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Kindle Reference

There is a large number of reference works on many topics available at the Kindle Store which might be handy to have onboard your Kindle ereader:

The Big English Encyclopedia – the World’s Biggest English Encyclopedia.  Over one million articles.  $9.99.

Encyclopedia of American Cinema (5 stars/1 ratings) $7.69.

The Illustrated Encyclopedia of North American Mammals (5 stars/1 rating) $7.69.

Medical Encyclopedia (3 1/2 stars/6 reviews) $9.99.

Encyclopedia of Observances, Holidays & Celebrations (5 stars/1 review) $9.99. Covers holidays from around the world.

The World Almanac and Book of Facts 2011 (4 stars/36 reviews) $7.90.

The NPR Listener’s Encyclopedia of Classical Music by Ted Libbey (4 1/2 stars/17 reviews) $9.99.

Encyclopedia of Philosophy (3 1/2 stars/6 reviews) $7.99.

Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE) by James Orr (4 1/2 stars/15 reviews) $4.99.

Besides these there are many more reference titles available for the Kindle. Please note that some of the encyclopedias are quite large files.   There are a few that will not work on the Kindle 1 or on the Kindle for PC, Mac and iDevice or other apps, so check for any restrictions before buying.

Dictionaries for Kindle

Besides the ones built-in the Kindle, there are also a number of different dictionaries available at the Kindle Store.  These include translation dictionaries as well as tomes dedicated to particular subjects such as medical, biblical and law dictionaries.

Collins Unabridged English Dictionary (5 stars/1 review).  $19.24.  If you get frustrated because you are reading authors that are constantly stumping the built-in dictionary of the Kindle, the Collins dictionary is a viable alternative.  The product page does not mention that this is a default Kindle dictionary — but it is.  Once you download to your Kindle it will be offered as a default dictionary choice (from the Home page > Menu > Settings > Menu > “Change Primary Dictionary”).

Kindle Games

There are now a lot of Kindle games available; below are some of the newest and the best rated:

Paid Kindle Games

Mystery Castle: Dawn of Illusion — Puzzle adventure.  $0.99 for a limited time; regular price is $1.99.

Jewels — Pattern recognition game.  $1.99.

Mahjong Butterfly — Tile matching game.  $2.99.

Scrabble — Play the classic word game against the Kindle or with friends via Pass N’ Play.  $4.99.

Mahjong Solitaire — Classic tile matching game with 10 different board layouts.  $3.99.

Yahtzee — Another classic title from Electronic Arts.  Three different game modes.  $4.99.

POGO Hearts, Spades and More! — 5 popular card games for Kindle: Hearts, Spades, Euchre, Gin and Canasta.  $3.99.

Doodle Fit — Puzzle game in which you must fit a set of blocks into a given shape.  $1.99.

Slingo — One of the first Kindle games and still popular.  A combination of Bingo and Slots.  $3.99.

Puzzle Baron’s Cryptograms: Volume 1 — Code breaking puzzles for Kindle.  $1.99.

KenKen Vol 1 Presented by Will Shortz — Puzzle game involving simple math and logic from the Puzzle Master of NPR.  $1.99.

Futoshiki — Japanese number logic puzzle.  $0.99.

Blossom — Puzzle game.  Move the tiles around to build a pipe system to water your flowers.  $1.99.

Word Quest — Find words hidden in a grid of letters.  $1.99.

Triple Town — Visual puzzle strategy game.  $3.99.

Panda Poet — Form words from the letters on the game board to form words.  Created words form pandas – the object is to create the biggest panda or form the longest possible words.  $2.99.

EA Solitaire — 12 different Solitaire card games: Klondike, Pyramid, Yukon, Golf, Freecell, Wasp, Peaks, Canfield, Spiderette, Eliminator, Easthaven and Baker’s Dozen.

EA Sudoku — Thousands of built-in Sudoku puzzles and the ability to enter and play puzzles from other sources.

Peg Solitaire — The classic board game for Kindle.  $1.99.

Memory Classic — Match pairs of illustrations hidden on the undersides of tiles.  $1.99.

Pirate Stash — Graphic logic puzzle game.  $1.99.

Next Puzzle Game — Clear the game board by matching tiles.  $0.99.

Kids’ Classic Card Games — Card games for kids: Crazy 8’s, War, Old Maid and Go Fish.  $1.99.

Hangman 4 Kids — Comes with over 400 puzzles.  $1.99.

Tic Tac Toe — Classic game can be played with a friend or against the Kindle with three different difficulty levels.  $0.99.

Checkers — Can be played with a friend or against the Kindle.  $0.99.

Japanese Puzzles Vol 1 — 20 puzzles each of 5 different logic puzzles: Kakuro, Number Islands, Hitori, Picture Cross and Sudoku.  $0.99.

Link Four — First player to link four pieces in a row wins.  Play against the Kindle or with a friend using Pass ‘N Play.  $0.99.

Snap Sudoku #1 — Sudoku puzzles for beginners.  $0.99.

Mad About Sudoku #1 — Easy Sudoku.  $0.99.

