Bend It: Flex Your Brain - Mechanical Puzzle $10

Recently I opened up Bend It: Flex Your Brain - another puzzle from the folks at Smart Games.


The objective is to place all the pieces into the grid to match the 60 black & white challenges.


Most interesting: all the pieces bend in some way.


Even more interesting: the construction of the pieces is outstanding.


I solved about 20 levels.  These puzzles get very challenging. Probably too hard for kids under 12.


From A Reviewer on Amazon:

5.0 out of 5 starsChallenging for even the adult in your house!

By Richard and Liz on May 25, 2014

The secret to solving the puzzles is to find where only one certain piece can go. This can change for each puzzle but for example in Puzzle 23 there is a place where there is a lone white dot encircled by all blacks. Only one of the six pieces can be used there. There may still be a couple ways to put in that piece but you can use elimination once you know the piece you are working with.

http://www.smartgames.eu/en/smartgames/bend-it
https://www.amazon.com/SmartGames-SG450US-Bend-It/dp/B007XVW5RU

Who Can Get Z by Ruijun Li Free

 

Remember the puzzle app game Subara City? It's a great point scoring puzzle app game.  Who Can Get Z from Ruijun Li is very similar. 


What's different?
In Subara City The objective is build up your houses into hotels and skyscrapers. Then merge the skyscrapers.


In Who Can Get Z, the objective is simply to get Z.


Both games are quite good and both will take a long time to play.
https://itunes.apple.com/cn/app/who-can-get-z/id1128713441?mt=8


Reminder: if you are interested in being on the PAGY Committee, send me an email.

Daily Heggies Puzzles

Ron Mentink recently contacted me about his puzzle concept called Heggies.  It's very similar to Monorail produced by Glen Iba more than 5 years ago.


http://www.mindgames.com/game/Daily+Heggies

Politaire by Pine Entertainment Free

 

Politaire is a point scoring puzzle app game.

 

"Politaire is a Solitaire mixed with Poker. Your aim is to make winning hands with 5 active cards in your hand.

Choose cards that you want to discard and swipe it away. Upcoming cards will fill up your active hand and score if you make a winning hand. Discarded cards will go back to the pile, waiting to come up again. 

The minimalist visuals hide an interesting depth that will keep challenging and surprising as you master it."

My thoughts:

1. Excellent graphics

2. My high score is 2800 after 5 games.

3. You could better maximize your score by keeping a companion deck of cards to keep track of what's left toward the end. Expert bridge players keep this in their memory banks constantly.

4. You may be going for a yellow flush....but if there's a blue 7 to match your yellow 7 - tough luck. That's why this game is interesting.

http://www.playpolitaire.com/
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/politaire/id1117343578?mt=8


Other Point Scoring Games Worthy of Your Time
NumberMania
Four Straight Lines
Pushopolous
Stickets
Folt
Nineout
Nineout II
BeeCells Lite
Kindly Colors
HexAgony
Domino Drop
Put Number
Tripevo  
Triple Town          
Kindly  Colors    
COLORswipe     
SubaraCity
Virus Pop Smash
+1 Number
4 Way Puzzle
Merged!
Enso

Outfolded by 3 Sprockets Free!

 

Outfolded by 3 Sprockets is an extremely popular puzzle app game. The object is to unroll - face by face - your cubes to go from 1 square to another. The game is endless.  I did 12 levels and thought to myself - it's okay.  I think it's appealing because of the music and the fact that you can undo every move.


Somebody on the Leaderboard has done over 4000 levels.


Reviews from the App Store:


Amazing game! One problem

by The SpaghettiO

I played the game constantly
And I would enjoy the satisfaction of winning and getting new themes. But once I got to level 400 I lost that feeling... There's noting to look forward too, and I found out the game has no end. I can't play the game with no end, maybe it's just me but the game would be so much more if there were themes for the next couple hundred levels, but I want to say thank you. It's such an amazing game, I loved it, while it lasted.

Calming/Relaxing

     

by Nolan-ish

The atmosphere, everything from colors to music and sound effects, is deeply relaxing. The game allows to go at your own pace and allows for unlimited restarts on each level. A game that normally would be frustrating is extremely relaxing.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/outfolded/id1030634472?mt=8

Beam - Puzzle Game by Ryan Kozierok Free

 

Loyal Blog Follower Joel told me about Beam - Puzzle Game by Ryan Kozierok. There are multiple objectives. Look at the last image. The object is to get the orange disc into the orange square. However, it cannot cross any other beam.  The solution is to move one of the blue discs first.

 

Look at the first image. The object is to break the beams.  Most of the 60 levels have multiple objectives.


There are 60 levels and 10 bonus levels if you get 3 stars for optimum solutions.  I solved all 60 relatively quickly. It's not hard, but it is an interesting concept.  I like the graphics too.  And it's free.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/beam-puzzle-game/id983760936?mt=8

Sequence Nine by Ahoot Media Free

 

Loyal Blog Follower William Hu steered me to Sequence Nine.  I think I saw the icon on the App Store and assumed it was a Flow clone.  It's nothing like it. In fact, it's unique, challenging, sophisticated and most importantly, fun.

