great. Instead of just having a flat, top down view of the tiles, it shows the tiles in full 3D & you can rotate by swiping left/right, tilt by swiping up/down & use pinch to zoom in/out. The graphics are really nice & smooth & the 3 buttons for Hint, Menu & Help are kept nicely out of the way in the corners, plus a timer to show how long you’ve been playing.

There’s also a button at the bottom which says “Tap here to view ad” but other than that, there is no advertising. It has a nice list of options; you can change between 4 sets of tiles, 6 backgrounds & change the player name. You can also enable/disable sound effects & global high scores.

Overall, this game gives much more than I expected. With smooth, fun gameplay, nice graphics & a huge list of tables to play through, it’s definitely worth checking out.

Windows Vista, the missing manual

The Great Mahjong Book, History, Lore, and Play

Mah-jongg, From Shanghai to Miami Beach

Mastering Microsoft Windows Vista home, premium and basic

Windows 7 All-in-One For Dummies