The Best iphone, ipad Puzzle Apps and Mechanical Puzzles

Mixt: free iphone ipad puzzle app

2012-01-30T08:36:00.000-05:00

Mixt has great graphics, download it just to check that out. The object: drag the colored balls to the matching holes. Combine balls into bigger balls for more points.

Definitely cool. But more action than puzzle.

Cast Marble: Mechanical Puzzle of the week

2012-01-27T08:20:00.000-05:00

Cast Marble comes from Oskar van Deventer & Bram Cohen. The object is to separate the 4 pieces and then restore them. Yowsa, this one is fun. Buy a couple of them - one for yourself and the other as a gift to your boss.

Click here for the solution.

Tripevo: truly one of the best iphone ipad puzzle apps

2012-01-27T08:19:00.001-05:00

Previously, I bemoaned the fact that my high score of 1.7 millon could not be recorded by the game center because I was not on-line.

Recently, another Tripevo player named Tophe490, scored 913,759 points. He or she must have thought they were closing in on my top score of 1.4 million. Imagine their surprise at seeing my new high score of 2,273,930.

Note to Tophe490: I am now retired from Tripevo. Best of luck in catching up.

Update 1/29/12: I just got 2.4 million.

Crazy Cubes: iphone ipad puzzle app review

2012-01-26T08:28:00.000-05:00

Crazy Cubes is similar to TEC and to Hex-A-Hop. The object is to roll your cube over each of the green tiles once and only once to destroy them. A big red X tile: roll over that and you have 5 seconds to get out of the way before it explodes itself and the surrounding 8 tiles.

Will this make the famous Best Puzzle Apps List of 2012? Maybe. It came out in 2010, but I just discovered it, so yes it will count for 2012.

Tiny Invaders: puzzle app update

2012-01-25T12:38:00.000-05:00

I played Tiny Invaders about 6 months ago. The object is to manipulate the virus to infect the person. It's half puzzle, half arcade. The Hogrocket public relations man, Pete Collier, recently informed me of an update. So I'm informing you. As I said in my review 6 months ago, it's not the greatest puzzle app, but it's fun and worth your time.

Splinter's Mazes

2012-01-25T08:59:00.002-05:00

Splinter J. Spierenburgh recently contacted me about his book of mazes. They look like fun and I will definitely print these out. He also told me that he's looking into making a physical maze puzzle - possibly later this year.

Here's his website.

Oh yeah!

Crate: free ipad, iphone puzzle

2012-01-24T08:16:00.000-05:00

Crate is exactly the same as Move the Box: scroll down a few inches to see that review. The puzzles are exactly the same too.

I contacted Viktor Reutskyy, who made Move the Box and this was his response:

Yes, I saw Crate. It's probably the first clone of MtB. Its history starts here:
http://www.rentacoder.com/RentACoder/misc/BidRequests/ShowBidRequest.asp?lngWMId=2533&lngAVDRId=790162&lngBidRequestId=1788798#true,2,1788798,,

Move The Box: free iphone ipad puzzle review

2012-01-23T08:51:00.000-05:00

Object get 3 in a row or column to make them explode and disappear. When that happens, the boxes above will slide down. You must solve each puzzle within the given number of moves.

Challenging? Some are really easy. Others: surprisingly difficult - even when they can be solved in just 2 moves.

I have solved about 50 of the puzzle levels. Tomorrow's review will be of a similar puzzle. Viktor Reutskyy is the author of Move the Box.

This could make the list of best puzzle apps of 2012.

L'Oeuf: Mechanical Puzzle of the week

2012-01-20T08:22:00.000-05:00

I first got this puzzle in 2003 at the International Puzzle Party that was held in Belgium that year. That was the plastic version which was called Mysterians. It broke too easily and I foolishly let a non-puzzler handle it.

This metal version is indestructible! The object is to separate the pieces. You may find this hard to believe, but there is mathematical element behind it. From the mind of Oskar van Deventer.

Here is the solution.

Ellipsis: free iphone ipad puzzle app

2012-01-19T08:23:00.000-05:00

Ellipsis: colored dots scroll onto the screen. Your task: drag them into the corresponding colored rectangle. This was categorized by the App Store as a puzzle, but it's really an arcade action game. It's fun!

Probably will not make the list of best puzzle apps of 2012

Best Lights Off: free iphone ipad puzzle app

2012-01-18T08:14:00.000-05:00

This is another Lights Out type puzzle. However, the graphics are absolutely charming!

I highly recommend looking on ebay for the Tiger Electronics version: Lights Out, Lights Out Cube and Lights Out Deluxe.

There are 50 levels here. So far, this is one of the best puzzle apps of 2012

Fuzzy Logic: iphone ipad puzzle app review

2012-01-17T08:10:00.000-05:00

Fuzzy Logic is a great puzzle app! It is very similar to Lunar Lockout, Fling, and Frogiz. The object is to eliminate the board with matching colors. Blue will cancel with blue. But blue will combine with red to make purple. Like Lunar Lockout, blue will stop at the space just before green, or purple.

I think it's hard for me to really show you what Fuzzy Logic is all about. Just go ahead and download it, there's a free version. I have the premium version which has all the level packs. I couldn't stop playing it!

Jokers can explode any color. A bomb destroys the colors around it.

Fuzzy Logic, so far, is the best puzzle app of 2012.

River Test Trilogy: free iphone ipad puzzle app

2012-01-16T08:44:00.000-05:00

There are 3 puzzles here: get everybody across the river given the different parameters. Two of these, I've known about & solved ages ago. They're all good. The graphics are minimal, but that's okay.

There should be a 4th puzzle added: 3 explorers traveling with 3 cannibals and the explorers can never be outnumbered by the cannibals. It's another classic.