Red Hot Sudoku #1 — Difficult Sudoku.  $0.99.

Symdoku Unbound #1 — Similar to Sudoku but using symbols rather than numbers.  $2.99.

Puzzle Pack 1 — A variety of puzzles including Sudoku, Crosswords, Word Searches and more.  $0.99.

The New York Times has a series of Crossword Puzzles for the Kindle in both easy and difficult levels.  $1.99 to $4.99.

CodeWord — Cryptograms and codeword puzzles to decipher.  $0.99.

Nonograms — Logic and number based puzzles.  $2.99.

Ultimate Math Skills Quiz — Math quiz game for Kindle.  $1.99.

Digi Ronin Games has a series of flash card sets for Kindle that are designed to help kids learn.  Price from $0.99 to $2.99.

Math Star — A mathematics learning game for kids.  $2.99.

Spelling Star — Learning game.  $2.99.  Also available in a Spanish edition.

Free Kindle Games

Grid Detective — A free Kindle game that requires deductive and reasoning skills.

Pirate Stash — Visual logic puzzle game.

Jigsaw Words — Word game in which you combine letters to form words to match clues.

Every Word — Make words from scrambled letters.

Every Word: Crossings — Word puzzle in which you unscramble words.

Pixel Perfect Puzzles — Logic puzzle game in which you use the number clues to make a picture.

Thread Words — Find words in a grid of letters.

Dots and Boxes — Players take turns drawing lines between dots and try to make boxes.  The player with most boxes wins.  Played with a friend or against the Kindle. 

Number Slide — Classic sliding tile game for Kindle ereaders.

Blackjack — Classic card game for Kindle.

Shuffled Row — Make as many words as possible from game pieces.

Utilities and Productivity Apps for Kindle

Notepad — Write and edit text notes on the Kindle.  Notes can be sorted by date or alphabetically by title and you can search the text of your notes.  $0.99.

Sticky Notes — Another note-taking tool for Kindle.  Create up to nine notes per screen and multiple pages of notes.  Zoom any note to full screen.  $0.99.

TakeNote — Yet another well-reviewed note-taking app for Kindle ereaders.  $0.99.

Task List Professional — Keep track of long term tasks or make to-do lists.  Assign due dates and set priority.  Can also be use for note taking with notes organized into folders.  $0.99.

Easy Calculator — Calculator for Kindle.  Besides the basic functions also does percentages, square roots, memory functions and more.  $0.99.

Calculator — Another calculator featuring square roots, percentages, trigonometric, sine cosine and tangent functions, memory functions and a calculator history function.  The basic math functions are there too, of course.  $0.99.

Converter — Easy unit of measure conversion tool for your Kindle ereader.  $0.99.

Calendar — Scheduling and daily planner for Kindle.  $0.99.

Calendar – Appointments, Birthdays, Holidays and Sticky Notes — Daily planner for Kindle.  $0.99.

Contacts — Keep track of your contacts with your Kindle.  $0.99.

Doodle for Kindle — A line drawing app for the Kindle, meant mostly for kids.  Drawings can be saved.  $0.99.

My Yoga Studio — Yoga workout partner app.  Includes 25 different poses and a timer to tell you how long to hold each pose.  Comes with three routines or you can create your own.  $1.99.

Anywhere Abs — Workout partner app.  $1.99.

Anywhere Legs — Workout partner app.  $1.99.

Everywhere Exercise — Fitness tool for Kindle that helps you integrate movement and basic exercises into your everyday life.  $2.99.

Anywhere Stopwatch — Stopwatch and countdown timer for Kindle.  $0.99.

Interactive Fiction for Kindle eReaders

The King of Shreds and Patches — An interactive novel for Kindle.  $3.99.

As the main character, you will explore a historically accurate recreation of Elizabethan London, circa 1603, interact with some fascinating characters both historical and fictional, and thwart an occult conspiracy that threatens to bring down the entire city — or worse.

Worldweaver has several interactive stories, three of which are based on the popular Fighting Fantasy game book series by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone.  $3.99 each.

Inheritance — Text adventure.  $1.99.

In the game, you play a character whose crazy uncle Osmo passed away recently, leaving you everything. But there’s a catch. He has turned his house into a series of crazy challenges that you’ll have to overcome if you want to see a dime! What is the deal with that elevator? How do you get past the tiger? And most important of all, where can a person find a decent pair of sneakers?

Choice of the Vampire — Text-based game.  $2.99.

Play as a newly created vampire, struggling to survive your first nights of immortality. Begin your two-hundred-year journey as a vampire in New Orleans of 1815, and choose whether to seek love, power, or redemption as you negotiate the growing pains of the young Republic.

Choice of the Dragon — Text-based adventure.  $1.99.

Choice of the Dragon is a text-based adventure where your choices control the story. On most pages, you’ll get to choose between a set of options, deciding which action your dragon will take next. Choose between Brutality or Finesse, Cunning or Honor, Disdain or Vigilance. Or just try to gather as much wealth as you can!

Choice of Broadsides — Text-based adventure set on the high seas.  $1.99.