First off, it’s tough to do this when you keep finding new apps that you decide you must own. I mean, sure, they’re free (at least the ones I get), so no biggie, but still.

Anyway, on to the first round of…

This week, I’ll be eliminating 10 applications, so grab your scorecards and get ready to start choppin’ after the break!

10. Apache Lander

The premise of the game sounded good: use the accelerometer to land a helicopter before you run out of fuel. And, given that I’m a sucker for games that use the accelerometer, I figured I couldn’t go wrong.

Of course, I’m a sucker for games that use the accelerometer well, which I find this game does not. When my buddy Eric, who can pick up just about any video game ever made in the history of the universe and play it without issue, can’t get a grasp on it, you know there’s a flaw somewhere. This was easy to kill, since I generally kept it around just to watch the helicopter fly across my screen in circles before blowing up.

9. Bubbles

The entire point of this program is to brush your finger along the screen to make bubbles, then tap ‘em to make ‘em burst. Great if you’ve got kids (or easily-distracted friends) to keep entertained for a bit, but otherwise, not so much.

8. BubbleWrap

Poke the bubbles and hear the noise bubble wrap makes! Fun, entertaining, if only for the first seven seconds.

7. Clickwheel Comic Reader

Great idea, but I find it takes forever for the comics to load (on my lowly EDGE connection) and doesn’t have much that either I haven’t read or want to read. Your mileage may vary.

6. SimStapler

You click a stapler. Whoop-de-freakin’-do. Bonus points for the use of an old-school Mac OS theme, but this “game” is about as fun and useful as a second belly button.

5. Marble Match Lite
4. Jirbo Arcade
3. Jirbo Match
2. Jirbo Avatar
1. Jirbo Break (No longer available on iTunes Store)

All these games have the same problem with them: They’re made by Jirbo, a company who’s idea of quality game design seems to be, “Hey, let’s throw in a bunch of useless, flashy graphics and super-adorable cartoon animals! Hooray!” It’s annoying, and I go into sugar shock when I see ‘em, hence why I threw ‘em all out.

Then, there’s Jirbo Break, an almost unplayable Brick Breaker clone. Brick Breaker, for those not in the know (and therefore clearly do not have friends with BlackBerry devices), is a clone of Arkanoid that seems to have the same addictive properties of crack. It is the single feature each of my BlackBerry toting friends brings up every time I mention something that my iPhone can do that their phone cannot, which has led to some really awkward conversations. (”Check it out, I got visual voicemail!” “I GOT BRICKBREAKER, DIE IN A FIRE!!!!!” “…what?”)

The problem with Jirbo Break, and every other Brick Breaker clone, is that the iPhone’s interface is really not meant for a game like this; you either need to swipe your finger back and forth, which is uncomfortable, or you have to use the little directional ball that they give you at the bottom of the screen, which is about as responsive as I am when I first wake up. Lame.

Ten items down, a few dozen more to go… I will update the scorecard tomorrow, or later tonight if I come home from work not insanely tired. I have no ending for this, so I’m just gonna hit ‘Publish’ and hope for the best.