Freeverse

NEW YORK, NY -- Freeverse Software today announced a sale for those gamers who are still looking for the perfect Mother's Day gift. The sale provides a discount of $5 on an assortment of Freeverse's Mom-friendly games, including the popular 3D Spades Deluxe, 3D Bridge Deluxe, and X-Words Deluxe.

"Let's face it, a lot of us spend a lot of times playing computer games and getting mother-induced guilt for being recluses," said Dan Dickinson, Freeverse CTO. "What better way to bridge this parent-child digital divide with your Mom than by playing a network game? Our quick market research shows that most mothers don't enjoy World War 2 first person shooters, but many enjoy a good game of cards or crosswords."

Orders can be placed at the Freeverse Store.

Fine Print: Sale prices do not require a coupon and are available for both Mac and PC. Spades and X-Words discounts are for electronic registrations only.

After months and months of work, we're proud to announce the release of 3D Hearts Deluxe 7.3, 3D Bridge Deluxe 2.3, 3D Spades Deluxe 3.3, 3D Euchre Deluxe 2.3, and 3D Pitch Deluxe 2.3 for the Macintosh. The update is free for all users, and is highly recommended for all users.

Here's just a small highlight of some of the changes:

• Bot auto-substitution during network play when a player drops.
  
• Speech synthesis.
  
• Support for XML-based puppets, which are up to 50% smaller at the same quality compared to the previous versions.
  
• Numerous usability enhancements.
  
• Reduced CPU and resource usage
  
• New game rules options for Spades and Hearts
  

For a full changelist, please click the Read More link below.
If you have a previous version, use these links:
Bridge 2.3 Update
Euchre 2.3 Update
Hearts 7.3 Update
Pitch 2.3 Update
Spades 3.3 Update

If you've never downloaded one of the card games before, use these links:
Bridge 2.3
Euchre 2.3
Hearts 7.3
Pitch 2.3
Spades 3.3

3D Bridge Deluxe 2.3

New Features

• GameSmith 3.4.3 is now bundled with Bridge. For details, see GameSmith Changes.
  
• NOTE: some of the new features described below require that all human players in a network game are using Bridge 2.3 or later. When this is not the case, a warning message will be displayed in the game chat.
  
• Bots now automatically substitute in when a player drops out of a network game.
  
• Added support for an iPuppet Images folder. Put a folder (or an alias) with this name at the same level as the game (i.e., Plug Ins) and/or in your Home folder’s Pictures folder and put images in it, or folders of images (aliases to either are OK). This is a super-quick way to manage many iPuppet images.
  
• Added support for the new Game Info dialog in GameSmith. The rules and status information are now properly provided to GameSmith, so anyone using GameSmith 3.4 can track the progress of your game.
  
• Added support for Speech Synthesis. The pre-recorded chat messages that are normally spoken by puppets can instead be spoken using Apple’s Speech technology. In the Puppets dialog, you can specify which voice (if any) to use for each position. In Network games, once you assign a voice to another human player, the player will retain that voice even after changing positions.
  
• The Rules, Puppets and Solo Stats dialogs are now sheets in Mac OS X, which means you can open them and still interact with GameSmith.
  
• Added a new /help command in the game chat to see which commands are available.
  
• Added a new /save commmand to save game chat.
  
• Control-clicking in the game window allows various operations, depending on whether you click on a puppet or the game background and whether you are playing a solo game or hosting or joining a network game.
  
• You can now mute players by control-clicking.
  
• You can hide the iPuppet image for a single player by control-clicking.
  
• There is a new option to Resign. This is only available in network games after the fifth hand, and all players must agree to it. It can only be used when losing.
  
• Added new automatic be-right-back support in network games when using iPuppets: just type brb into game chat and then click when you are back.
  
• Added a new option to automatically shuffle player seat positions after each game via a checkbox in the Puppets dialog.
  
• Added a new Network menu item to shuffle player seat positions on demand.
  
• Improved Score Pad appearance with proper suit glyphs for bids.
  
• Fixed Undo. It has not worked correctly since Bridge 1.5. Undo during bidding is also supported once again.
  

• General improvements to many game messages to include additional information about who has not clicked to be ready, who is dealing and who will lead, etc.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused games to sometimes stall or “lag” unpredictably.
  
• Emoticon menu has been rearranged and includes emoticon images in Mac OS X.
  
• Chat Bubbles now include emoticon images instead of their text equivalents.
  
• As players move from seat to seat (say, because of swapping), they now maintain the same chat color for consistency.
  
• Keyboard support for bidding and passing has been disabled in network games so that chatting cannot trigger inadvertent bids.
  
