The Hoyle Card Games by Sierra Family Games is a collection of eighteen games including Gin Rummy, Poker, Bridge, Canasta, Cribbage, Crazy 8's, Hearts, Memory Match, War, Spades, Old Maid, Go Fish, Pinochle, Pitch, Euchre, and thirty variations of Solitaire. Two international games, Skat, a three-player game from Germany, and Tarot, the national game of France, are also included. From the dancing bears and amusing opponents to the customizable backgrounds and assortment of games, these computerized cards are just plain fun.

I grew up in a home where everyone played cards. My grandfather played solitaire every day. My parents and their friends played Canasta and Pinochle. When I was a kid, we spent many enjoyable evenings with the entire family playing penny poker. So it is not surprising that I found so much enjoyment in the Hoyle card games.

Set up is easy. The installation even walks you through setting up your preferences like how talkative you want the player characters to be. Everything is explained on the screen in plain English. How refreshing!

Hoyle Card Games give you many different playing options. You can get family and friends together on the same computer for a head-to-head competition (up to four players on the same computer). If you are connected to the Internet, you can play with distant family and friends or meet up with new opponents. You can also play against the twelve unique, witty three-dimensional opponents that the computer provides. These opponents come with their own voices, unique attitudes, and playing styles. Play against Jasper, the Jamaican jazz player, Marvin the friendly T-Rex, or Hedda the German card shark. You can also adjust the Attitude Meter to make your opponents quieter and more serious or more talkative and witty. This software also includes a feature called Facemaker, which lets the user create their own personalized character by choosing hairstyle, clothing, and facial features.

If you don't know how to play a game, there are excellent instructions. Adjustable skill levels with Easy, Intermediate, and Difficult Modes make it easier to learn to play difficult games. Bridge, Canasta, Gin, Hearts, and Spades have tutorials that have the players explain the game. Learning to play hearts from Harley the Bear is interesting to say the least. Many of the games have a tutorial switch that will prompt you for your next move so you can play without having to read all the directions.

To enhance your gaming experience, you can customize both the back and the face of the cards as well as your playing environment. You also get to choose from a nice selection of background music to get you in the proper mood.

Once you have set up your opponents and determined the environment, the card games themselves are a hoot. Play Go Fish and the fish actually jump in and out of the pond. In War, your tanks get blown up when you lose. In Poker, your opponents call your bluff and egg you on.

New features include Hoyle Bucks which are won by playing the games. Once you accumulate a few bucks you can go to the Bucks area where you can see the ledger of how you won the money. In this area you can also use your newly won bucks to purchase new backgrounds, music, card back designs, music and decors. It’s an interesting concept that makes the games more fun.

Games like Hearts, Bridge, and Spades also have a playback mode so you can review each trick as it was played. This can be used to learn the games and also to tweak you strategies.

Hoyle Card Games 2003 also come with Blackjack and video poker for your PDA. These can be played on both Palm and PocketPC devices.

What’s not to like? There are three separate introductions when you start the games. You can bypass these by clicking the mouse, but I found it aggravating to have to click three times to get to the games. You are also presented with a list of other games available for purchase when you exit. I really don’t need to see that every time. Although everything works quite well, you need to have the CD inserted to play the games. If you like to play only an occasional game, having to find and insert the CD is an aggravation.

Even with these slight aggravations, Hoyle Card Games provides good clean fun for everyone.