Casland Games: mechanical puzzle review

Casland Games has produced two terrific sequential movement bead puzzles.

Many years ago I got the Hungarian Rings, which I believe was the first bead sliding puzzle. Fun. Rubik's Rings was identical but incorporated a twist so that the rings, instead of being flat, were almost perpendicular. Essentially the same puzzle.

One of my favorites of this genre is The Orb. Great mechanism.

Enough history.

I just got Casland Games' 3 intersecting rings. It consists of 3 colors and some clear beads that must settle in the middle. First of all, the puzzle is big. The beads are big. They slide perfectly. 

I have the version of 3 intersecting rings. I've solved it several times.

I'll write more about this next Friday.

Deja Vu HD: free puzzle app for iphone, ipad

Check out this eyeball. Great artwork.

Deja Vu HD is a super fast version of that old card game I played when I was 5: Concentration.  I didn't think I'd like this version.  But I  do.  Here's why: the tiles turn over very briefly. Maybe .3 seconds.  The object is to find all the matches within the given time.

I've solved all the free levels - 16 of them. After that you can pay for the next 64 levels.

Deja Vu HD is surprisingly fun.

Lab Mice Puzzles: in NYC

Kidding Around is a fabulous toy store that now sells Lab Mice Puzzles. Their store on 15th St off 6th avenue carries it.  Unfortunately, their other store at Grand Central Terminal does not.

Lab Mice Puzzles used to be sold in a cardboard box, but it's now sold in a fancy tin.

Pile: puzzle app for iphone, ipad

Pile comes from the makers of SEQ, which is a terrific, fun puzzle app.

Pile is quite different. The object is to drag tiles down, in groups of two, down to the grid. Try to get 3 of the same color in a row or column to score points.

You only have a certain amount of time, so hurry!

Click here to see a 1 minute video demonstration.

Dedale: puzzle app for iphone, ipad Review

Dedale is a series of challenging maze topology puzzles. The object is to turn the white squares into a color by tracing a path over each square exactly once.

Harder levels: some squares must be passed over twice.

Interesting element: some of the tiles are rectangles.

I've played different versions of this type of puzzle before: Numeric Paranoia comes to mind. Dedale has 100 levels. Right now I'm stuck on level 49.

The most important thing: Dedale is fun and challenging.

Sergey Mohov is the developer. Click here.

World's Largest Hand-Drawn Maze

Today's Wall Street Journal has this interesting article.

The journalist had the good sense to interview Adrian Fisher who is one of the world's most prolific maze designers.

Charaku: free puzzle app for iphone, ipad

Matthew Laird recently contacted me about his puzzle app Charaku. It is essentially sudoku. Instead of numbers or letters, you get colored Characters. Can you figure out how Matthew came up with the name?

Perhaps you're teaching your son or daughter to play sudoku....they might prefer this version.

The easy levels are super easy. The hard levels appear hard. Though I have not play tested them.

Charaku is a free puzzle app, so give it a shot.

Click here for his website.

How dedicated a puzzler are you?

One of my 'followers' is Matt Hastings. He sometimes emails me to alert me to puzzle apps I may have overlooked. Such was the case recently when he told me about a puzzle app called Nightjar, which is only available in the UK.

Matt has set up Apple accounts in the USA, Australia and the UK, to ensure that he can get every good puzzle app.

At first, I felt bad that I couldn't download Nightjar. Then I remembered that there are about 225 new puzzle apps every week and I don't have enough time to scrutinize them all - though I try.

Matt's stragegy: 'I originally set up my US account so that I could download the Scrabble app, which wasn't available in the UK. I had to put in a full address including ZIP code, but as I've never been to the US I had to make one up so put my address as 1 Hollywood Boulevard, LA 90210! I had to include a phone number too so just googled the ZIP code and used the first business number that came up. I've no idea if this is legal or not, but as I'm not using it to stream TV or anything, I can't imagine I would get into much trouble for it!'

SeeWhatIC

This eyeball is awesome!

The object of the puzzle is to use some of the letters to form a common phrase.
The solution to the puzzle on the left: cliff hanger.

SeeWhatIC is good word/picture puzzle.

World's Hardest Game 2: free puzzle app for iphone, ipad

The World's Hardest Game 2 is a coordination dexterity maze. As you move the solid blue square to its home, the solid red square will move in the opposite direction.

Pick up the purple stars. Avoid the red lines which are stationary or moving back and forth or up and down.

There are 72 levels. I've done the first 15.

Click here for the web page. Note: if you're trying to find this on the app store, do a search for 17th pixel.

This puzzle app is just plain fun!

Color Pop Pro: free puzzle app for ipad, iphone

Color Pop Pro is a point scoring puzzle app. Click on a square that connects horizontally & vertically to same-colored balls. They will disappear, you will score points and you are given a strict time limit.

My high score after playing for about 45 minutes is 4152. I'm in the top 5%. However, the high score is 24,000.

Color Pop Pro is a free and fun puzzle app.

Vubu: puzzle app for iphone, ipad Review

Vubu is interesting and tough! The object is to move the tiles onto the blue square.

Sliding 1 tile in any direction will make all the other tiles do the same.

Those are the regular 'Nomad' tiles. The 'Blind Man' tile won't move unless a Nomad is next to him. The 'Wise Man' will not fall off the grid. The 'Stone Man' and 'Dragon Man' have their own rules.

Vubu has a lite version that includes just 10 levels. You will be challenged.

I bought the full version for $1.99. Right now I'm stuck on levels 13 & 14. I am humbled.