The free version of River Test Trilogy has only 1 puzzle available - but it's tough! I've given it to my students over the years.

Tripevo: the highest score ever

2012-01-16T08:41:00.000-05:00

Play Tripevo! It's truly amazing, fun and addictive. Yesterday, I acheived a Crown + Crown Combo with a bonus. Look at the first picture and see the space I outlined in red. That means that on placing that 1 tile, I got 960,000 points, just for that one move.

Now look at the 2nd picture. My final score was 1,714,181. This is the all-time high score. Unfortunately, I was not connected to the internet, so my score did not get recorded by the Game Center.

Cast Laby: Mechanical Puzzle of the week

2012-01-13T08:34:00.000-05:00

Cast Laby was invented around 1900. The object is to separate the 2 pieces. One disc has 2 different mazes on each side! The other disc has 2 pins - one for each maze. This is a terrific puzzle. It's not easy! It took me about 1 hour to solve.

Bits and Pieces used to make this puzzle in brass. However, their version was not an exact duplication; this made the puzzle much easier with an unintended solution.

Here's the solution.

Penguin Glide: free iphone ipad puzzle app

2012-01-12T08:53:00.000-05:00

Penguin Glide: tap on the ice floes to make them solid. The penguin can then land on it or bounce off it. Basically, the idea is to guide your penguin to the buoy. Cute graphics. Strictly for kids.

Sudoku X4U: free iphone ipad puzzle app

2012-01-11T08:31:00.000-05:00

Here is another free sudoku puzzle app. This one has 'jigsaw' sudokus, which another company calls squiggly sudokus. I really like those; I'm tired of the standard sudokus.

I still feel that sudokus should be solved with pencil on paper. Call me old-fashioned.

Chem IQ: free iphone ipad puzzle app

2012-01-10T10:07:00.000-05:00

Object: cut the bonds and form new compounds. Probably good for chemistry students!

TEC: free iphone ipad puzzle app

2012-01-09T09:48:00.000-05:00

TEC is an interesting puzzle app that is very similar to an online puzzle known as Hex-A-Hop, which I absolutely love. The object: drag the robot over each tile to light them up. On some levels, the robot must pass over the same tiles more than once.

I would love TEC except for one thing. There's a time limit for each puzzle. Also, the robot does not move as quickly as my finger is swiping or tapping. Otherwise, this is a fine set of puzzles.

Mechanical Puzzle of the week: Cast News

2012-01-06T10:40:00.000-05:00

I was fortunate to know the inventor of this puzzle: Nob Yoshigahara. Nob invented this when he was just 19. The object is to separate the 2 halves. Each piece is identical. This puzzle has been made in many forms by unscrupulous businessmen. This form, in metal, is the best rendition. I solved another rendition by using an alternate method, which would not work on this model. Highly recommended! Buy 2 copies: one for yourself, and one as a gift.

Click here for the solution.

Fillupblocks: free iphone ipad puzzle app

2012-01-05T08:19:00.000-05:00

We've seen this type of puzzle a million times. This one has many levels: easy to difficult. Hey, it's free.

Will this make the Best Puzzle Apps of 2012 List?

Dino Blocks: iphone ipad puzzle app

2012-01-04T08:40:00.000-05:00

Dino Blocks is very similar to Angry Birds. You are given a slingshot that must be placed within the given circle. Aim to knock off the the red blocks while leaving the green blocks unharmed.

I'm not a fan of Angry Birds. But if you like that, you should definitely try Dino Blocks which is a free puzzle app.

Will this puzzle app make it onto the list of best puzzle apps of 2012? I'm hoping that better puzzle apps will arrive.

MagyPath B.C. iphone ipad puzzle app

2012-01-03T09:21:00.000-05:00

The object of MagyPath B.C. is to find a route from the bottom to the top. Start on a green tile and work your way up. Blue and red tiles are forbidden. A yellow tile will cost you 1 life.

Here's where it's a bit weird: each time you step on a tile: green or yellow, some of the other tiles change color in a random order.

MayPath B.C. has gotten some very good reviews. I've played the first 30 levels. I can see where it's addicting, but I'm not feeling it. But you might. So go ahead and download it - it's a free puzzle app.

Will this make it onto the 'Best Puzzle Apps of 2012'? I'm hoping better apps will come along.

Picklock: free iphone ipad puzzle app

2012-01-02T09:32:00.000-05:00

Picklock is a free puzzle app from Wang Subo. It's very similar to Mastermind. Object, try to arrange the 5 numbers in the correct order. The given numbers are listed on top.

Good for kids. Will this make the final list of best free puzzles apps of 2012? No.

Best Puzzle Apps of 2011

2011-12-31T13:16:00.000-05:00

It's almost impossible to keep up with the 100 new puzzle apps that get released each week. Below is a simple list: the best, most fun puzzle apps that I played in 2011. Most of these were brand new in 2011. Some came out earlier. What distinguishes a Best Puzzle App from Honorable Mention Puzzle App? I like them all, but the Best Puzzle Apps are the ones I've spent a lot of time on!

Alphabetical lising:
2Bik's Cube
Align It!
Aqueduct
Beam Puzzle
Blockado
Boxat
Boxed In
Continuity 2
Cubetastic
Deadlocked
Duality
Frogiz
Full House
Galaxy Express
Hi Lo Sudoku
Kunundrum
Monorail
Mortal Coil
Mystic Glyph
Numeric Paranoia
Quaz-x
Qvoid
Solitaire Chess
Strimko Gold
TJam
Tripevo
Tumblox
Witty Bump

Honorable Mention Puzzle Apps 2011

2011-12-30T08:42:00.000-05:00

This list is composed of very good puzzle apps. Perhaps they didn't make it to the Best Puzzle Apps list because I didn't spend enough time on them to recognize the genius behind it. Without a doubt, they are all worthy of your consideration!