• Pressing Escape clears the chat edit field in the game window.
  
• Chat Bubbles are drawn more smoothly in Mac OS X.
  
• Preferences now has an improved iPuppet Preview.
  
• Added a new Show Scoreboard item in the Game menu.
  
• Improved Quit & Open: supports Crazy Eights and Gin Rummy and also includes the game icons.
  
• Added a notification when a network player is using a puppet you do not have.
  
• Joiners can no longer restart network games after they end. Only the host can do that.
  
• Hide Desktop was very seriously broken. Now it’s not.
  
• Command ` can no longer cycle to the desktop’s hidden window.
  
• Fixed the Puppets dialog so that, when making changes (adding a bot, swapping seats), it no longer tells you there is a game in progress when the game is actually over.
  
• Fixed the Puppets dialog so that it can be used to change the seats of GameSmith account names with special characters.
  
• Added Command-F as a keyboard equivalent for Restart Game.
  
• Fixed a bug that would result in a blank Dummy Hand window if the game were not in the foreground at the end of a hand.
  
• In solo games, you can take back your bid by pressing the same number again, much like clicking the same bid value takes it back.
  
• Startup time has been reduced significantly.
  
• The Help has been updated and cleaned up.
  
• The end game win/lose animations require fewer CPU resources on older computers.
  
• Removed the random, occasional “grumble” sound that players could make in network games.
  
• Fixed a number of issues with Exposé when using the Hide Desktop option.
  
• Fixed a problem where players would sometimes be invisible after first joining.
  
• Added support for new XML-based puppets.
  

3D Euchre Deluxe 2.3

New Features

• GameSmith 3.4.3 is now bundled with Euchre. For details, see GameSmith Changes.
  
• NOTE: some of the new features described below require that all human players in a network game are using Euchre 2.3 or later. When this is not the case, a warning message will be displayed in the game chat.
  
• Bots now automatically substitute in when a player drops out of a network game.
  
• Added support for an iPuppet Images folder. Put a folder (or an alias) with this name at the same level as the game (i.e., Plug Ins) and/or in your Home folder’s Pictures folder and put images in it, or folders of images (aliases to either are OK). This is a super-quick way to manage many iPuppet images.
  
• Added support for the new Game Info dialog in GameSmith. The rules and status information are now properly provided to GameSmith, so anyone using GameSmith 3.4 can track the progress of your game.
  
• Added support for Speech Synthesis. The pre-recorded chat messages that are normally spoken by puppets can instead be spoken using Apple’s Speech technology. In the Puppets dialog, you can specify which voice (if any) to use for each position. In Network games, once you assign a voice to another human player, the player will retain that voice even after changing positions.
  
• The Rules, Puppets and Solo Stats dialogs are now sheets in Mac OS X, which means you can open them and still interact with GameSmith.
  
• Added a new /help command in the game chat to see which commands are available.
  
• Added a new /save commmand to save game chat.
  
• Control-clicking in the game window allows various operations, depending on whether you click on a puppet or the game background and whether you are playing a solo game or hosting or joining a network game.
  
• You can now mute players by control-clicking.
  
• You can hide the iPuppet image for a single player by control-clicking.
  
• There is a new option to Resign. This is only available in network games after the fifth hand, and all players must agree to it. It can only be used when losing.
  
• Added new automatic be-right-back support in network games when using iPuppets: just type brb into game chat and then click when you are back.
  
• Added a new option to automatically shuffle player seat positions after each game via a checkbox in the Puppets dialog.
  
• Added a new Network menu item to shuffle player seat positions on demand.
  
• Added a new game rule to require all players to have trump before bidding.
  

• General improvements to many game messages to include additional information about who has not clicked to be ready, who is dealing and who will lead, etc.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused games to sometimes stall or “lag” unpredictably.
  
• Rules dialog has been improved visually and now allows the game to points to be to any value you like.
  
• Emoticon menu has been rearranged and includes emoticon images in Mac OS X.
  
• Chat Bubbles now include emoticon images instead of their text equivalents.
  
• As players move from seat to seat (say, because of swapping), they now maintain the same chat color for consistency.
  
• Keyboard support for bidding and passing has been disabled in network games so that chatting cannot trigger inadvertent bids.
  
• Pressing Escape clears the chat edit field in the game window.
  
• Chat Bubbles are drawn more smoothly in Mac OS X.
  
• Preferences now has an improved iPuppet Preview.
  
• Added a new Show Scoreboard item in the Game menu.
  
• Improved Quit & Open: supports Crazy Eights and Gin Rummy and also includes the game icons.
  
• Added a notification when a network player is using a puppet you do not have.
  
