Ten Pin Alley is a bowling game with an interface very similar to those you find in many golf games. A bowling pin sits inside two rings. The outer ring determines the rotation you put on the ball, while the inner ring has both the power indicator and the accuracy. You start your approach by placing your feet in position on the boards, then you can move the aiming arrow to pick a spot on the lane to aim at. Then click on the pin to start the process.

This early build of Ten Pin Alley was limited to a single player, but the finished version will allow you to choose from six different characters, each with their own bowling style. Background noise, music, and several other minor details are yet to be added, but so far the game is looking good. Using DirectX technology, the video is very smooth, and sound of the ball rolling down the lane is very well done.

While finding a good spot to throw from is relatively easy, I'm currently averaging around 255 a game, hitting 300 has become a bit of an obsession. Ten Pin Alley doesn't offer the challenge of head to head air combat of ATF, and that's not it's goal, but it is an annoyingly addictive game that is too easy to get into and easy to task swap over to something else when the boss walks in.

--- Steve Gerencser
--- krell@psyber.com