100!
Amtalee
Best Lights Off
Blaxx
Brain Freeze
Bumpling
Chrome-8
Cohabit
cubyrinth
Cut the Block
Escape: The Room
Flip Them All
Fun
Hierogrid
Inakube
Lumi
Muzzle
Nadibom
Neon Zone
Numbrosia
NumDom
OpenValve
Primokakuro
Quell
Rogo
Rotatoland
Ruby Capture
Rush Hour Holiday
Shapzzle
Slidetastic
Spins 3D
Synchrony
The Square
Tiny Invaders

2Bik's Cube: free iphone ipad puzzle app

2011-12-29T10:00:00.000-05:00

My first thought: ugh, another sliding tile puzzle. However, this one is different. Entire rows or columns shift only where the gap is. Align the colors by columns. Harder than I thought!

Check out the image of the guy wearing a brain vest. Reminds me of the french restaurant in mid-town that offered calf's brain as an entree. We decided to get Thai instead.

Cubyrinth: iphone ipad puzzle app

2011-12-28T09:28:00.000-05:00

Cubyrinth is a series of maze puzzles. Object: get the green ball to its home. To do this, move the middle layers right/left and up/down to align the path. You may have the right piece in the right place....but it might not be oriented correctly.

There are 28 levels. I have done about 9 of them. This puzzle is similar to Cubetastic. Those users should definitely download Cubyrinth.

Christoph Grossegger from Austria is the author. http://www.dust-bit-games.com

Sphinx: free iphone ipad puzzle app

2011-12-27T11:04:00.000-05:00

Sphinx is a free puzzle app. The goal: assemble the pieces into each of the outlines. Pieces can be flipped & rotated. Not my cup of tea. But I've never been a huge fan of these types of puzzles.

Monsters Fall: iphone ipad puzzle app

2011-12-23T10:38:00.000-05:00

Monsters Fall is a quasi tilt-app. The object is to get each colored monster into their corresponding home. The blue monster always falls down. You can adjust him left or right. The green monster always falls up. Again, you can adjust him left or right.

The red monster falls to the right and the yellow monster falls to the left. You can adjust their positions up and down.

Monsters Fall right now has 20 levels. A very nice change from the puzzles that have so many puzzle levels that it's almost impossible to finish. The first 5 or 6 levels are really 'learn the rules' type levels - very simple. Then they get challenging.

I have solved all 20 levels. It took about an hour. I should mention that some levels have wormholes. In this case, they are depicted as telephone booths. Quaint!

Nikos Detsikas contacted me about his new app and informed me that more levels will come out. I look forward to solving them.

tJam: iphone ipad puzzle app

2011-12-22T10:13:00.001-05:00

tJam looks a lot like one of the greatest puzzle apps of all time: Subway Shuffle.
It is not a rip-off.

Cars may travel on roads of their own color. When that happens, the color gets erased. Any car can travel on a white road - then that road becomes that car's color.

Object: get all the roads to be white.

This is one fabulous puzzle app. A likely candidate for the upcoming Best Puzzle Apps of 2011 List. 199 levels. At this moment, I have solved the first 45 levels.

99 cents for many hours of addiction and frustration. Bravo to Ivan Vassilev

Ruby Capture: iphone ipad puzzle app

2011-12-20T10:23:00.000-05:00

Ruby Capture is a terrific chess puzzle app. Object: capture all the rubys by moving each chess piece once. If a chess piece crosses over or lands on a blue plus sign, it gets an additional move.

The puzzle has 100 Easy, 100 Medium, 100 Hard and 100 Very Hard levels. I solved all 100 easy levels. Then I moved on to the Very Hard Levels and solved 25 of them.
Without a doubt, Ruby Capture is fun and addictive! The Very Hard puzzles were not as hard as I thought they'd be. Still, this is a fine set of puzzles. Young chess players should definitely play these.

Tumblox: iphone ipad puzzle app

2011-12-19T09:50:00.000-05:00

Tumblox is a a tilt maze puzzle. The object is to get the colored boxes onto their matching colored targets.

We have seen numerous tilt maze puzzles. Tumblox is extremely well done. For one thing, instead of swiping left/right or up/down, the user manipulates the arrows and the entire board will shift 90 degrees. This is a very cool feature.

Tumblox has wormholes. We've seen them before. However, some wormholes only work for particular colors. Some wormholes only work in 1 direction. Finally, some wormholes only work when the block approaches it from 1 direction.

At a certain point, the levels go from a 2-dimensional grid to 3 dimensions.

I have solved 56/80 levels. I want to solve them all! But that's going to take a lot of time. $1.99 - less than a slice of pizza.

Best iphone iPad puzzle apps of 2011

2011-12-16T09:26:00.000-05:00

I'm working on the first annual 'best puzzle apps of the year'. There were several thousand new puzzle apps in 2011.

Next week I will post the list. Stay tuned.

New York Puzzle Party Symposium

2011-12-15T09:31:00.000-05:00

Mark your calendars: The annual New York Puzzle Party Symposium will take place Saturday 2/11/12. Contact me for more details.

Rubik's Cube in today's Wall Street Journal

2011-12-14T09:20:00.000-05:00

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204319004577088513615125328.html?KEYWORDS=rubiks+cube

A gift for the puzzle collector in your family

2011-12-13T13:27:00.000-05:00

http://www.giftideasforeveryone.com/

Temples of the Sun: free iphone ipad puzzle app

2011-12-12T08:31:00.000-05:00

Temples of the Sun is a free iphone ipad puzzle app. Move the mirrors to various points on the grid so that the light beam will bounce off them and through the crystals to score mega points. This is a great fun app - for kids. For the serious puzzler, skip it.

iklotski: free iphone ipad puzzle app

2011-12-09T08:14:00.000-05:00

I got my first computer in 1994 - a Gateway. Soon thereafter, I got a CD-ROM of puzzles. One of them was Klotski - which was a lot of fun.

