When it comes to family entertainment software, Sierra's popular Hoyle series beats everyone else hands down. Many games claim to be playable by the entire family, but how many actually are? The Hoyle line offers board, card and other miscellaneous compilations with games at every skill level, multiplayer options online or on the same computer, and the very nature of the games themselves defines the true meaning of replayability so often used in software reviews.

Hoyle Board Games 2003 is the newest update of Hoyle Board Games from Sierra. This latest version offers a mix of previous Board content, brand new games and some games taken from other Hoyle compilations. There are 18 games in all, compared to the 16 offered in the 2 latest versions. These are: (same games) Backgammon, Battling Ships, Checkers, Chess, Chinese Checkers, Dominoes, Mahjong Tiles, Mancala, Master Match, Pachisi, Reversi, Rummy Squares, Yacht, (new game) Bump 'em, (previously found in Solitaire & Mahjong Tiles) Gravity Tiles, (previously found in Word Games) Wordox, Word Yacht, and DoubleCross. Also new is a PDA version of Mahjong Tiles, along with the PDA version of Backgammon from Board Games 2002. There are still 10 computer characters who offer wisecracks, but some of them are either new, or have been given a new look. The missing games are: Snakes and Ladders (can be found on Hoyle Kid Games), Placer Racer (found in the new Puzzle Games 2003) and Line 'em Up, which appears to be missing from any 2003 edition. The facemaker option is still available, which lets players design their own custom faces.

Ok, now that all the confusing background information is out of the way, what about the game itself? Is it any good? If you've been living on a different planet for the last several years and don't actually own any of the Hoyle Games, then you're in for a scrumptious treat, on the par of discovering a wonderful mystery author and finding out they have scads of books stretching back 20 years - in other words, you're going to be busy having fun for a long, long time.

Games of strategy, luck, solitary and multi-player ensure that every taste is met. Strategists will enjoy Chinese Checkers, Backgammon, DoubleCross, Wordox, Chess and Mancala, while the more luck-oriented fans will have a blast with Bump-'em and Yacht, and word puzzle enthusiasts will never leave the computer after trying Word Yacht and DoubleCross! (A warning about Word Yacht, this game is highly addictive, especially if there is a competitive word maven in your home; above all, don't tell him/her there are competitive rating ladders online, or you'll never see your mate's face turned toward you again.) Seriously, Word Yacht is an utterly absorbing game that is a combination of anagrams and yahtzee, where words formed from 10 letter tiles on a timer are then placed in certain scored categories of 5 letter words, 6 letter words, words beginning with the same letter, word lists that use all 10 letter tiles, most words formed, etc., and bonus words of 8 or more letters. I used to enjoy this game, before my husband began memorizing 8-10 letter words from the dictionary, beginning with "A", in order to get a higher rank on his online ladder. I'm not kidding.

If players are in the mood for some solitary play, it's easy as pie to fire up the program and get in a few games, without any social distractions. If outgoing by nature, have the family join you around the computer as you vie for the championship title! Online play is a definite added attraction for many of these games, but playing online doesn't actually require this software; these games are all offered for free on Uproar. The only thing owning the software adds to the online play is the facemaker utility, where players can design custom players. The facemaker is one of the really fun options of this program, with an amazing assortment of features that will allow players to design faces that are eerily similar to their own.

Chinese Checkers is still one of my all-time favorite board games, because of its deceptively simple play that is actually a sophisticated game of strategy. Master Match is a version of the classic MasterMind, also one of my favorite brain games. The new Bump 'em is a cool variation of Sorry!, with basically the same board set-up, but instead of traditional playing pieces, cars are used, and some of the action cards are slightly different. But players will still send back opponents' pieces or trade places with them, and can still go backwards on some moves. Solitary play is satisfied by the time-eating Mahjong Tiles and Gravity Tiles, a variation of Mahjong with a Tetris twist.

The Hoyle Games are truly great family entertainment, and these new editions maintain the same high quality as previous editions. The main question here is whether families already own the previous editions, and if so, if it's worth it to purchase these. My answer is that if a family already owns both Word and Board Games, then no, it's not worth $30 to get the few new features offered on Board Games 2003. However, if only one of these is owned, then it's probably worth it to get the added different games, plus the PDA versions. And, if by some strange circumstance beyond your control (aliens have just returned you from their science experiments after an absence of 10 years) none of these is residing on your desktop, then what are you waiting for? Go get them ALL now! These also make great gifts for those family members who've either just bought their first computer, are still playing Myst, or fondly talk about the white house in Zork.

Graphics: 7.5 
The animation is nice, but nothing spectacular.

Sound: 7
Again, the sound is good, but nothing exciting.

Concept: 7 
As stated above, this is the umpteenth edition of basically the same game, nothing innovative here. But, the presentation is still classy as always!

Overall: 8.1
The Hoyle games receive the most computer time of any program currently residing on our desktop, which says a lot, considering the enormous amount of software we own. However, this edition doesn't offer much in new features, but instead basically reshuffles games from one version to another.