Gaming on the iPod is getting better all the time, but there's a limit to what can be done. Don't expect Unreal Tournament or Warcraft to appear on that tiny 2.5 inch screen any time soon.

Still, the iPod can host a wide variety of fun time wasters, as evident by the current crop of games available. Of course you'd expect to see Solitaire, Mah Jong, and Sudoku, which are mind exercising, but hardly exciting. For stimulation you might try Vortex or Ms. Pac-Man, but even those games are not surprising to find on Apple's famous player.

When EA Games announced they were bringing The Sims Bowling to the iPod I wondered how they were going to pull it off: The Sims requires a lot more horsepower than what comes standard in a video iPod, and a much larger screen. Maybe if they called it The Sims Flea Circus Bowling, and you have these little dots which are Sim fleas and you use a magnifier to see them bowl and otherwise cavort..., nah, I'm not feeling it.

As it turns out The Sims Bowling is more of a Sims themed bowling game than a version of The Sims that centers on that after-hour sports, but that not a bad thing. In fact, bowling fans as well as fans of The Sims will likely get a kick out of this game.

As in The Sims on your computer, The Sims Bowling lets you create a Sims, though your options are rather limited. You can choose the sex, skin color, hair color, general clothing appearance of your Sims. You can name it and choose from items to enhance your Sim's bowling experience.

There are two locations in Sims Bowling: home and The Alley, and it's at The Alley where you do all of your interaction with your Sim. Home is just a place to go to every so often when you (or your Sim) tires of bowling. As you get better at bowling, and the more your friends (whom you never really see) like you, as indicated by the Aspiration Meter which appears occasionally, the more stuff appears at your pad; jukeboxes, a bar, video games and more just kinda pop up.

The Sims Bowling main screen. Looks like Dude is done for the night.

When items appear your Sim says something about making the place a party hot spot, but so far, no party. In fact, not much else happens at home beyond the occasional alert about a job, an interaction with one of your friends, or other "...life-changing events." It seems that the better choices you make when confronted with these events the more Simoleons you can earn, which lets you deck your Sims out with top-notch bowling gear.

I suspect some sort of party happens when your Aspiration Meter peaks. I'm only half way, which should give you some idea how bad I suck at bowling, and at Sims Life.

And speaking of bowling, that's what this game is really all about. The Sims Bowling does a decent job of simulating a bowling alley. There's even the hub-bub of indistinguishable voices and other noises in the background. And when you strike or spare someone, presumably your friends, applaud you.

Controlling and launching your ball is easy using the scroll-wheel of the iPod. You can set force, direction and spin, though once set you can't change it. The pin animation is OK, but I'd like a bit more action. Even so, the pins you'd expect to fall given your throw do fall, with the occasional stubborn pin still standing, or a pin fall due to the spin of another. (Watching the preview in iTunes I noticed that the pin animation is much better than on my previous gen 30GB iPod video. I wonder if The Sims Bowling plays better on the latest iPods?)

When setting up to bowl, timing is everything. Really.

You can play in the Sims mode, where you can bowl, but have to occasionally go home and have a Sims Life, the Pass-n-Play mode where you pass your iPod around and, um, play, or you can just bowl which ignores the Sims Life settings and lets you bowl against a Sims opponent.

There are also the obligatory game controls for volume and other things. There's nothing bad about The Sims Bowling, everything works as advertised and it is a good diversion during those times when you need one.

So, is The Sims Bowling worth your five bucks? Yeah, I think so. I keep coming back to it to see if I can beat my highest score, and to see what new stuff my Sims' house gets. (So far I've got a card table, dance floor, air hockey table, bar, grill, video game console, big TV, and what looks like a coffee maker.I think I'm ready for a party.)

It's not the Real Sims, but it's about as close as you'll get on an iPod, at least for the foreseeable future.

I highly recommend The Sims Bowling.