Travel Fanz

[b]travel fanz[/b] is a formerly paid card-matching game. started at $1, went up to 5, then down to 1 and now it's free. not the usual +1/-1 solitaire, always good news, as much as I love those (and have fewer and fewer options because lazy devs can't even clone them properly). gameplay is explained on the store page but the tutorial button in the game inconveniently leads to a 3.5-minute video on youtube. it's already a 2gb game, why not have it locally, along with written rules in the game as well? anyway, it's an [b]untimed single-player game against 2 computer opponents[/b], you can choose from 18 avatars. cards are laid out in a 3x3 grid, each with a few icons representing their features. the grid is connected in lateral directions, put more cards on neighboring cells or on top of placed cards to match as many features as you can. always 2 cards to choose from, tooltips help identify icons and features are highlighted if they match (or don't match) the currently held card. each matched neighboring feature is worth a point, reach 21 first to win. at first I thought icons on tourist cards are only fluff but they can also come up and be placed, and with 12 icons (interests) they're as close to a joker as it gets. they're only revealed after starting a game though, not on the player select screen. controls are simple: left click to pick up, right click to drop if you change your mind, another left click to place on the grid or anywhere on the screen but properly back to where you picked it up, bit weird. as soon as it's done, it's the opponents' turn. the game over screen only has a 'next match' button, can't go back to the menu or change player and tooltips on the right go off-screen if they're longer. the [b]educational value is strong in this one[/b], always nice. click placed cards to embiggen the image and learn something about the place or thing. the downside of not being able to zoom in on cards in your hand is that they might get covered right away by your opponents, missed opportunity to learn. the presentation mostly consists of photos, so not much to complain about, except everything is stretched to the same size on close-up, not very elegant. music is a literal mixed bag, all sorts of genres. a jukebox/playlist or at least a skip track option would've been nice, and longer loops with smoother transitions. there are separate volumes, windowed mode and [b]an autosave toggle, on top of manual saving anytime[/b], so there can be multiple on-going games. as simple as it is, it's [b]pretty good with all the interesting info and nice images[/b]. unfortunately, I only found out it when it went free, as it would've been a good deal for a dollar. too bad there's no multiplayer against meatbags, though local would be awkward, good old hotseat (player 1, turn away from the screen, player 2, your turn, etc.). an encyclopedia kinda thing to browse all the pictures by country and feature would've been handy too.