• Joiners can no longer restart network games after they end. Only the host can do that.
  
• Hide Desktop was very seriously broken. Now it’s not.
  
• Command ` can no longer cycle to the desktop’s hidden window.
  
• Fixed the Puppets dialog so that, when making changes (adding a bot, swapping seats), it no longer tells you there is a game in progress when the game is actually over.
  
• Fixed the Puppets dialog so that it can be used to change the seats of GameSmith account names with special characters.
  
• Improved the appearance of score pad.
  
• Added Command-F as a keyboard equivalent for Restart Game.
  
• Fixed a bug in netplay when Screw the Dealer is off and everyone passes in both rounds of bidding.
  
• Startup time has been reduced significantly.
  
• The Help has been updated and cleaned up.
  
• The end game win/lose animations require fewer CPU resources on older computers.
  
• Removed the random, occasional “grumble” sound that players could make in network games.
  
• Fixed a number of issues with Exposé when using the Hide Desktop option.
  
• Fixed a problem where players would sometimes be invisible after first joining.
  
• Added support for new XML-based puppets.

3D Hearts Deluxe 7.3

New Features

• GameSmith 3.4.3 is now bundled with Hearts. For details, see GameSmith Changes.
  
• NOTE: some of the new features described below require that all human players in a network game are using Hearts 7.3 or later. When this is not the case, a warning message will be displayed in the game chat.
  
• Bots now automatically substitute in when a player drops out of a network game.
  
• Added support for an iPuppet Images folder. Put a folder (or an alias) with this name at the same level as the game (i.e., Plug Ins) and/or in your Home folder’s Pictures folder and put images in it, or folders of images (aliases to either are OK). This is a super-quick way to manage many iPuppet images.
  
• Added support for the new Game Info dialog in GameSmith. The rules and status information are now properly provided to GameSmith, so anyone using GameSmith 3.4 can track the progress of your game.
  
• Added support for Speech Synthesis. The pre-recorded chat messages that are normally spoken by puppets can instead be spoken using Apple’s Speech technology. In the Puppets dialog, you can specify which voice (if any) to use for each position. In Network games, once you assign a voice to another human player, the player will retain that voice even after changing positions.
  
• The Rules, Puppets and Solo Stats dialogs are now sheets in Mac OS X, which means you can open them and still interact with GameSmith.
  
• Added a new /help command in the game chat to see which commands are available.
  
• Added a new /save commmand to save game chat.
  
• Control-clicking in the game window allows various operations, depending on whether you click on a puppet or the game background and whether you are playing a solo game or hosting or joining a network game.
  
• You can now mute players by control-clicking.
  
• You can hide the iPuppet image for a single player by control-clicking.
  
• There is a new option to Resign. This is only available in network games after the fifth hand, and all players must agree to it. It can only be used when losing.
  
• Added new automatic be-right-back support in network games when using iPuppets: just type brb into game chat and then click when you are back.
  
• Added a new option to automatically shuffle player seat positions after each game via a checkbox in the Puppets dialog.
  
• Added a new Network menu item to shuffle player seat positions on demand.
  
• Added a new game rule: Shoot the Sun.
  
• Added a new game rule: Taking no tricks is +26 point penalty.
  
• Added a new game rule: Reach end score exactly go back to zero.
  
• Added a new game rule: More variations for passing order.
  
• Added a new game rule: Rotate lead with random first leader.
  

• General improvements to many game messages to include additional information about who has not clicked to be ready, who is dealing and who will lead, etc.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused games to sometimes stall or “lag” unpredictably.
  
• Rules dialog has been improved visually and now allows the game to points to be to any value you like.
  
• Emoticon menu has been rearranged and includes emoticon images in Mac OS X.
  
• Chat Bubbles now include emoticon images instead of their text equivalents.
  
• As players move from seat to seat (say, because of swapping), they now maintain the same chat color for consistency.
  
• Keyboard support for passing has been disabled in network games so that chatting cannot trigger inadvertent bids.
  
• Pressing Escape clears the chat edit field in the game window.
  
• Chat Bubbles are drawn more smoothly in Mac OS X.
  
• Preferences now has an improved iPuppet Preview.
  
• Added a new Show Scoreboard item in the Game menu.
  
• Improved Quit & Open: supports Crazy Eights and Gin Rummy and also includes the game icons.
  
• Added a notification when a network player is using a puppet you do not have.
  
• Joiners can no longer restart network games after they end. Only the host can do that.
  
• Hide Desktop was very seriously broken. Now it’s not.
  
• Command ` can no longer cycle to the desktop’s hidden window.
  
