Hatch..! by Abhishek Malpani FREE

 Hatch..! comes from Abhishek Malpani. The object is to slide the colored eggs to their nests.  Moving an egg to the wrong color: game over.

I've solved about 80 levels.  Not hard. They go very fast.  Definitely check out the list below if you like this genre.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hatch/id1453968961?mt=8

Similar games (this list is incomplete):

Movez  Pretty much the same as Block Mania but it has 1680 levels. I've solved 592 of them. That's probably enough.
Frozen Ice Cubes  What's different: there's a point of 'no return'
Escapology, reviewed by Nicola Salmoria. He told me about this game ages ago. I played it and enjoyed it, but never blogged about it.
Block Mania Similar to Movez
Move Puzzle - A Funny Strategy Game, Matching Tiles Within Finite Moves 
Zink - color merging and locked doors.
Vubu What's different: the vubu men have different powers. Very sophisticated, very intelligent. Possibly the very best in this genre.
Move: A Brain Shifting GameUnmind
Puzzle Dots Game
Box Home Love to play Hexagonal grid
Find the Way
Cube Puzzler

Kube Keeper by Jeffrey Supit FREE

 Kube Keeper comes from Jeffrey Supit. It's a sokoban puzzle.  The object is to push the blocks one-at-a-time onto the spots.  Then pick up some stars and get to the exit.

It's been a while since we played a sokoban puzzle.  Kube Keeper has 100 levels.  I solved them all in about 2.5 hours.  These puzzles are in the medium difficulty.  If you've done a lot of sokoban as I have, see list below, this game is really just to pass the time.  Nothing significantly new.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kube-keeper/id1447768061?mt=8

Other Good Sokoban Puzzles
A Good Snowman is Hard to Build Charming
Go to Gold - superb
Go to Gold 2 - I hope a third version comes out.
Pepe Porcupine
Sokoban Cargo
Push Box Sokoban
Push Around
Boxed In - loved this. First in a series of 4.
Pengu Push
BoxWorld - awesome. I still remember struggling through levels 26 and 35 for days.
Fireman Arcade
Paper & Light
Square Push Square
Professor Max
Puzzling Cubes
DJ Mole
Sokoban Evolution 
Test Chamber - brilliant
Duck Roll surprisingly very good
Color Labyrinth - excellent 
Cuzzle

Gorogoa by Annapurna Interactive $4.99

Gorogoa has been on my radar for a while. It's  hard to describe.  The object is to get Your Man, the boy/young man/old man to gather 5 pieces of fruit.

 Your screen will have usually 4 picture windows.  Sometimes fewer.  The windows can move around, zoomed in/out. Most importantly, they can be aligned in a way so that Your Man can travel from 1 window to another.

 The artwork is fantastic.  The puzzles: not exceptionally hard, but very satisfying.

The story: the story is for you to interpret. What do you see in the images and how does it relate to Your Man.  While others might say it's the strongest element of this game, I found it to be incomplete.

If you're buying the latest, biggest ipad, treat yourself to this game. Don't rush through it.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gorogoa/id1269225754

Dotstep Minimal Puzzle by Joao Trintin FREE

Dotstep Minimal Puzzle comes from Joao Trintin.  The object is to trace a path from the start point, through all of the other points and then to the final spot.

The first & second images show circles with crosses.  Those are rebounders. They can, and often will be passed over multiple times.

Dotstep Minimal has 30 levels.  I did them all in about 25 minutes.  Not too hard. 

On a side note, I've been thinking about these 'minimalist' puzzles.  They don't explain the rules. And they're calming.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dotstep-minimal-puzzle/id1455157236?mt=8

Word Plus + by Hien Mai FREE

Word Plus + comes from Hien Mai. The object is to make 2 words that go together.  Letters can swap across and up/down.  The blue letters cannot move up/down.

Cute game. Fun.  I've done about 25 rounds.  The graphics are highly polished.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/word-plus/id1449187955?mt=8

Cube Planet by NaraENC FREE

Cube Planet comes from NaraENC.  The object is to rotate the cubes and spot the differences, while also collecting gold coins.

 The game starts with 2x2 cubes and quickly graduates to 3x3s.

 The graphics are fantastic.