This version iklotski, is a bit boring. All the puzzles have the same grid size. Nevertheless, if you've never done it before, this is a respectable puzzle app. Is it one of the best fun puzzle apps of 2011? Not really. But hey, you may disagree

Magic Hexagons: free iphone ipad puzzle app

2011-12-08T08:13:00.000-05:00

Magic Hexagons is an interesting point scoring puzzle activity. Tap on 3 or more hexagons of the same color if they are grouped together. At the bottom, the next level will emerge onto the bottom of your grid.

After playing for about 28 minutes, I finally cleared the board completely, before the next level popped up. Nothing happened! It just kept going.

The presentation is nice, and I must admit, it was fun. Is this one of the best puzzle apps of 2011? I don't think so. Still, I played it for 28 minutes!

Zoo Block: free iphone ipad puzzle app

2011-12-07T09:00:00.000-05:00

Zoo Block is a point scoring puzzle. Switch 2 neighboring pieces so that one of them will line up 2 with matching pieces. Then they score and disappear.

We've seen sooo many types of this puzzle. Not sure the world needs another version. However, the images are cute animals. So hey, maybe this will appeal to kids. Otherwise, skip it.

Vocab Star: free puzzle app for ipad and iphone

2011-12-06T08:32:00.000-05:00

The images describe everything. Try to make 4 5-letter words. Hints are given for the 4 words on a separate page. Letters in the blue circles can swap with each other. Same for the orange circles. There are 150 levels. I've done about 15 of them - including the last few. It's fun, it's free. But I might go crazy doing all of them!

Clever Frog: free iphone ipad puzzle app

2011-12-05T12:41:00.000-05:00

Clever Frog: the object is to prevent the Clever Frog from reaching the perimeter. How to play: you tap on any lily pad to eliminate it. Then the frog will jump to a neighboring lily pad. Try to cut him off!

I've done 2 levels. That's it. It's good. Definitely not for kids. Is this one of the best fun free puzzle apps of 2011? Not really. But it's certainly interesting enough and worth your time to try it out.

Rush Hour Holiday: iphone ipad puzzle app

2011-12-02T14:48:00.002-05:00

Last summer, I solved all 625 expert levels of Rush Hour. I thought I was done. Now, the good people of Thinkfun have produced Rush Hour Holiday which includes 400 new levels - 100 easy, 100 medium, 100 hard, 100 expert.

The grid size remains the same.

The 'cars' are now gift-wrapped presents. The Red Car is replaced with a penguin on a sled.

Puzzle-wise, Rush Hour Holiday is exactly what you expect from ThinkFun: the right mixture of puzzle difficulty combined with addictive fun.

The graphics: it's a nice change from the regular cars.

According to Bill Ritchie, the founder of ThinkFun, the original Rush Hour App has been downloaded over 1,500,000 times. Way to go!

Rush Hour was invented by the late Nob Yoshigahara from Japan. I had the good fortune to meet Nob several times at the International Puzzle Partys.

Robot Solving Rubik's Cube

2011-12-01T12:33:00.002-05:00

http://whatsnext.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/28/lego-smartphone-robot-solves-rubiks-cube-in-a-flash/?hpt=hp_bn6

JuiceIt: fun iphone ipad puzzle app

2011-11-29T09:01:00.000-05:00

JuiceIt is a combination of Bejeweled and Tetris. Blocks of 4 come tumbling down. Tap on it to rotate, then guide it down. Match 3 in a row and poof! They disappear and you score points.

I never got into Tetris or Bejeweled, but if you have, then you should give this a try. David Formanek is the author.

Inakube: iphone, ipad puzzle app

2011-11-28T08:19:00.000-05:00

Ian McColm and Brian Skidmore recently contacted me about Inakube. It is a transparent 3D version of the 15 sliding tile puzzle. However, the puzzle is completed when the 3D model of the figure is created.

One of my favorite mechanical versions of this: Magic Jack. Look for it on ebay. Those cubes were not however, transparent.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-23T09:07:00.000-05:00

Puzzlers: remember to socialize with your family and friends this holiday weekend. Put away your ipad, iphone & ipod touch. If you cannot, at least spread the gospel of fun puzzling to them.

See you on Monday.

Lab Mice Puzzles on Youtube

2011-11-22T08:38:00.001-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nV4YT1ISDc

The good people at Mindware.com are responsible for the Lab Mice Puzzle craze that has swept the world. Watch the video. And think about holiday shopping. Oh yes, if you buy one of these puzzles at night, then I'll be making money in my sleep. Thanks for the support!

Aqueduct: great fun puzzle app for iphone, ipad

2011-11-21T09:26:00.000-05:00

Aqueduct is one of the best puzzle apps. Object: move the tiles from the water source to the drain. The first 48 levels are free. I have solved them all. They range from super easy to challenging. I paid for the next 192 levels ($2.99) I did the next 75 levels pretty quickly and am getting to the more challenging levels.

The black squares can move and serve as rafts for the the tiles to transfer from one area to another. The full version has wormholes. The tiles that are yellow are fixed and cannot move. Definitely download the free version; you'll like it.

Cubetastic: great iphone ipad puzzle app

2011-11-18T09:51:00.000-05:00

Cubetastic is a great fun and free puzzle app. The object is to slide your man - the luminescent white ball, to the target. Your man will always stay on the top face. Rotate the other faces to get colored tiles on the top.

On harder levels, your man will start on a white tile and must transfer to a color changing tile that lets your man switch to, say, the orange tiles.

