Simply Poker Squares is the first YoYo Games title to appear on the Android Marketplace ahead of an iTunes release.
The credits reference “Allan H” who created a Poker Squares game available at YoYoGames.com but there is no visual similarity between the two versions and the appearance of Simply Poker Squares is, as you would expect, very similar to YoYo Games’ Solitaire title.
The game is very easy to pick up and play, even if you don’t understand poker hands as in-game help provides a full explanation of how to get started. Our release topic contains the listing of poker hands as used in the game and you can bring up the same information in-game at any time.
One card at a time is turned over from a deck of cards and must be placed in one of 25 spaces in a 5 by 5 grid of cards. Once a card is placed it can not be moved, the aim being to place new cards in positions that maximise the number and ranking of poker hands you can complete in the 5 columns and 5 rows across the cards.
When you have filled the grid points are awarded on a column by column followed by row by row basis for the hands you have created.
Alongside customisable card designs and backgrounds there are 24 unlockable achievements based on the hands you generate as well as the ability to view some statistics about your game play. A highscores table also records your top 10 scores, though is of little use on Android since you can’t enter a name and your best score is always shown when playing.
Aside from the delayed sound issue experienced in other Game Maker designed Android titles, apparent when you first select a card to place it and when a new card is dealt, I have just one annoyance – the position of the advert. Its position is only millimetres away from the position new cards are dealt in. Great for visibility yes, but also great for accidentally clicking on when you want to drag a card on to the grid.
Whilst testing this morning I have already clicked, without meaning to, on the advert for a Groupon clone 3 times. Thankfully I have multiple browsers installed on my testing device so the webpage didn’t load as I had to confirm which to use. I am near certain this new placement, compared to at the bottom of the screen in Simply Solitaire, will generate substantially more clicks for YoYo Games – but I don’t like it at all as I feel I am being tricked into earning them pennies.
Make no mistake about it this is a good fun game and I can see it becoming addicting and imagine the free version will soon be getting a lot of downloads. If you get into it you’ll probably want to purchase the paid, ad free, version.
Simply Poker Squares is available now in the Android Marketplace as both a free version and an ad free version (59p).
What others say: According to our friends from CasinoTop10, Simply Poker Games by YoYo Games is as fun and exciting as an online video poker game without loosing your hard earned bucks. Mobile game fanatics can also enjoy a fun card game as an alternative to regular and quite boring mobile applications.