But this is not exactly up my alley.  
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cube-planet/id1450108243?mt=8

CMYK. by Seth S. Scott FREE

CMYK. comes from Seth S. Scott. It's a speed/dexterity point scoring game.  Horizontal lines stream downwards. Your task is to shoot them off the screen before they reach the bottom.

White lines must be zapped with each of the 4 colors.  If an error is made, all the lines advance down a notch.

Over 5000 are on the Leader Board for this game.  I've played this about 5 times.  My high score is 118, which ranks me around 1200.  The #1 position holder: he/she scored over 10,000.

This game is fun.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cmyk/id1124547330?mt=8

Zero21 Solitaire by CoPilot Games FREE

Zero21 Solitaire comes from CoPilot Games. It's a solitaire game where the objective is to get through the entire deck without Your Green Pile going over 20 or under 1.

This game takes about 5 seconds to learn.  Some cards have arrows.  An up arrow zooms your Green Pile to 20. Down arrows plummets it to 1.  The card with two arrows will send you to the midpoint, 10.
I've solved about 35 levels.  Fun & fast.  But ultimately, not a keeper.  I do like the graphics a lot.  And each level has a different configuration of card piles.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/zero21-solitaire/id1448993473?mt=8

Fill In by GalacticThumb FREE

Fill In comes from GalacticThumb.  The object is to get Your Man to traverse over all of the squares.  It's okay to backtrack many times.

A much better, similar, game is Mortal Coil.   I did 180 levels of Fill In in about 1 hour. It's just too easy.

Worse: I think some of the puzzles in the early levels get repeated.  No idea how many levels there are.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fill-in/id1453785829?mt=8

Other games by Galactic Thumb

Cuzzle
Waiit

Mosaico: the new tangram by Hideki Matsui FREE

Mosaico: the new tangram comes from Hideki Matsui.  This game came out 2 years ago, and I missed it.  The object is to fill the grid with rectangles completely.  

How to make a rectangle: find two numbers that are the same and tap on them.  Those will become the opposite corners of the new rectangle.  Unless of course the width of the rectangle is 1. It still works.

There are no fixed levels. Each game is program generated.

The game does have 8 levels of difficulty.  Your task is to earn stars (based on time) to get to the next level. But you can of course keep going forever on any level that's already been conquered.

I played this game the past 4 days and got to level 5.

Good game and difficult.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mosaico-the-new-tangram/id1212070542?mt=8

The Birdcage by Kaarel Kirsipuu Partly FREE

 The Birdcage comes from Kaarel Kirsipuu. If you're a fan of The Room, then you'll like this game. 

This game is much the same.  I downloaded the free version and played through the first 10 levels.  Took about an hour. There are 25 levels altogether.

The artwork is stunning. The puzzles are okay. There is a vague story going on via letters that you pick up.  My guess is that they're irrelevant until level 25.

This game is great for non-puzzlers. Serious puzzlers  will laugh out how predictable some of the puzzles are: solve edge-matching puzzle, open box and find a gear.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-birdcage/id1187858976?mt=8
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mobigrow.thebirdcage
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HJ829Z9/ref=sr_1_28?s=mobile-apps&ie=UTF8&qid=1539002286&sr=1-28

ReMaze by Bolton Winpenny FREE

 Bolton Winpenny recently contacted me about his puzzle app ReMaze.  It's not a traditional maze game.  The object is to move the balls to their colored squares. 

 How do the balls move? This is the essence of the game.  Tap your finger on any cell within the gray grid. Balls along that spot's x and y axes, will travel to that spot and merge.  More often than not, you do not want merges to happen.

Look at the first image. The sequence to solve:
1. In the bottom section, combine the red & yellow to make orange. Then bring it to the orange square.
2. The bottom red ball can pass through the red bars. But watch out for the green ball. So move the green ball to the left once, and then up once.
3. Now move the red ball to its home.
4.  Since red is home, the red bars disappear. Next up is blue and green.
5. Blue and green must get home simultaneously. In this scenario, this can only happen if they are on different axes. Green is nicely lined up already.  Move blue one space to the left. Tap on the blue/green home and both will arrive at the same time.
6. This releases the green bar and the yellow ball can go home.

Remaze gets very complicated when targets require 4 balls. No hints from me.