I have solved about 25 of the puzzles. Novel idea. Definitely fun

Numbrosia: free iphone ipad puzzle app. Limited time free

2011-11-16T14:14:00.000-05:00

Numbrosia comes from Amir Michail. He contacted me very recently about Numbrosia, Numbrosia2 and Numbrosia3. They are all free - for a limited time.

I play-tested Numbrosia last night and solved about 20 levels. The object: turn all the numbers to zero. Moves: slide rows across. Slide columns up and down. Add or subtract 1 to any row or column. Solve each puzzle in the fewest # of moves.

Is Numbrosia a great fantastic puzzle app? At first I said no. But I kept playing! So there is something addictive about this. Especially when you solve 1 puzzle in 48 moves and then redo it in 22 moves.

Readers/Play testers: tell me what you think of Numbrosia

Tripevo: one of the best iphone ipad puzzle apps

2011-11-15T08:20:00.000-05:00

Tripevo now has a genuine 'Leaderboard'. Due to my interminable addiction, I'm at the top.

Tripevo is truly one of the best iphone ipad ipod touch puzzle apps. Trust me.

Puzzle Contest: $50,000 prize

2011-11-14T13:38:00.000-05:00

Click here

idescend: free iphone ipad puzzle app

2011-11-11T11:16:00.000-05:00

idescend: the object is to keep your fish moving left or right to land on another plank. Similar to Fall Down. This is not a true puzzle. It's more of an action reflex puzzle. It's free and fun. Is this the best great puzzle app of the year? No

Stop the Press: This blogger was wrong!

2011-11-10T09:01:00.000-05:00

Most esteemed readers:

I was wrong. I admit it and apologize. Let me explain. About 2 months ago I reported about a puzzle app called Doodle Nums. I played this app for about 40 minutes and determined that it was impossible to solve.

One of my astute 'followers' (no I do not feel like a religious guru) sent me an email with a screen shot that proves she solved Doodle Nums. Her name is Kara Sheftel. And today, I yield to her superior puzzle solving prowess. Applause!

SpiderJack: free iphone ipad puzzle app

2011-11-09T15:48:00.001-05:00

SpiderJack is similar to Angry Birds. The object is to get your spider to its web to eat the fly. Along the way, try to collect some stars. Your spider hangs by its thread. Let it swing (to collect the starts) and then swipe cut the thread so it lands at the web.

I'm not a fan of Angry Birds, so, unfortunately, I'm not a fan of SpiderJack. However, if you like Angry Birds, then definitely try SpiderJack

OpenValve: free iphone ipad puzzle app

2011-11-08T12:47:00.000-05:00

OpenValve is a great free iphone ipad puzzle app. The object is to rotate each of the pipe sections to get the water to the target without spilling. Very similar to a previous game I reviewed: Plumber Game. Plumber game has 50 puzzle levels. OpenValve has 250 levels. I have don 59 of the 250 levels. This is a puzzle that I feel that I must solve all the levels!

17x17x17 Cube Puzzle: now a Guiness World Record

2011-11-07T12:48:00.001-05:00

February 12th of this year, Oskar van Deventer presented his 17x17x17 Cube puzzle at the New York Puzzle Party Symposium. The Guiness Book of World Records has now acknowledged this officially as a world record.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz43QuMyEzM

I was extremely happy and honored that Oskar asked me to write a 'witness letter' to the Guiness people. And now it's official!

NumberGame: free iphone ipad puzzle app

2011-11-04T09:48:00.000-04:00

Object: get the numbers in the correct order. This is done by rotating 4 pieces at a time. The cursor on the left allows you to select which 4 pieces will rotate.

Great puzzle app? Certainly not. But I did play it a few times. Getting the top 2 rows is simple. The bottom 2 rows can be difficult.

I first saw this puzzle app on a Nokia phone about 10 years ago.

Kunundrum: free iphone ipad puzzle app

2011-11-03T08:41:00.000-04:00

The object of Kunundrum is to get the colored balls to the colored targets. This is a tilt maze where each ball will travel as far as it can. There are arrows which can change the trajectory. There are colored portals that transfer only that same colored ball. Oh yes, there are gates which can be opened and closed.

We've seen all of these features in similar games: Quell and Blaxx come to mind. (See my reviews of those.)

The first 20 levels are free. Then it's $1.99 for another 80 or 90 puzzles. I'm not sure. But right now I'm stuck on level 97.

Kunundrum is definitely the right mixture of easy, medium & hard puzzles. Is this one of the best fun puzzle apps of the year? Quite possibly.

Blockado Deep Sea: iphone ipad puzzle app

2011-11-01T08:38:00.000-04:00

Blockado Deep Sea continues the original Rush Hour theme of getting your man out of the parking lot. Blockado Deep Sea is a continuation of the Blockado family of puzzles: Blockado Jungle, Blockado Desert and Blockado Mountain.

All of these puzzles are good! On some puzzles, the object is to get multiple treasure chests out of multiple exits. Some pieces have springs, magnets. Others are rope/coils and move like a snake.

Blockado Deep Sea has a good mixture of easy, medium and difficult puzzles. Importantly, there is just the right number of puzzle levels - so you can get a sense of accomplishment and say: I did them all!

Blockado Mountain: iphone ipad puzzle app

2011-10-31T09:51:00.000-04:00

Blockado Mountain is in line with Blockado Jungle and Blockado Desert. All are based on Thinkfun's Rushhour.

Blockado Mountain has a good mix of easy, medium and hard puzzles. It improves on Rush Hour in that there are innovative elements. Moving a piece under a floating diamond makes other squares in the grid form blocking columns. There are springs, magnets and coiled pieces that can snake around.

Another nice feature: Blockado Mountain has the right number of puzzles: not a zillion! Excellent value for the price.