• Fixed the Puppets dialog so that, when making changes (adding a bot, swapping seats), it no longer tells you there is a game in progress when the game is actually over.
  
• Fixed the Puppets dialog so that it can be used to change the seats of GameSmith account names with special characters.
  
• Improved the appearance of score pad.
  
• Added Command-F as a keyboard equivalent for Restart Game.
  
• Added an arrow to the Score Pad to show the pass direction for each hand.
  
• Startup time has been reduced significantly.
  
• The Help has been updated and cleaned up.
  
• The end game win/lose animations require fewer CPU resources on older computers.
  
• Removed the random, occasional “grumble” sound that players could make in network games.
  
• Fixed a number of issues with Exposé when using the Hide Desktop option.
  
• Fixed a problem where players would sometimes be invisible after first joining.
  
• Added support for new XML-based puppets.
  

3D Pitch Deluxe 2.3

New Features

• GameSmith 3.4.3 is now bundled with Pitch. For details, see GameSmith Changes.
  
• NOTE: some of the new features described below require that all human players in a network game are using Pitch 2.3 or later. When this is not the case, a warning message will be displayed in the game chat.
  
• Bots now automatically substitute in when a player drops out of a network game.
  
• Added support for an iPuppet Images folder. Put a folder (or an alias) with this name at the same level as the game (i.e., Plug Ins) and/or in your Home folder’s Pictures folder and put images in it, or folders of images (aliases to either are OK). This is a super-quick way to manage many iPuppet images.
  
• Added support for the new Game Info dialog in GameSmith. The rules and status information are now properly provided to GameSmith, so anyone using GameSmith 3.4 can track the progress of your game.
  
• Added support for Speech Synthesis. The pre-recorded chat messages that are normally spoken by puppets can instead be spoken using Apple’s Speech technology. In the Puppets dialog, you can specify which voice (if any) to use for each position. In Network games, once you assign a voice to another human player, the player will retain that voice even after changing positions.
  
• The Rules, Puppets and Solo Stats dialogs are now sheets in Mac OS X, which means you can open them and still interact with GameSmith.
  
• Added a new /help command in the game chat to see which commands are available.
  
• Added a new /save commmand to save game chat.
  
• Control-clicking in the game window allows various operations, depending on whether you click on a puppet or the game background and whether you are playing a solo game or hosting or joining a network game.
  
• You can now mute players by control-clicking.
  
• You can hide the iPuppet image for a single player by control-clicking.
  
• There is a new option to Resign. This is only available in network games after the fifth hand, and all players must agree to it. It can only be used when losing.
  
• Added new automatic be-right-back support in network games when using iPuppets: just type brb into game chat and then click when you are back.
  
• Added a new option to automatically shuffle player seat positions after each game via a checkbox in the Puppets dialog.
  
• Added a new Network menu item to shuffle player seat positions on demand.
  

• General improvements to many game messages to include additional information about who has not clicked to be ready, who is dealing and who will lead, etc.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused games to sometimes stall or “lag” unpredictably.
  
• Rules dialog has been improved visually and now allows the game to points to be to any value you like.
  
• Emoticon menu has been rearranged and includes emoticon images in Mac OS X.
  
• Chat Bubbles now include emoticon images instead of their text equivalents.
  
• As players move from seat to seat (say, because of swapping), they now maintain the same chat color for consistency.
  
• Keyboard support for bidding and selecting trump has been disabled in network games so that chatting cannot trigger inadvertent bids.
  
• Pressing Escape clears the chat edit field in the game window.
  
• Chat Bubbles are drawn more smoothly in Mac OS X.
  
• Preferences now has an improved iPuppet Preview.
  
• Added a new Show Scoreboard item in the Game menu.
  
• Improved Quit & Open: supports Crazy Eights and Gin Rummy and also includes the game icons.
  
• Added a notification when a network player is using a puppet you do not have.
  
• Joiners can no longer restart network games after they end. Only the host can do that.
  
• Hide Desktop was very seriously broken. Now it’s not.
  
• Command ` can no longer cycle to the desktop’s hidden window.
  
• Fixed the Puppets dialog so that, when making changes (adding a bot, swapping seats), it no longer tells you there is a game in progress when the game is actually over.
  
• Fixed the Puppets dialog so that it can be used to change the seats of GameSmith account names with special characters.
  
• Improved the appearance of score pad.
  
• Added Command-F as a keyboard equivalent for Restart Game.
  
• Startup time has been reduced significantly.
  
• The Help has been updated and cleaned up.
  
• The end game win/lose animations require fewer CPU resources on older computers.
  
• Removed the random, occasional “grumble” sound that players could make in network games.
  
