I would be willing to bet that very few of our readers have never enjoyed the simple, yet addictive, Java gaming over at sites such as Yahoo Games or the offline games that generally come pre-installed on your computer. With a wide variety of classic game types, including two player challenges such as chess, checkers and backgammon, multiplayer fests such as Texas Hold 'Em Poker and Hearts, and single player classics such as solitaire, there is something for everyone, including those with little interest in expanding their gaming horizons beyond the kitchen table. The majority of these online games also allow users to chat and interact with fellow gamers across the country, sometimes even the world, as they indulge in both ranked and unranked play.

Looking to capitalize on that niche of the gaming market, Nintendo have produced the Touch Generation title 42 All-Time Classics (known as Clubhouse Games in the US), which captures 42 classic card, tabletop and board games into one Wi-Fi enabled package. Taking a content over presentation approach, Nintendo has provided gamers with the sure cure for the boredom blues, as well as furthering the validity of their highly accessible Touch Generation series - carting 42 different games around with you has never been so easy!

Not to take anything away from Nintendo, but this was about an easy a title to develop as is possible, making it a bit hard to hand kudos to them just for producing it. But they don't need kudos, they need to develop and market new pulls to grab existing consumers while bringing in the occasional new consumer, and this game may prove to be the next best tool for that outside of Brain Age and Tetris. That is what makes this game, and the entire Touch Generation series, truly important for Nintendo, as Sony continues to ignore this consumer group entirely.

But I digress. Clubhouse Games was as simple for me to buy as a deck of cards, but far more logical, as it provides 42 games for the price of about two board games. Using a frugal presentation, generally consisting of cards and/or game pieces placed atop of a green felt table or the original game board designs, gameplay is handled exclusively by the touch screen, while the top screen displays the scoreboard. Your stylus acts as your hand, picking up, dropping and moving everything within the games with an easy glide. Navigating menus inside of games can be a hassle though, as a clunky and slow interface proves to hamper certain games, such as Rummy. If you are ever at a loss about how to play any of the games, a dry, technical rulebook is only a touch away.

There are three ways to play the games inside of Clubhouse Games. The first is simply selecting the game you want to play from a list. Each game has a record listing, allowing you to challenge for the top score on each and every game. The second is Stamp mode, a misleadingly named game that forces you to play every single game in a row, earning enough stamps to move to the next game. This mode proves to be a bore, as very few gamers will find fun in every single one of the 42 games, let alone play them multiple times when bi-polar A.I. will have you steamrolling through one game just to face a quick defeat in the next. There is also little in the way of worthwhile rewards from playing through Stamp mode, giving gamers little reason to play through one time, let alone multiple times.

The third mode, Mission, fares only slightly better than Stamp mode. Consisting of 30 rule-specific games, Mission mode tends to frustrate more than it entertains. Unbalanced difficulty plagues this mode too, bouncing up and down the spectrum. At least the reward of one new avatar stamp per completed mission is improved, but depending on your desire to collect animal and food avatars, this may just be another wasted mode. I wish that either of these additional modes could have provided more, or indeed any, entertainment, but the developers had other plans. Were all the creative juices used up on the classic Tetris DS?

So if you ignore these two modes and stick with simply picking and choosing which games you want to enjoy, the game selection is excellent, hitting just about all of the most well-known non-commercialised (if that can even be possible) games played around Europe. You will find board game classics such as chess, checkers, Chinese checkers, Turncoat (Reversi/Othello) and Field Tactics (Stratego), card games such as Texas Hold 'Em Poker, Blackjack, Hearts, Old Maid and Rummy, miscellaneous games such as Bowling, Darts, Billiards and Balance, and finally, solo games such as Solitaire, Escape (Klotski) and MahJong Solitaire. My only complaint comes not about game selection, but rather rule selection. Of course, it would be silly of me to expect every variation of every game, but the very limited amount actually provided is a letdown. For the most part you are locked into the default playing type and you could find yourself putting the DS down to play the real thing. Other than that, its smooth sailing on the gaming seas.

Along with the above games, there are also a handful of games with Japanese roots, such as Koi-Koi, Hasami Shogi, Shogi and aforementioned Mahjong Solitaire. As I mentioned above, you can always fall back on the rulebook if you forget a rule, or in the case of these games, are unfamiliar with the game altogether. The problem is however that the dry, technical rulebook can be confusing, hard to navigate for minor details and lacks the all important visual walkthrough or tutorial. This can make for some poor first impressions, as well as frustrating and boring moments with unfamiliar games - all of which are unnecessary feelings.

The presentation does little to quell negative feelings towards the gameplay either, stripping every game to its barest form before putting it to the tune of elevator music and forgettable sound effects. But I can't find an argument against taking that direction, as you risk alienating possible gamers by dressing up the graphics too much, scaring away the non-gamers who prefer their games plain. But someone with a bit more creativity could have, and should have, found a different way to approach the presentation outside of the strictly minimalist experience.

Multiplayer is the most important feature of the package and, for the most part, Clubhouse Games delivers. Internet play is quick and easy… once you get into a game that is. Just as is the case with the majority of Wi-Fi enabled DS games, it can take a few minutes to hook up with an opponent. What makes this situation worse is that gamers are forced to pick a game and then wait and hope that the matchmaking service will find someone to play against, extending that time to up to five minutes. This puts a big nail in the foot of accessibility, as sometimes a gamer may just want to play whatever game has the most players - information that Nintendo's Wi-Fi refuses to share. Once inside a game you'll find plenty of lag-free fun, including world rankings for each. You can use the sorely underutilised Picto-Chat within each game too, but unless playing against friends you're severely limited in your speech.

Local multiplayer though, that's the real treat! Regardless of if you chose single card or multi-card play, lag-free, Picto-chat filled gameplay remains the same. Many times during my multiplayer trials with local multiplayer, the games became secondary to Picto-Chatting. Crude renderings of classic scenes from such movies as Titanic and Mrs. Doubtfire and inappropriate, immature renderings of the human body turned each Picto-Chat message into a torpedo of childish laughter; I am sure someone of a higher maturity level can produce the same results through less disturbing images. However you use Picto-Chat, expect it to increase the fun level tenfold.

As an all-in-one title, 42 All-Time Classics succeeds in reproducing the same experience found on home computers and the Internet. As a member of the Touch Generation series, it provides accessible gameplay that appeals to gamers and non-gamers alike, although a clunky interface and poorly handled rulebook system brings the overall package down. As a Nintendo DS game, the dull presentation and safe gameplay elevates Clubhouse Games beyond the grasp of many of the younger owners. Choose wisely when purchasing - you'll either end up with a wonderful waste of time or a dust magnet.

Reviewed by Tony Peters for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).