Spindoku: free iphone ipad puzzle app

2011-10-26T13:35:00.000-04:00

Does the world need another version of Sudoku? Apparently so. Richard Burton made this one. Tap on each of the spinners to rotate those 4 numbers until the entire grid is the solution to a sudoku puzzle. The easy levels have fewer spinners. The harder levels have more spinners.

Fastest Robot to solve Rubik's Cube

2011-10-25T11:23:00.000-04:00

Seems like every couple of months, a new robot breaks the record for solving Rubik's Cube. This one is lightning fast.

Bobberz: free iphone ipad puzzle app

2011-10-24T08:45:00.000-04:00

Bobberz is similar to many other free puzzle apps. Try to get 3 adjacent squares or circles together to eliminate them. Swap a blue square with a red square by tapping on them. Look at the image on the left. If the orange bar gets too high, try to lower it by eliminating orange squares and circles.

Fun: iphone ipad puzzle app

2011-10-21T08:07:00.000-04:00

Read the instructions in the image above. This puzzle app is similar to Floodit and several others. The object is to get all the gears 1 color. When 2 gears are connected by a pipe then the second gear will be absorbed by the first gear's color and will start a chain reaction.

Definitely worth a download, especially because it's free. Also: some mathematician out there should investigate this and figure out for any given setup, which is the best color to aim for and what the minimum number of moves is.

When the puzzle is solved, watch the graphics!

Designed by Jose Verela

Logix Domino: free iphone ipad ipod touch puzzle app

2011-10-20T12:27:00.000-04:00

Logix Domino is from the prolific and high-quality puzzle app creator Robert Cutler

The object: you are given a grid of numbers, or pips. Place the dominos at the bottom on the grid to match them.

I first saw this type of puzzle in the Dell Math & Logic puzzle magazine, maybe 20 years ago. They're fun!

In Logix Domino, the user interface is quite good.

JiGaZo - great price

2011-10-19T10:02:00.000-04:00

I just bought a copy of JiGaZo at Amazon.com by a seller called Blessedbybooks for $7.88.

JiGaZo is a totally cool mosaic jigsaw puzzle to create images of anything.

Blluby Arcade: free iphone ipad puzzle app

2011-10-18T08:18:00.000-04:00

I downloaded Blluby Arcade and tried to figure out the rules. The rules are not posted on the app itself. However, I went to the company's webpage: http://site.crazyminds.net/ and still am lost about the objective.

Can you make sense of this? "BLLUBY Arcade is a FREE puzzle game in an arcade style. It uses the mechanics of the BLLUBY Game - the same rules of how can you walking above the colored cubes and how can you turn them in the blue color.

But now, you need to make rolls, of at least 4 cubes, to destroy and eliminate them of the game. If all the 6 columns and 7 lines contains cubes, you lost.

Each move a new cube falls from the top, take care you do not be locked by dead cubes( blue cubes ). - "Remember of the rules! BLLUBY Game rules!"

BLLUBY Arcade has 3 game modes, Arcade, Portals and Vegas. Each game mode has a new and totally diferente challenge..."

Blocks Maze: free ipad iphone puzzle app

2011-10-17T08:17:00.000-04:00

Move the small red block into the large red block and then exit the maze. I really want to like this puzzle app, however, the arrow key controls just don't work very well. There are 5 free levels. I'm keeping this puzzle app on my device in the hopes that the controls will be fixed.

Quares: puzzle app for iphone, ipad

2011-10-14T10:33:00.000-04:00

Quares is a free puzzle app for the iphone, ipad and ipod touch. Find 4 corners of the same color within the grid and score points. The bigger the rectangle, the more points. You are being timed! Every time you tap a square, you gain time.

We've seen puzzles identical to this. Still, it's fun! So download it!

Power Grid: free puzzle app for ipad, iphone, ipod touch

2011-10-13T08:03:00.000-04:00

Power Grid comes from PufferFish Games Ltd. Each Power Grid Circle has a number which means that it is connected that many times to other circles. Grid sizes are 7x7 and 9x9. The full version has 11x11.

Years ago, I bought a book from Nikoli Press in Japan that has these puzzles. Without a doubt, it's annoying to have to erase lines, so the touch screen makes this more fun.

WordSeven: free puzzle app for iphone, ipad, ipod touch

2011-10-12T08:18:00.000-04:00

Word Seven is a point-scoring puzzle. Spell words from the list of letters. The longer the word, the more points. All letters are colored - use different colors for your word to score more points.

On Tilt: free iphone ipad puzzle app

2011-10-11T08:14:00.000-04:00

The objective of On Tilt is to get your yellow smiley onto the star. You do this by tilting your device in various directions.

We've seen lots of tilt mazes where all the pieces travel until they hit a wall. This one is okay, however, I would prefer that the user be able to swipe the direction instead of tilting. For example, if you're hold the device upward, that automatically dictates the first move, which potentially could lead to a dead end.

Peter Livesy, the developer, told me that he intends to add the swipe feature soon. If you like On Tilt, you will also like: Blockhouse and Boxat.

Blockado Desert: free iphone ipad puzzle app until Tuesday

2011-10-09T18:15:00.000-04:00

This summer I played all the levels of Blockado Desert. It's free until this Tuesday. I highly recommend the entire Blocado series: Blockado Jungle, Blockado Desert, Blockado Mountain and very soon to be released: Blockado Deep Sea.

Rubik's Furniture

2011-10-08T11:27:00.000-04:00

Click here to see more Rubik's Cube Furniture ideas.

Rotatoland: free iphone ipad puzzle app

2011-10-07T10:34:00.000-04:00

We've seen numerous puzzle apps like Rotatoland. The object is to arrange the tiles in the correct numerical order by sliding the rows and columns.

However, in the second level of puzzles, tapping on one tile rotates the surrounding tiles in a clockwise order. That's easy to imagine if the tile is in the middle. Can you figure out what happens when a tile on the edge is tapped. This level is HARD!