 

Look at the first two images.  Your task is to draw a route in the bottom 9 squares. When you're done, the green dot in the top will follow that pattern, repeatedly, and hopefully arrive at the hole in the top right corner.


There are 240 levels and things get tough.
1. You can't pass through the red walls.
2. Passing through a white dot will open/close the white lines.
3. Wormholes:  Many levels have two sets of wormholes.
4. The hardest levels include white lines (with white dots) also yellow lines (with yellow dots) and wormholes.


I thoroughly enjoyed the first 3 batches or 180 levels.




http://ahoot.dk/Home/PressKit/SequenceNine
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sequence-nine/id1110341003?mt=8

Miscellaneous Puzzle Doings

1.  http://www.platinumpuzzles.com/artistgallery/fantasy.html#prettyPhoto These could be the most expensive jigsaw puzzles, but they are extremely interesting.




2. https://www.youtube.com/user/marblesthebrainstore Watch this advertisement for a mechanical puzzle called The Sherlock.  Charming and wonderful.




3. http://money.cnn.com/2014/03/25/investing/king-digital-ipo/ This story is already 2 years old.  But it's about how Candy Crush became a billion dollar company


4. This blog is about to get its 1 millionth hit. To view the hit counter at the top of this page, look on an old fashioned computer, not a mobile device.


5.  The Famous PAGY Awards: if you are interested in being on an important committee, now's your chance. Send me a note.

6. Watch this 1 minute video of a football player getting into Rubik's Cube:

Cogismo by Kim Duckworth

 

Kim Duckworth recently contacted me about his new puzzle app game Cogismo.

 

The object is to get each number to Zero. Tap on any circle and it will rotate clockwise and increase by 1. Cogs will collide with neighbors and those neighbors will also go clockwise.


Cogismo is a great concept. It's tough!  Very tough. 


In my opinion, there should be a very easy gird to start with, say 1x3, then 2x2, then 3x2 and finally 3x3.


It's free!  So give it a test and feel free to add your comments below.
https://cogismo.com/
https://itunes.apple.com/app/id1125257501
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=theguild.cogismo.std

Crazy Container by Luiz Lima Free!

 

Crazy Container is an interesting set of puzzles. The object is to reposition the colored containers to the correct alignment.


There are only 24 levels, which I really like.


My one qualm with this puzzle is that each level must be solved within a certain number of moves. What's the problem? There's no undo button.  So if you're in the middle of a puzzle that needs 120 moves and you make a mistake......


The graphics are okay. But the overall image could better utilize the ipad by being bigger.
https://itunes.apple.com/br/app/crazy-container/id1150006420?mt=8

rgb. by Chris Sansing

 

Loyal Blog Follower Tim Chow's Chris Sansing is the author of rgb. 


The game is essentially another version of Threes! and 2048.  What's different? Instead of numbers, there are colors.


We've seen many variations similar to this.  The drawback is trying to remember the sequence of colors. Hey, it's free.




https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/rgb./id1082229360?ls=1&mt=8

Snakebird by Noumenon Games Free

Loyal Blog Followers Daniel and Joel and others have sung high praise for Snakebird.

The object is to get your snake/snakes to stretch out and get to the rainbow hole.

I have not solved many levels. Each one takes a lot of time, which I don't necessarily have to devote to a single game. Nevertheless, each level that I did solve had a fun 'aha' moment. If could focus on just 1 game for a month, it's be Snakebird. It's excellent.


https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/snakebird/id1087075743?mt=8

Tchisla: Calculator Game with Numbers by HORIS INTERNATIONAL LIMITED Free

 

Tchisla is a math puzzle.  It's very similar to the Four 4's Puzzle where the objective is to represent the numbers 1-100 using four 4's.  I tried that one almost 20 years ago and missed a few numbers.


Description from the App Store:
Tchisla is a really absorbing number puzzle from the creators of Euclidea. Explore the magic world of numbers and train your mental arithmetic skills. All you need is to represent numbers as arithmetical expressions using only one of the digits from 1 to 9. This can be done in various ways. You gain more points if your solution uses fewer digits and sometimes your way to the optimal solution looks like an exciting quest.

You can use standard arithmetic operations +, -, *, /, and brackets, extract square roots (√), raise to a power (^), and apply factorials (!). The factorial (n!) is the product of all positive integers less than or equal to n.
For example:

96 = 99 - √9
96 = 4 * 4!
96 = 2 * 2 * (22 + 2)
96 = 111 - (1 + 1)^(1 + 1 + 1 + 1) + 1
2048 = ((5 + 5) / 5) ^ (55 / 5)
https://itunes.apple.com/app/tchisla/id1100623105

LightBox3 by Eric Clough on Kickstarter

There's a lot of fuss about Eric Clough's new puzzle: Lightbox3.


About 7 years ago Eric finished a project transforming a Manhattan apartment into a spectacular puzzle palace.  It was written up in the NY Times.  Naturally, I invited him to give a presentation at the annual New York Puzzle Party. He accepted and his talk/slide show was fantastic.


