Cube Escape: Seasons - free puzzle game for iphone, ipad

Loyal Blog follower William H. recently contacted me about this Escape the Room puzzle: Cube Escape: Seasons.
I've never been a big fan of this genre. Too often there's a clue/object that's tucked in a corner or under a table and I don't want to tap every square inch of every slide to find it.


This particular game is quite good.  In fact, it's kind of creepy. There is a walkthrough. I confess that I needed it to find one of the picture pieces. In my opinion, it was unfairly hidden. Nevertheless, this is one very cool game.


My favorite clue/puzzle piece was the wire hanger because it's particularly harder for younger puzzlers.




Here are the reviews from two other people on the App Store:
♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️

     

by EscapeGameLover691913212225

Undoubtedly the best escape game I've ever played (and I've played a lot of escape games)!! I cannot get over just how beautifully designed this series is! I've never even written a review until this game, it is that good! If I was you I would get both in the series then give yourself adequate time (I don't remember how long it took to play them I found them in the middle of the night started playing instantly lost track of time and didn't stop playing until I was done) get comfy start playing and enjoy!!! Oh and they've also got a creepy side which you really don't expect at first uhh they are so good I won't say any more!! Have fun!!!

by iam.icelandic.ish

Again, one of the best horror/escape games I've played! I played the previous one "Cube Escape: The Lake", and I thought that one was fantastic! But this one is even better and even more creepy! It is so suspenseful because you never know what's lurking in the room when you click on objects! And has a physiological, horror aspect to it that is so unique compared to other escape games out there. And be warned, there are a lot of jump scares and sudden, loud music! But that just adds to the fun and beauty of it! Its beautiful and disturbing, with challenges, and constant scare!        

     

https://itunes.apple.com/app/id979777165?mt=8

Unite RGB: free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

 

Robert Schlyter recently contacted me about his company's new puzzle app game: Unite RGB.
It's a game that tests your reflexes.  The idea is to swipe colored squares rapidly so that the red, blue & green squares hit the bottom simultaneously.
I did not get very far in this game.


https://itunes.apple.com/se/app/id978034201

Dots Tails: free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

 

Andrew Kyznetsov is the author of Dots Tails. His description: 'Dots Tails - is a puzzle game, an intergalactic time accelerator, with the goal of helping Captain Square gather his tails!

Somewhere in the far far galaxy, Captain Square was waging war against the triangle invaders. In one of the heavy battles his ship was seriously damaged, but the captain’s own spirit was not broken; he understood that he had to retreat, or he would be captured by the hated triangles. An intergalactic jump ship was launched. But something went wrong. The computer set a route right through a giant quasar. When the captain found himself in it, he noticed that he had turned into a huge string of dots, and his intellect had ceased to be a single whole, the whole world consisted of his past, present, and future woven together. In order to escape from this trap, he must gather himself together piece by piece. With his last smidgen of strength he calls on you for help!'

Each squared number must travel over the circled numbers to get to zero.  Look at the 2nd image.  See the 6? It's going down, then to the right. The 5 is going to the right and then snake up & to the left. The 3 at the bottom is going straight up.
As you pass over a circle, that circle will disappear, unless the circle has a dot or 2 dots underneath. Each dot represents an extra life for that circle.
There are approximately 200 levels & I'm stuck on 98. 
Dots Tails is a good puzzle app. But I'm moving on to other puzzle apps.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dots-tails/id975308362?mt=8

Zeroed Out

 

Seema Datar recently contacted me about her new puzzle app game Zeroed Out. Her description:
'Zeroed out is a challenging math and logic game where the "red tile" needs to be navigated from the "Start" position to the "End" position to complete a puzzle. On moving the tile in horizontal or vertical directions, it gets swapped with its neighboring tile. After the red tile is moved into a new position, the value of all tiles adjacent to it is reduced by 1. If any of the adjacent tiles' value is reduced to 0, the player loses and is "Zeroed Out!". Each move needs to be made within a time limit, which is configurable. Minimize the number of moves and the time consumed in a puzzle to achieve a better score.'




My observations:
When you land on a cluster of large numbers, then it's quite easy.
The grid sizes are 5x5 and 6x6.
The games take about 15 seconds to solve.
If you are just to the left of a 1, go ahead and land on it! When you come off it, it will be a random number.
I'm not sure how points are computed and then transferred to the Leaderboard.  At the moment there are 38 players and I'm #4.


https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/zeroed-out/id989629091?ls=1&mt=8

Zobrist Cube: mechanical puzzle of the month

A story: almost 20 years ago I bought a Burr Set of puzzles from Interlocking Puzzles.  The set consisted of 30 to 40 pieces and made 314 6-piece different burr puzzles. It cost $150. I was hesitant because I didn't really understand what a burr puzzle was.  When I got it, I worked my way through all 314 puzzles.  Took about a month.

The Zobrist Cube comes from Al Zobrist. I saw an advertisement for it in Discover Magazine.


Al Zobrist is the brain behind this monster set. At first glance, the Zobrist Cube looks like an ordinary Soma Cube: assemble the pieces to form a 3x3 cube.  However, The Zobrist Cube should be renamed as The Zobrist Cube Set because it comes with 33 pieces - most are unique, some are duplicates.