Rotatoland is not the best free puzzle app, but it's darn good.

Steve Jobs, Puzzler

2011-10-06T08:22:00.000-04:00

Steve Jobs will be remembered for many things. I doubt that he will be remembered as a Puzzler. His invention of the ipod touch, the iphone and the ipad led the invention of the App Store. The App Store opened the creativity of thousands of puzzlers around the world to bring their ideas to everybody.

Every week, there are approximately 150 new puzzle apps released on the app store. Most are not interesting. However, a few are always quite good. Without the App Store......it would not have happened.

Puzzles in the News: The New York Times

2011-10-05T08:25:00.000-04:00

The New York Times has a Wordplay blog. Nice little blurb about Rubik's Cube.

Plumber Game: free iphone, ipad, ipod touch puzzle app

2011-10-04T09:48:00.000-04:00

Plumber Game consists of 50 puzzle levels. The object is to connect the water source to the hydrant by rotating each of the straight and curvy pipes. I have solved all 50 levels. I thought I would do 5 or 6 levels, but I couldn't stop! It took about 45 minutes to complete them all. Is Plumber Game one of the best free puzzles apps? No. But it's definitely fun.

Sh!ft: free puzzle app for iphone, ipad, ipod touch

2011-10-03T12:31:00.000-04:00

Sh!ft is a puzzle where you have a time limit and must score as many points as possible. To score points, 3 or more eggs must line up vertically, horizontally or diagonally. You may shift entire baskets to an empty space. Also, within each basket, eggs can be moved from corner to corner.

Sh!ft has a nice user interface and is a good free puzzle app.

IQ Pyramid: free puzzle app for ipad, iphone, ipod touch

2011-09-29T10:57:00.000-04:00

I have the physical version of this puzzle. Who knew that this puzzle could be solved 100 different ways? For each level 2 or 3 pieces have already been set into the frame. Grab the other pieces, rotate them and fill up the area.

Decoded: free iphone ipad puzzle app game

2011-09-28T13:32:00.000-04:00

The object of Decoded is to convert the 4-digit number in the middle into binary. Convert each digit - one at a time. Strictly speaking, this is not a puzzle app, it's an exercise in thinking quickly. Take too much time and you lose!

Doodle Nums: free puzzle app for ipad, iphone, ipod touch

2011-09-27T08:11:00.000-04:00

Doodle Nums is not really a puzzle, although there is a puzzle aspect to it. The object is to clear the board by tapping on pairs of numbers that are either identical or that add up to 10.

The tapped numbers must be adjacent with 2 exceptions. 1: if there is no number in between them, but they are spaced apart vertically or horizontally, that's okay. 2: The last number in a row matches the first number in the next row.

There is no scoring system. I believe that it is impossible to ever clear the board.

If you are able to clear the board, send me an image, and I'll send you a prize.

Boost 2 free iphone ipad game

2011-09-26T08:12:00.000-04:00

Boost 2 Lite is the free version. The object is to tilt your device to stay on the white road. If your path turns blue, that's a warning that a blue obstacle is fast approaching.

Drag Bomb free puzzle app for iphone, ipad, ipod touch

2011-09-22T08:16:00.000-04:00

Drag Bomb is another version of peg solitaire. It's a free puzzle app with lots of levels. However, the graphics are dark. And considering there is a 'bomb' element, perhaps the designer should have done something with the pegs that get jumped; they just disappear.

Jeff Scanlan New Impossible Bottle

2011-09-21T09:39:00.000-04:00

I recently acquired this Impossible Bottle puzzle from Jeff Scanlan, who is also a magician who specializes in 'sports magic'. In fact, last month I was at the Magic Castle in Los Angeles and saw 2 of his other Impossible Bottle puzzles.

Impossible Bottles make you think: how was this done. The only way to retrieve the object inside is to break the bottle.

Visit Jeff Scanlan's magic webpage.

Visit Jeff Scanlan's Impossible Bottle webpage.

Primo Kakuro: puzzle app for iphone ipad ipod touch

2011-09-20T14:55:00.000-04:00

In 1989, I discovered a puzzle called Cross Sums in the Dell Math and Logic Puzzles magazine. I was hooked! Since then, I've done thousands of them. Every couple of years, I'll get a batch of 50 to solve. When I'm done, I always say: that's the last one I'll ever do. I'm tired of them.

Last week I got an email from Kroyan Armen about his puzzle app called Primo Kakuro. (I should mention here, that Cross Sums got renamed as Kakuro about 8 years ago.) Primo Kakuro and Primo Kakuro HD contain a lot of these puzzles. The 'Evil' puzzles are definitely hard enough that I struggled.

Primo Kakuro has some interesting features. Suppose you tap on an empty cell. Outside the grid, if you want to look, is displayed the numeric possibilities for the empty cells on the row and column.

There are other bells and whistles. Discover them yourself. Download the free version of Primo Kakuro and take it out for a spin. The full version costs $3.99. That's cheaper than the Dell Magazine that I mentioned before. Also, you'll get more puzzles for your money.

I've always felt that Cross Sums/Kakuros should be done via paper and pencil. In my old age, I realize it's not a bad thing to do on a computer screen.

Shapzzle: free ipad ipod touch iphone puzzle app

2011-09-19T06:31:00.000-04:00

Shapzzle is very similar to Flood It! The game starts with your man represented by the top leftmost corner tile. Absorb the surrounding tiles bit by bit by changing your color to match that.

What's different: try to make one specific color be the last one to be absorbed.

The graphics are definitely cool.