• Fixed a number of issues with Exposé when using the Hide Desktop option.
  
• Fixed a problem where players would sometimes be invisible after first joining.
  
• Added support for new XML-based puppets.
  

3D Spades Deluxe 3.3

New Features

• GameSmith 3.4.3 is now bundled with Spades. For details, see GameSmith Changes.
  
• NOTE: some of the new features described below require that all human players in a network game are using Spades 3.3 or later. When this is not the case, a warning message will be displayed in the game chat.
  
• New game variation: Suicide Spades. In Suicide Spades at least one partner must bid nil each hand.
  
• New Blind Nil game variation: Blind nil can only be bid when behind by at least two hundred points.
  
• Bots now automatically substitute in when a player drops out of a network game.
  
• Added support for an iPuppet Images folder. Put a folder (or an alias) with this name at the same level as the game (i.e., Plug Ins) and/or in your Home folder’s Pictures folder and put images in it, or folders of images (aliases to either are OK). This is a super-quick way to manage many iPuppet images.
  
• Added support for the new Game Info dialog in GameSmith. The rules and status information are now properly provided to GameSmith, so anyone using GameSmith 3.4 can track the progress of your game.
  
• Added support for Speech Synthesis. The pre-recorded chat messages that are normally spoken by puppets can instead be spoken using Apple’s Speech technology. In the Puppets dialog, you can specify which voice (if any) to use for each position. In Network games, once you assign a voice to another human player, the player will retain that voice even after changing positions.
  
• The Rules, Puppets and Solo Stats dialogs are now sheets in Mac OS X, which means you can open them and still interact with GameSmith.
  
• Added a new /help command in the game chat to see which commands are available.
  
• Added a new /save commmand to save game chat.
  
• Control-clicking in the game window allows various operations, depending on whether you click on a puppet or the game background and whether you are playing a solo game or hosting or joining a network game.
  
• You can now mute players by control-clicking.
  
• You can hide the iPuppet image for a single player by control-clicking.
  
• There is a new option to Resign. This is only available in network games after the fifth hand, and all players must agree to it. It can only be used when losing.
  
• Added new automatic be-right-back support in network games when using iPuppets: just type brb into game chat and then click when you are back.
  
• Added a new option to automatically shuffle player seat positions after each game via a checkbox in the Puppets dialog.
  
• Added a new Network menu item to shuffle player seat positions on demand.
  
• Added a new game rule for Suicide Spades.
  
• Added a new game rule to only allow blind nil bidding when behind at least 200 points.
  

• Team bids are now limited to thirteen, so if your partner bids six, you cannot bid more than seven. Avoids accidental impossible bids.
  
• General improvements to many game messages to include additional information about who has not clicked to be ready, who is dealing and who will lead, etc.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused games to sometimes stall or “lag” unpredictably.
  
• Rules dialog has been improved visually and now allows the game to points to be to any value you like.
  
• Emoticon menu has been rearranged and includes emoticon images in Mac OS X.
  
• Chat Bubbles now include emoticon images instead of their text equivalents.
  
• As players move from seat to seat (say, because of swapping), they now maintain the same chat color for consistency.
  
• Keyboard support for bidding and passing has been disabled in network games so that chatting cannot trigger inadvertent bids.
  
• Pressing Escape clears the chat edit field in the game window.
  
• Chat Bubbles are drawn more smoothly in Mac OS X.
  
• Preferences now has an improved iPuppet Preview.
  
• Added a new Show Scoreboard item in the Game menu.
  
• Improved Quit & Open: supports Crazy Eights and Gin Rummy and also includes the game icons.
  
• Added a notification when a network player is using a puppet you do not have.
  
• Joiners can no longer restart network games after they end. Only the host can do that.
  
• Hide Desktop was very seriously broken. Now it’s not.
  
• Command ` can no longer cycle to the desktop’s hidden window.
  
• Fixed the Puppets dialog so that, when making changes (adding a bot, swapping seats), it no longer tells you there is a game in progress when the game is actually over.
  
• Fixed the Puppets dialog so that it can be used to change the seats of GameSmith account names with special characters.
  
• Improved the appearance of score pad.
  
• Added Command-F as a keyboard equivalent for Restart Game.
  
• Startup time has been reduced significantly.
  
• The Help has been updated and cleaned up.
  
• The end game win/lose animations require fewer CPU resources on older computers.
  
• Removed the random, occasional “grumble” sound that players could make in network games.
  
• Fixed a number of issues with Exposé when using the Hide Desktop option.
  
• Fixed a problem where players would sometimes be invisible after first joining.
  
• Added support for new XML-based puppets.