There are 50 levels and I solved them all! Which is high praise from me.  Level 48 took the longest. It's the third image.

What could be better:
1. There  is no undo button! I played this on my phone and so many times tapped the wrong space. Arrrrr!
2.  How about adding a wormhole?
3.  How about adding a spike on the grid: if a white ball hits it, 3 balls emerge: yellow, blue & red.

50 levels is an ideal # to have.  Since the game is free and has no ads, I would welcome purchasing 50 more levels.

Note to Bolton: add a screen of confetti when all the levels are solved.  After that: add a note that asks for a donation. Great job!
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/remaze/id1449530215?mt=8

Quantum 3 by Michigan State University GEL Lab

   Quantum 3  by Michigan State University GEL Lab. Description from the App Store:

Quantum 3 is an educational match-3 game for all ages where fun meets quantum physics! Build subatomic particles, learn about the mysteries of fundamental physics and deploy antimatter to clear the way! You'll match and swap quarks to make (and learn about) the baryons you need for each objective. Puzzle out the quantum properties of color, flavor and spin. So get in there and start your quantum-venture! Quantum 3 is puzzle-matching at its finest and a great intro to the world of particle physics!

The game is free-to-play with no in-app purchases.

The game is developed at Michigan State University by the Games for Entertainment and Learning Lab and is funded under grant PHY 1653405 by the National Science Foundation.

Some thoughts:
1. It's not a 'match-3' game where you must join 3 reds.  Rather, you might have to join 2 reds and a blue while also matching 2 greens and a red.
2. See the black hexagons? They move to the bottom and disappear by using the hexagons below them. This is essential to getting more hexagons into the picture.
3. By coincidence, I'm reading A Hole in Texas by Herman Wouk, which is about the Chinese finding Higgs Boson and developing a 'Boson Bomb'.

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/quantum-3/id1406630529
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gellab.quantum3&hl=en

Best Fiends by Seriously FREE

 I saw Best Fiends via a tv commercial.  I love the fact that a puzzle app game can make so much money and become popular.

Best Fiends starts out as a 'match-3'game. Certain goals must be achieved.  It morphs into more complicated tasks.

This game is highly polished. Things get difficult and you are encouraged often to upgrade and buy stuff.  It's following in the footsteps of Candy Crush.

According to Seriously, this game has been downloaded 80,000,000 times.  Not bad.  But this is not a game for true puzzlers.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/best-fiends-puzzle-adventure/id868013618

Cage It by Marcelo Pars FREE

Marcelo Pars recently contacted me about his newest puzzle game Cage It.  It's a pipe game where the object is to swivel each pipe within its location to make one big connection.

We've seen numerous pipe games before. But I believe this is the first time it's been done in 3D.

There are 200 levels and I've done about 25 of the them, including the last few which took about 25 minutes per level.

Last year I blogged about Marcelo's game Save Planet Cube, which I really liked.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cage-it/id1439556953
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.marcelopars.cageit

Marcelo's other games
Save Planet Cube
Cube Loop
Cubicks Free

Isoland by COTTONGAME Network Technology Co., Ltd. $.99

Isoland comes from COTTONGAME Network Technology Co., Ltd. It's an adventure/puzzle game. The premise: you're on an island and must solve random puzzles to figure things out.

The artwork is great.  The puzzles are not too hard.

The artwork is great.
Two puzzles are solved by simply asking the stray people on the island. Totally lame. I've never seen a more ridiculous solution on any puzzle in any game.

Ridiculous: once you've solved everything, you must restart the game to experience a few new puzzles and the true ending.

From the App Store:

My Game Was Different

I really love the game, the graphics, the story... all of it. But my adventure was different. The 6 golden triangles were not available to me neither was the red little disc thing and other little things. I don't know if that is intentional or if it's the model of my iPhone. At the ending I had, I realized there were still several puzzles that I didn't complete which will probably give me a different ending if I can figure them out. Regardless- LOVED IT! And will for sure get the next one.

Developer Response,07/16/2018

actually，you can get 6 triangles and the red disc，but，you must had finished this game once first，and restart it again 。you are going to get a new game experience，moreover，you can find the ture ending

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/isoland/id1134805859?mt=8
http://www.cottongame.com/

Look over the Edge by Yury Koshechkin FREE

Yury Koshechkin recently contacted me about his game Look over the Edge. The object is to get Your Man, the little cube, to the house.

