Pushopolus: free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

               

Pushopolus is a terrific point scoring puzzle app game for the iphone, ipad. The blue arrows indicate that a pair of identical symbols can be combined/stacked.  When that happens, you score points.
Scoring: let's say you've got 5 hearts in a row. Only 2 symbols will combine/stack when you tap a blue arrow. The new heart stack will now say 2. The others will not move/stack.
If you combine a green 2 with a green 3, obviously you'll get 5 points.  There is a distinct strategy to maximize your points when you have the option of stacking up/down. The direction you choose can matter, but not always. 
Let's say you've got 3 blue diamonds next to each other. Left to right, their values are 1, 1, 12.  If you tap left, the 1 & 1 will combine. Then the new 2 piece will combine with 12 for a total of 14 points.
However, if you tap the right arrow, the 12 & 1 combine for 13 points, then the new 13 piece will combine with the other 1 for 14 points - yielding a total of 27 points.
The game ends when you have no more identical pairs to match.
Pushopolus has a healthy element of randomness/luck and is extremely fun. I'm very impressed.
My first game: I scored only 21 points.  My second game, something like 85.  The next day and a half, my high score grew to 3435. I could not stop playing this game.
The following day, I showed it to somebody and they pointed out to me that in the bottom right corner of the screen is the next piece! Somehow, I never noticed this, probably because my right hand simply blocked it. And I didn't read the rules thoroughly!

Since you know what the next piece will be 3 out of 4 times (the 4th time is a mystery), my strategy changed significantly and I scored 45,115 in a game that took over an hour. I think I could have kept going, but it was getting late and I got careless.


I hope the developers make another version of this game where you never know what the next new piece is.
https://itunes.apple.com/app/pushopolus/id910316357

Hover Box: puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

 

Did you play Flappy Bird? I tried it and could not do it at all. Erik Tysdal Egaas has come up with something more intelligent, but still very hard, with Hover Box. The object is to get your man from the red rectangle to the green one.
Use your left thumb as an anti gravity force.  Use your right thumb to steer left/right. And try not to crash into an obstacle.
There are 30 levels and I enjoyed levels 1 & 2.  After that, I could not solve any of them.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hover-box/id906713132?mt=8

Atoms HD: free puzzle app for iphone, ipad

 


Stephen Hayes recently contacted me about his puzzle app Atoms HD. The objective is to recreate various chemical molecules by sliding pieces in the grid.


Look at image 1: excellent, fun drawing of the typical chemist - balding, white coat, glasses, old, eccentric.
Look at image 2: in the bottom left corner is the methane molecule. You actually have 2 tasks. The first is to figure out where in the grid you can fit the molecule. The second is to slide the atoms - 1 at a time - until the molecule is formed.  Note: the atoms will slide all the way until they hit an obstacle.

A nice feature is that when you're done, you can learn more about that particular molecule. There is a leaderboard. You score points by solving the puzzle levels quickly and more points for using fewer moves. There are 90 levels and I've solved 17 of them.


Atoms HD is definitely a cool puzzle app for young chemistry students.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/atoms-hd/id888626368?mt=8

Grid Blox: puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

              

Grid Blox comes from Jesse Mount.  The object is to move the blue squares onto the yellow squares at the same time.  See the black squares? Those are blockers: you cannot go over or through them.


There are over 100 levels. I did the first 20 or so. It's a great concept, but we've seen this type of 'all the tiles slide together' a bunch of times before. Note: the puzzles of Grid Blox are very good.


If you like Grid Blox, definitely give Duality a try.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/grid-blox/id764912670?mt=8