In this week ’s Dashboard roundup , I focus on diversions : keeping track of your preferent teams and playing cards and board games .
More Conference Call thingamabob (; free ) Back in September , I told you about a nerveless widget called Conference Call , which display the schedule and results for your favored college football squad . Evidently Conference Call has been a hit , because the developer has since free a number of other version for fan of other sports and levels ( and rename the original):Conference Call Gridiron(college football),Conference Call Gridiron Pro(NFL football),Conference Call Hoops(college basketball),Conference Call Hoops Pro(NBA basketball game ) , andConference Call On Ice Pro(NHL hockey ) . Like the original , you choose your conference and squad , and the thingamajig show you your team ’s integral season schedule : dates , times , and whether each game is at place or by . melodic line for game that have already been played include the final score and are colouring material - coded — green communication channel for wins , red telephone line for going . ( tap the score to look at Fox Sport ’s game recap in your Web browser app . ) The team ’s current record is also displayed , and click the “ Visit team details foliate ” link give your web browser to your squad ’s page on the Fox Sports site ; to consider a like page for an opponent , flick that squad ’s name in the schedule . you could tumble each widget so that it take less blank space on your Dashboard by clicking the ball / puck icon . If you ’re a sports fan , the Conference Call widgets are fun way to keep racecourse of your favored team .
Mondo Solitaire (; complimentary ) . I ’ve said it before ( a couple times , in fact ): Dashboard is a great environment for dewy-eyed game — when you get bored , you could drop into Dashboard for a quick diversion and when you ’re done ( or when your boss walk by ) you could just as speedily get out . And if you ’re a fan of patience , Mondo Solitaire is probably the doohickey you need . It offers 31 different kinds of solitaire , many with multiple variations — you get over 50 variations in all . ( You take the plot , as well as the table backcloth and card conception , via the “ back ” of the widget ; when you take a game , the back of the widget also displays the rules for that game , a sum-up of its characteristics , and related games — a nice touch . ) When play the secret plan , you may either drag cards to the desired locations or duple - click a board to machine - play it . Mondo Solitaire is n’t as full - featured as Solitaire Till Dawn , my favorite Solitaire plot for the Mac , but it ’s got enough games to keep you busy during your “ coffee prison-breaking . ” My only major complaint is that I wish you could minimize it when you ’re not playing , as the thingmajig get up a good mass of Dashboard blank .
SuperBrain (; destitute ) . On the topic of games , I have fond memory of the 1970 ’s “ board ” gameMastermind . If you ’re not familiar with genius , here ’s the gist of it : Your opponent chose four pegs of varying colors and set up them , in secret , in a particular formula . You get 10 guesses as to the pattern ; with each guess , your opposition tells you how many pegs in your guess are the right colouring but in the wrong location and how many are both the right colorandthe right location . If you’re able to nail down the pattern in 10 guesses or less , you win ; if not , you lose . It was a large game for minor , but with four - peg radiation pattern and only five coloration , anyone who took a methodical overture to guessing could win every time .
SuperBrain is a Dashboard reading of Mastermind , and it ’s every scrap as fun as the master copy except that it ’s plan for a undivided participant — the computer chooses the pattern . However , SuperBrain amend on conceiver by letting you adjust the difficultly level : If you desire to make the biz even easy , you may repress the number of possible colors to 3 ; if you require more of a challenge , you may have as many as 8 colors and up to 8 - pin blueprint . If you thought Mastermind was too well-fixed , give an 8 - color , 8 - peg - pattern game of SuperBrain a try — you still get only 10 guesses !