Each pieces has an embossed letter on it.  The Zobrist Cube Set comes with a manual that describes over 20 THOUSAND  cube combinations.  Fortunately, these are grouped into easy & hard levels.


At the top of the hard levels is a great quote from Stewart Coffin who describes these harder puzzles as '30-minute' puzzles.


Having done a bunch of Soma Cube variations over the years, I instantly headed to the hard ones.  The first one I did in 10 minutes.  The next one - I gave up after 30 minutes.  I skipped to somewhere in the middle and solved the next 3 in about 5 minutes each. I may have been lucky.


Al has turned this puzzle set into a game: 2 people square off, and select 2 random puzzles (with different pieces of course) and see who solves their first.

Somebody, somewhere in this great land, is going to take the time to solve them all. It won't be me.


$35: perfect gift for a kid, adult, a graduation present and for yourself.


http://www.zobristcube.com/

Pepe Porcupine: free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

Pepe Porcupine is another Sokoban puzzle.  There are approximately 300 levels. Fortunately, you can skip around.  I've done about 10 levels at the easy/and hard levels. 


I'm not sure if these levels are original or copied. It's a good set of puzzles, especially for anybody who's never done a sokoban puzzle.


The all-time greatest set of sokoban puzzles: Box World, which has 100 levels.  In the mid-90's, I paid $5 for it and got many many hours of entertainment.
https://itunes.apple.com/de/app/pepe-porcupine/id992904601?mt=12

Puzzle Number 9: free puzzle app for iphone, ipad

   

Puzzle Number 9 has the potential to be a good point scoring puzzle app. The object is to combine numbers randomly placed on the 3x3 grid to form 9's. Then, two 18's become a single 36, etc. You can swipe in any direction, including zigzag.


What's the problem? Suppose you've got a 144, a 72, a 36 and an 18 - that's already 4 spaces occupied and the remaining 5 numbers may not have a combination that adds up to 1.


There are 25 undos, but to get more you have to watch horrible ads or pay $.99.


I want to like this game, but cannot.


The best 9-themed point scoring puzzle app: NineOut, which I reviewed about 3 years ago. That's one of my favorite point scoring puzzle apps.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/puzzle-number-9/id933098520?mt=8

Pictograffix: picture puzzles for ipad and kindle

Laurie Andriot contacted me 6 months ago about her iBook: Pictograffix Puzzles. 'Pictograffix Puzzles contains brain teasers that  will exercise your mind in a fun way. Pictograffix Puzzles have appeared in Games magazine. Now with Volume 1, you'll have 50 word games - either picture puns or traditional rebus puzzles to decipher. The object is to guess a name, place, title, or phrase by the pictures presented. Be careful, these puzzles are addictive!'


These puzzles are divided into easy, medium & hard puzzles. Some of them are very hard, and I had to look at the solution. Here's what's really good: you can tap on a single image to get that word. For example, if the picture is showing an arrow pointing at the top of a bed. Is the word: bed, blanket, cover?


Pictograffix is perfect to do with somebody else.  Really fun!


This book is only $.99 at iTunes.


https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/pictograffix-puzzles/id931276287?ls=1&mt=11


$1.99 at Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Pictograffix-Puzzles-Laurie-Andriot-ebook/dp/B00ONWS2Y2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1432037650&sr=8-1&keywords=laurie+andriot


This Friday: I'm blogging about a very cool mechanical puzzle.

Routy - Puzzle with Infinite Levels: free puzzle app for iphone, ipad

 

Gabor Eifert recently contacted me about his puzzle app game Routy - Puzzle with Infinite Levels. The object is to get the smiley face to the bananas by using the formulae at the top.

 

It's a bit difficult to describe.  Look at the very top of the first image.  The smiley face  will travel in a certain direction - with respect to the orientation of the mouth - and then come to a stop. Then tap on the next formula and see if he lands on the banana.


I did the first 20 levels or so without much thinking: I just tapped out the 6 possible permutations when there are 3 formulae.  As you can see from the last image, the harder levels have 4 formulae.


Routy - Puzzle with Infinite Levels is okay. If you play this game, and get to level 162, do leave a comment below!
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pac-puzzle/id982541364?ls=1&mt=8

Hook: puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

Hook has been on my radar for a while.  A student of mine showed this to me a while ago. The object is to tap on the black dot various times to withdraw the crossed swords without the swords getting hooked.

As you can see from the diagrams, they look like circuit boards.

The big black dot sends the energy either directly to the swords/hooks or to antennae which will then relay the signals. Along the way you will have to turn switches to direct the energy.


What could be better: The lines could be thicker and easier to read.  How about giving color to some lines?


There are 50 levels and I did them all. (I'm so glad that there are 'only' 50 levels. Too many puzzle games have too many levels. You may recall the puzzle app that has 10,000 levels.) I like this game. Bravo Maciej Targoni for coming up with an original concept. Hook is definitely a candidate for a PAGY award.


(There's a clone version called Solve The Knot which is a complete rip-off. Yes it's free, but you'll pay for it by having to watch the same ads over and over.)


https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/oo/id956794130
http://playthehook.com/