LightBox3 is his newest creation and it's very very cool. Check out the videos.


https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1400869672/lightbox3

Pop 8 by Cubi Free

 

Pop 8 is a point scoring puzzle app game.  The object is to shift your tiles, one at a time to an adjacent space so that they can be popped.


A 4 tile will be popped if it's next to 4 other tiles. You get the idea.  After each move, a new tile randomly appears.  Or does it appear randomly?  It seems that a new tile always appears at the spot where I've moved a piece.


The blank squares....I haven't quite figured out how they work yet. The instructions aren't clear.


After playing this 5 times, my high score is 111. Each game takes about 10 minutes.


Definitely give this a try and then check the leaderboard to see what the top score is. Not sure what it is, but I'm impressed.


https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pop-8/id1135446118?mt=8

Color Kakuro by Chi Wun Li Free!

 

Color Kakuro is nothing like genuine Kakuro (formerly known as Cross Sums).  A better title would be Color Minesweeper. Oh well.

 

Each square is either blank or is an actual clue.  Suppose a clue square has 1 yellow, 1 red, 2 green and 0 blue. That means that the surrounding blank squares will have 1 yellow, 1 red, 2 green and 0 blue.


Most of the levels have unique solutions.  There are 200 levels ranging from beginner to master.


At the moment, I've done 150 levels. I positively love this game and it's totally free - provided that you do all the levels and not skip around.  The ads are annoying, but that's still okay because I can't get enough of this.
Another negative: the program crashes every so often. I uploaded the latest Ipad software, and the game still crashes. But I keep playing it.
Let's end on something positive: these puzzles are hand-crafted.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.alphaunit.kakuro&hl=en
https://itunes.apple.com/fr/app/color-kakuro/id977635675?l=en&mt=8

Dotorio by dagagada Free!

Dotorio is fun reflex/dexterity puzzle app game.

Your Man wears the red hat. He moves continuously around and around. Your task is to have him collect all the gems. When you tap the screen, he jumps from the outside to the inside.

There are over 100 levels and I'm stuck on level 12.  Besides avoiding spikes, one must avoid right angles too.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dotorio/id1125716466?mt=8


Tomorrow's Puzzle Review: Best of the week. I'm hooked.

Nomics

Nomics was recommended to me by Loyal Blog Follower Joel.  It's a math game where the only operations are addition & subtraction.


I got to level 26 and found it very interesting. The graphics could be a lot better. But the puzzles get pretty tough.


Sorry about not putting up images, which would vastly help in explaining the rules.  I have not been able to access the link below. Maybe this game is only available in Europe?  This is definitely the type of game that's actually pretty good but will never be popular.


https://itunes.apple.com/de/app/nomics/id957189600?l=en&mt=8

Strand by von Beachfront Media LLC Free

 

 

Loyal Blog Follower Joel told me about Strand. It's similar to a series of puzzle books from Japan. The concept is called Hashi.  If a circle has 6 in it, that means there are 6 bridges emanating from it. There have been numerous puzzle apps that duplicate the concept.


What's cool with Strand:
1. Bridges can bend around the black points.
2. Portals
3. Different colored circles. Blue circles must match up. However, some circles have 2 colors.


The first 2 sections have 50 free levels or so. I did them all. After that, they cost $.99 for each group of 25.
https://itunes.apple.com/de/app/strand/id709721963?mt=8

Dot Square By #App Free

 

Dot Square is an interesting puzzle app game.  The object is to fill the empty circles with the correct colored ball.

 

Two reds will crash into each other to form a single yellow.  Two yellows become a blue. Two blues become a purple. 2 purples become.....see for yourself.  All moves are swipes where everything travels until they hit an object.

There are 100 levels and each one must be completed within a given number of moves. I've noticed on multiple plays that certain levels were not possible only because the random reds that pop up after every move never appeared in certain corners.  Level 41 is one example.  But given enough replays, they're very do-able. Level 90 took me about 25 tries. Maybe even 50.




I've solved all 100 levels which is an indication of the addictive element and fun. But this is not a pure puzzle.


Definitely try this game.  If you know somebody who's hopelessly addicted to Candy Crush, this could help.

http://sharpapp.com/?ckattempt=1
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dot-square/id1104300777?mt=8

Logic Traces by Kongregate Free

 

Logic Traces comes from the prestigious Kongregate. The object is to fill the grid completely. 


Look at the second image.  See the 4 in the upper left corner? That means it can stretch to the right or down or a combination of the two directions to fill up 4 squares.


This concept is not new at all. It was first done in an old Rubik CD-ROM game and it was called Cover-Up.  On that game, the graphics were so much better than this game.


Beam Puzzle from 5 years ago was better than this.


Why don't I like this game? Because there are too many puzzles with multiple solutions. I should say, I solved all 30 of the 6x6 grids. I'd rather dig out the old Rubik CD-ROM and replay that, than this game.  Sorry guys.
Oh yes, thanks to Loyal Blog Follower Joel for pointing this game out. He also told me about another game Wall Logic that is very similar. I'm also not a fan of that. Oh well.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/logic-traces/id1081609724?mt=8