Smart Games Cashes in on Drive to Compete

Hasbro Interactive brought Gary Ward, the president of Smart Games, by the GameSpot offices to give us a taste of the next title in the series, Smart Games Challenge 3. Games in this round are not extensions of the old titles, but rather entirely new ones of the same addictive caliber.

Of the 20 original titles in the compilation, fans of brain squeezers can expect to lose lots of time playing games such as Snake Pit, Solacala, Paper Scissors Rock, an Escher-esque spatial puzzle, a trivia challenge, a meteor shooting (yes, shooting) game, poker, and more.

Now, the games are all single-player, so the competition comes in the form of posting your scores and checking your standings regionally on the Smart Games web site.

GameSpot asked Ward if he foresees a Professional Gamers League, of sorts, eventually forming for the Challenge. He said the competition is fierce, and players insisted on being able to check their standings in their particular region. And it certainly doesn't hurt the competitive spirit to give away a Ford Explorer. These folks take their puzzling seriously.

Smart Games Challenge 3 is expected to release for Windows 95 in September, giving gamers approximately four months to rise through the ranks before Smart Games awards the Explorer to somebody else on December 31, 1998.