Windows Entertainment Pack for Packard Bell

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The Microsoft Best of Windows Entertainment Pack Program Group

The Best of Windows Entertainment Pack (BOWEP) was a collection of 16-bit simple games sold separately from Windows. It was published in the Microsoft Home series of software. They were selected as the best games from the previously released Microsoft Entertainment Pack series.

- Chip's Challenge - a puzzle game where you needed to collect all the chips on each level.

- Dr. Black Jack - a blackjack game tutor

- FreeCell - a solitaire card game that is now bundled with Windows

- Golf - the traditional solitaire variant

- JezzBall - a game of reflexes in which the player had to trap bouncing balls in small boxes

- Pipe Dream - in which the player needed to build a system of interconnected pipes of a certain length

- Rodent's Revenge - in which a mouse needs to trap cats by pushing boxes

- SkiFree - a fairly simplistic skiing game

- Taipei - a version of Mahjong solitaire

- TetraVex - a puzzle game of arranging tiles

- Tetris - the classic game of falling blocks

- TriPeaks - a gambling solitaire card game

- Tut's Tomb - another solitaire card game




From 1993 onwards Packard Bell pre-load their own Entertainment Pack compilations on to their computers. These usually came with their own compilation of games from Windows Entertainment Packs 1-4.

The Windows Entertainment Pack version that came with the June 1993 US Master CD

In 1993, the games that were commonly included were:

- Pegged

- Tic Tac Drop

- Rodent's Revenge

- Go Figure!

- Tut's Tomb

- Cruel

- Tetravex




Rattler Race is very similar to the Snake game present on old Nokia phones - even though it came out several years before Snake did

In 1995 Packard Bell started pre-loading 'Entertainment Pack for PB' onto their computers. This came with a revised list of games from the four Windows Entertainment Packs. These games were:

- Dr Black Jack

- Fuji Golf

- JigSawed

- Rattler Race

- Chess

- SkiFree

- Life Genesis

- Rodent's Revenge




The Windows Entertainment Pack series are still popular today and will happily run on 32-bit versions of Windows XP, Vista and 7. The 64-bit versions of Windows however cannot run 16-bit software, which means that they cannot run the Windows Entertainment Pack series of games.


Countless children have been scared by this wee sprite - the Abominable Snowman who would sneak up on you and eat you in SkiFree


SkiFree has since gained a cult following amongst fans of the original Windows Entertainment Pack series, and a 32-bit version was compiled that will run happily run on 64-bit versions of Windows Vista and 7.