Ishido
computer puzzle game, 1989Ishido was my first commercial software project, a contemplative solitaire game played with tiles. Michael Feinberg designed it and Brad Fregger, the producer, was nice enough to take a chance on me, an untried 17 year-old, to program it. I ended up contributing much more than just programming to the game, and I'm still quite proud of it.
Download Ishido for Mac (works on Classic Macs, as well as in Classic mode in Mac OS X; PowerPC and pre-Leopard only)
The Windows version is an old DOS program, but it runs fine in XP. It'll first ask you what graphics mode you want. Type V (for VGA) and hit enter. It'll present a dialog box about the folks who disabled the copy protection; just hit enter. Once you're in the game screen, hit Esc to get the menu to start a new game, etc. Please let me know if you have any trouble.
Ishido Manual (text format)
TomTomLabs' Ishido for Mac OS X (works on Intel and PowerPC Macs)
Vegard Krog Petersen's overview of Ishido versions and variants
Theodor Lauppert's Ishido page
MauiGames has announced they'll be doing Ishido for cell phones.
There's also an open source Ishido for the Palm.
Bonus: The original black & white Mac version of Solitaire Royale, also produced by Brad Fregger, and quite possibly the first computer solitaire card game, has just resurfaced. Download Solitaire Royale for Mac
"I have one of the hand-made boxed sets of Macintosh Ishido - it sits atop the bookshelf which houses all my tomes on Tao, Buddha and Musashi. I have always contended that Ishido was the most visually beautiful and artistically created piece of computer software ever created. Not to mention the exquisite implimentation of the I Ching. Thank you for the hours of enjoyment you brought into my life."
-- DL Hilton
"I have spent many many hours on the Mac version of Ishido, one of the most relaxing and enjoyable games I have ever owned. I lost the ability to play it when I junked my Mac IIcx. Big mistake. My kids remember it and so does my wife; they just asked me to get them the original Ishido for Christmas. Any advice? I am even willing to get a new iMac if I can run the original game."
-- Bill Johnson, MD