The Impossible Bottle Man: Jeff Scanlan

2011-09-16T07:49:00.000-04:00

The November issue of Games Magazine is on the newsstands now. Read my 4-page article on magician Jeff Scanlan and his Impossible Bottles. Games Magazine cannot be viewed online. It can be purchased at Barnes & Noble, Target and miscellaneous magazine racks. Strangely, my local supermarket sells it. Unfortunately, they do not give me a discount.

Puzzle Brainiak: iphone ipad ipod touch free puzzle app

2011-09-15T05:40:00.000-04:00

Puzzle Brainiak consists of 4 separate puzzles, none of them new.

Knight: switch all the blue pieces with all the orange pieces by only making knight-like moves. Grid sizes: 5x5, 7x7, 9x9

Slitherlink: Form 1 continuous path in the grid. Each number represents how many of the 4 sides - of that square - the link will pass through. I've never been a big fan of these, but the ones I solved previously had gigantic grid sizes. The starting grid size here is perfect: 4x4. They get bigger and change shapes to triangles and hexagons and honeycombs!

Untangle: lots of apps for this. The price is very nice here: free

Towers: I first saw this puzzle about 15 years ago. And I believe Popular Playthings has their own mechanical version of this called City Towers or something like that

NumDom: free iphone ipad ipod touch puzzle app

2011-09-14T08:56:00.001-04:00

NumDom is a sudoku type puzzle app. You will notice colored numbers on the grid. The object is to have each number in each column and row. And each colored region must have each of the numbers.

Small grid sizes are 7x7. Large grid sizes are 9x9. This free puzzle app is very similar to Squiggly Sudoku. And I have to give a plug to websudoku.com For about $10 you can print or solve on your computer, about 1,000,000,000,000 other Squiggly Sudokus at all difficulty levels.

Tiny Invaders: iphone ipad puzzle app

2011-09-13T08:16:00.000-04:00

Tiny Invaders is a puzzle app with a bizarre premise. You are an alien virus that must infect the world. There are many individual puzzles where the objective is to send your little viruses around twisted tracks to pick up key nutrients. To some extent, this is a shunting puzzle like having trains change directions by switching tracks. On some of the harder levels, your little viruses must avoid the white blood cells.

I've done about 3/4th of these puzzles. In terms of intellectual problem-solving, this is not very hard. In terms of play and fun, this is really kid stuff that is, frankly, amusing. The last person to be infected in this series of puzzles, is the president! Of course, all science fiction world calamities must be centered on the US - according to Hollywood. Isn't that what makes this country so great?

Amazing Tacoyaki: iphone ipad ipod touch puzzle app

2011-09-08T12:52:00.000-04:00

Amazing Tacoyaki is a puzzle app very similar to Lights Out - a magnificent handheld electronic set of puzzles from Tiger Electronics.

We've seen many versions of Lights Out. Amazing Tacoyaki has grid sizes from 4x4 up to 8x8. Honestly, there's really nothing special about this puzzle app. Nevertheless, I thought I'd point out yet another version of Lights Out.

Geomelix: iphone ipad action puzzle

2011-09-07T08:13:00.000-04:00

Geomelix is an action puzzle game. The object is to tap on the numbers in sequential order, starting with 1. Spin each Platonic solid to find the next number. Very slick graphics.

Geomelix can be played in 2 modes: play at your leisure or play with a time limit.

The first 3 platonic solids are free.

Keep the brain active, learn and play all types of puzzles all the time. Make it a lifetime habit and maybe, you'll ward off Alzheimer's.

Tripevo: great iphone ipad ipod touch puzzle app

2011-09-06T10:59:00.000-04:00

Tripevo is a great, fun, terrific puzzle app. It is hard to describe the objective. You are given tiles, one by one, to place anywhere on the board. As soon as the board if filled, you lose.

If 3 tiles in a row are the same, they turn into 1 tile of the next level. Altogether there are 14 level tiles, and I have gotten to the 14th level tile after a dozen attempts.

Also, there are 'negative' tiles, which I semi-understand. I've played the game about 20 times and did pay for the full version. Tripevo is a deep, complicated, fun puzzle app. You will not truly understand it unless you actually play it a few times. Do so! It is worth your time.

I have 1 minor problem with this puzzle.....too difficult to explain unless you've played it. This app is worthy of a fan club.

The CIA is looking for puzzlers!

2011-09-05T09:27:00.000-04:00

Fellow Puzzlers,

believe it or not, the CIA is looking for puzzlers. That means you.

Click on the link to see 2 types of puzzles and then 10 reasons why you should join the CIA. I'm not telling you it's gonna 'be all that you can be.' (I think that's the army.)

Special thanks to our resident mole (puzzle spy chief and janitor) for the scoop.

Escape: The Room iphone ipad

2011-09-04T10:31:00.000-04:00

Escape: The Room from Moco Games is very simple. Look at the 4 walls for clues to open the safe which contains the key to the door. Similar to Myst. The graphics are a bit primitive, but that's okay. The game-play and puzzles are clever and fun. Escape: The Room is a free app. You might be frustrated at first.....stick with it!

Quaz-X: iphone, ipad, ipod touch puzzle app

2011-09-03T12:27:00.000-04:00

I looked at level 1 of Quaz-X and thought: Oh no, another one of these puzzle apps where I have to slide the vertical columns and horizontal rows to interchange the pieces to the correct positions. So I solved the first few levels easily.

Then things got more interesting. The gray circles with outer spokes are interesting. Look at the image above. If the top row slides to the right one notch, then gray circle will stay in place and the new configuration will be blue triangle, red triangle, green circle.

Notice the spokes on the corner circles: Suppose the left column moves up......the entire outer perimeter will shift in a clockwise direction.

I have solved 15 of the 16 levels. #16 is very difficult. It is similar to the mechanical puzzle Hungarian Rings.

Adrien Lefevre is the author of these puzzles. The Lite version of Quaz-x has levels: 1, 2, 3, 7. Try it, you'll like it!