9.1.1 Brick

9.1 Games

The iPod is a personal entertainment machine on many levels. All models have at least one game: Brick. The iPod 2003 comes with two others: Parachute and ”perhaps the most popular program ever in the history of the computer ”Solitaire.

The Brick game has wandered all over the iPod's system software. In the first version of the iPod software, you unearthed it by holding down the Select button for five seconds on the About menu (Figure 9-1). In version 1.1, Brick surfaced in the Legal copyright info area in the Settings menu. Ever since version 1.2 of the iPod software, Brick has lived in an Extras submenu called Games.

Figure 9-1. Adventure games and flight simulation programs may come and go, but there'll always be Breakout. The iPod's Brick game, once playfully hidden, is now right up front on the Extras menu.

To get there on the latest iPod models, choose Extras Games Brick.

Wherever it may be on your iPod, Brick is instantly recognizable as a miniature version of the Atari arcade staple Breakout, which Apple co-founder Steve Wozinak created. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to use a ricocheting ball to break through rows of bricks at the top of the screen. Press the Select button to start the game; as the small ball rockets in from the side, use the scroll wheel to move the paddle (at the bottom) from side to side in an effort to deflect the ball into the bricks above.

You get one point for each brick you knock out. If you miss the ball, you lose it (you only get three balls per game). If you manage to knock out all the bricks at the top of the screen, you move up a level, and the game begins again. It continues until you use all your balls ”or suffer a horrible thumb cramp.

9.1.2 Parachute

Shooting at things has always been a popular theme for games, particularly computer games. (Originally, this may have been a tactic to help people manage their anger without taking a shotgun to the computer itself.)

On the 2003 iPods, Apple included a new game called Parachute, which lets you assume the controls of a ground-based antiaircraft gun. You're supposed to shoot at the helicopters that fly overhead and drop tiny little parachuting stick-people.

To play Parachute, choose Extras Games Parachute, and then press the Select button to start the game. The gun sits in the center bottom of the screen, but you can use the scroll wheel to pivot the barrel and direct your fire to the helicopters that buzz overhead. Press the Select button to fire at either the helicopters or the tiny parachutists. You get points for hitting a helicopter with one shot, but lose points if you miss.

NOTE

Once a paratrooper lands safely on the ground, he can lob grenades at you, so it's best to hit those guys while they're in the air. Oh ”and if one of the parachuting troops lands on your gun, you lose. Nobody said war is pretty.

9.1.3 Solitaire

This single-player card game has been entertaining the bored and lonely for centuries, and Solitaire's arrival on the iPod is sure to give many people something to do. Although it's not as large and colorful as the versions you can play on a desktop computer, iPod Solitaire (Figure 9-2) has its advantages. For instance, you can play it with one hand while riding the bus or waiting around for a friend to show up.

Figure 9-2. In Solitaire on the iPod, use the scroll wheel to move the hand that plays the cards. Cleaning up after a game of Solitaire is much quicker on the iPod than in real life: Just tap the Menu button. "Fifty-two pickup" has never been easier.

To begin play, go to Extras Games Solitaire and tap the Select button to deal out the first three cards. The game is standard Klondike: You get a row of seven card piles, on which youre supposed to alternate placing black and red cards in descending numerical order. Since you can't physically touch the cards, the iPod provides a helping hand cursor.

Use the scroll wheel to pass the hand over each stack of cards. When you get to the card you want, click the Select button to move the selected card to the bottom of the screen.

Now scroll the disembodied hand to the pile where you want to place the card and click the Select button again to make the play.

When you need to deal out another three cards, place the hand over the deck at the top of the screen and tap the Select button. After you go through the deck once, it will automatically restack whatever cards are left so that you can continue dealing.

9.1.4 Music Quiz

Fans of the old " Name That Tune" show will recognize the concept behind the latest game in the iPod's toybox. You need iPod Update 2.1 to play it (see Section 15.8.3).

Put on your headphones, then navigate to Extras Games Music Quiz. The game plays the first few seconds of a random song from your iPods music library. You have 10 seconds to pick out the song's title from the five names listed on the iPod's screen. If you miss, you get an "Incorrect!" message onscreen and a deep sense of shame for not knowing your own music collection. Choosing the correct title adds to your running score and advances you to the next random song.

An iPod stuffed with thousands of songs will make this all the more challenging. And if you've got an exam coming up in Music Appreciation, why not download all the works on the syllabus onto your iPod so you can quiz yourself? Let iPod be your personal tutor!