Tap on Your Man once, and he turns left. Tap again, he turns right. Then left, then right.  Your Man can never make 2 consecutive right or left turns.

Your Man can go over the edge and around the block.
Some features:
1. The purple sections act as ice: no turns allowed.
2.  The blue sections will shatter - Your Man will fall straight through.
3. At any time, the game can be paused and the scene can be zoomed out - in order to better see the whole picture.
4. The brown sections act as a bridge to another section. I recall one clever puzzle which required using the bridge, then turning around to take the bridge back.
5. Some sections (not sure what color), reaching the edge makes Your Man reverse course.
6. Look at the 2nd image. That's level 36, which I've been stuck on for about 2 weeks.

Look over the Edge has 3 great elements going for it. First, the levels are cleverly designed. Second, the graphics are very good. Third, and most importantly, the levels progress at a gentle pace so that anybody can quickly get into this. This game is a winner.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/look-over-the-edge/id1441652446
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.qaibo.EDGE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgYa3moxT1I  Watch a preview
http://www.qaibo.com/

Thinking Putty Puzzles from ThinkFun

 ThinkFun is one of the best puzzle companies in the world.  I was honored to be asked to create the challenge puzzles for their new game Thinking Putty Puzzles.  The concept is easy: connect the two yellow points, and the two blue points, etc, without crossing lines.

 However, in this version, there are bridges, which allow for some crossing of lines!
When's the last time you played with putty?

Reasons to buy:
1. It's fun.
2. Makes for a great gift for nieces/nephews/grandkids. (It's a known fact that purchasing puzzles will make children love you more.)
3. My royalty checks will increase with your purchase.

Amazon: buy it here and/or read customer reviews

Rave Reviews
Puzzlenation Review

Parenting Progress Review

Gifts and Decorative Accessories Review

Mom Does Reviews

Fatherly Review

Mothering

Michigan Saving

https://www.thinkfun.com/products/thinking-putty-puzzle/

1234 Number logic puzzle game by MagicAnt,Inc

 1234 Number logic puzzle game comes from MagicAnt,Inc. The object is to connect all the numbers, while figuring out where the missing numbers go.

This type of puzzle has been done using hexagonal grids. I have a booklet of those and they're called Rikudo.

Regarding this particular puzzle: there are 100 levels (more coming soon). I solved them all very fast. They're too easy.  Definitely good for youngster puzzlers.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/1234-number-logic-puzzle-game/id1449671026?mt=8

Spectre Mind: Rotating Cube by Spectre Limited FREE

Spectre Mind: Rotating Cube by Spectre Limited. It's a game that tests your memory and your spatial reasoning.  The game flashes 2 or more ghost tiles. Memorize their location. Take as much time as you need for that. Then tap the screen and the ghosts will disappear and the board will either rotate or flip over. Can you find the ghosts?

I have not played this game very much. But it does seem fun. 
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/spectre-mind-rotating-cube/id1442175647?mt=8

Smack - The Puzzle Game by Ai Ayatsuji FREE

Smack - The Puzzle Game comes from Ai Ayatsuji. The object is to slide the balls along the grid to knock out other balls. If you can end up with only 1 ball, you've won.

This game is extremely similar to Fling!  Long term Loyal Blog Followers will remember this from 2010 when I first reviewed it.

I even posted an update.

So I just redownloaded Fling!  Smack is okay, but the graphics are just nowhere near as good as Fling!  Both games are free.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/smack-the-puzzle-game/id1447871235?mt=8

Color Rings! by Sphere Game Studios

 Color Rings! comes from Sphere Game Studios. We've seen this type of game in the past several times, but not in a while.  The object is to tap on any ring, which will fire 1 missile in each direction, setting off a chain reaction.

The red rings need to be hit once.
The orange rings need to be hit twice.
Yellow 3 times
Green 4 times.
Purple 5 times.

The essential point in this puzzle is which rings to tap. Then do trial and error. 

There are 100 levels.  I did the first 25 in about 10 minutes. I'm around level 40 now.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/color-rings/id1448795214?mt=8