Does Vubu make it onto the list of Best Puzzle Apps of the year? I think so.

One to 100: free puzzle app for iphone, ipad

One to 100 is very similar to the classic puzzle the Knight's Tour, where the objective is to move the knight to every cell on any n x n chess board.

For this game, the rules are different. If you want to go vertically or horizontally, you must jump over 2 squares. If you want to go diagonally, you must jump over 1 square.

This game reminds me of another puzzle app from about 2 years ago. It's buried here in this blog of 650 entries.

To find this game on the app store, type in One to 100 not 1 to 100.

Engram: puzzle app for iphone, ipad

Engram is a strange puzzle app. The object is to connect similar colored neurons, and then score those points by touching a white neuron.

The scoring system is really weird.  Watch this demo and then maybe you can explain it to me.

Shadow Slide: puzzle app for kids

Shadow Slide comes from Gordon Dove. The object is to slide around the silhouettes that are not blocked, until you find the desired object.

This is quite unusual. It's like looking in a shoebox filled with children's toys to find something.

NineOut: update on this puzzle app

For about a month, I was the top point scorer of NineOut. I've been looking over my shoulder via the Game Center. Somebody from China has been closing in.

A few days ago I received a friend request via the Game Center: my challenger was reaching out to me. Then I checked NineOut: he has taken the lead.

His name is in Chinese characters, so I have no idea how to pronounce it.

Nevertheless, I salute him!

Cube Bust: free puzzle app for iphone, ipad

Cube Bust is a point-scoring puzzle puzzle app. Draw zigzag lines to connect colored cubes to score points. You are given a time limit.

Cube Bust was made by Yuyan Chow.

Hey, it's a free puzzle app.

T-POT: brass puzzle from Rocky Chiaro

T-POT is a 2 inch puzzle from Rocky Chiaro. The object is to remove the lid.

I bought this puzzle from Rocky at the International Puzzle Party three weeks ago. It's very expensive, but I consider it a gem.

Rocky's a retired machinist. He's 83. If you have a good mechanical puzzle collection, you should get this.

Click here to go to Rocky's homepage.

BeeCells Lite: free puzzle app for iphone, ipad

BeeCells Lite is a point scoring puzzle app. The object is to group the colors into clusters of 6 or more. When that happens, you score 6 points and then more colored tiles will appear randomly.

The game ends when the board is filled.

I thought that my top score of 424 was pretty good. Then I went on the Leaderboard and discovered that somebody scored 85,000. That's beyond phenomenal.

I downloaded this game at night. And the first thing I did when I woke up was to play it. I did not check my email, the news or eat breakfast.

Think-N-Link: puzzle app for 3 year olds

Long time 'followers' of this blog may remember Quares. I reviewed it October of last year. It's a point scoring puzzle app.

Guillermo Zafra is behind Quares. He recently contacted me about his new puzzle app for toddlers: Think-N-Link.

The puzzle is all images. Look at the enclosed image and you get the idea.

Click here to see a 1 minute demo. 

Arrow Point: puzzle app FREE UNTIL SETP 3RD

The object of Arrow Point is to place 16 tiles in the middle of the grid so that the numbered squares on the perimeter have exactly that many number of arrows pointing at them.

Look at the first image. Notice the tiles all have 1 arrow and they are orthogonal.  Now look at the second image. The tiles have two arrows and they are orthogonal and diagonal. Tough!

Look at the squares in the perimeter. See the yellow one that says 2/3. The top number indicates that many arrows should point to it. The bottom number indicates that 3 arrows are actually pointing at it. Because that's not kosher, the square is yellow. Green is good!

Richard Rice is the author of Arrow Point. According to him, any time you open an easy, medium, hard or expert level, a brand new puzzle will be created. Therefore: infinite number of puzzle levels.

I've played Arrow Point for about 1.5 hours. I have not succeeded in solving an expert level - yet.

Arrow Point is now free through September 3rd.

PuzzleJanken: free puzzle app for iphone, ipad

PuzzleJanken is really Rock, Paper, Scissors. Notice the Peace sign? That's scissors. You get the idea.

You are given a grid of symbols and must eliminate all the figures. Note: if 2 rocks are next to each other, they may cancel each other.  Except for the end. If the end target is a hand - paper - then it cannot be canceled with another hand.

PuzzleJanken has 60 levels. I've solved all 60 of them. It's and fun and mildly challenging.

The price is free, so definitely try it.

Gone Buggy: puzzle app for ipad, iphone Review

Gone Buggy is a packing puzzle consisting of mostly 1, 2 & 4 sized tiles in the shapes of bugs.

The objective is to fit them into the grid.

If you can't do it, then you can fry a bug into smaller bits with the magnifying glass.

As you can see, there are 99 levels. I've played Gone Buggy for about 4 hours and solved 44 levels.

I normally eschew this type of 'fill the tray with pieces' puzzle. Gone Buggy has a certain flair. Perhaps it's the fact that it gives you 1 piece at a time. I think it's fun. Try the free version.

Banzai Dice is free until Sept 1

I wrote about Banzai Dice about 2 months ago.

Banzai Dice is a point scoring puzzle app. Figuring out a strategy is tricky.  Good luck.

Click here.

Cast O'Gear: Hanayama Mechanical Puzzle of the Week Review

Cast O'Gear  comes from Oskar van Deventer. I bought Oskar's first version of this which was all plastic made by George Miller.

The object is to swivel the piece inside the cube, then turn the big piece over to another face.

Keep doing this until you find the exit.

Naturally, I had to buy the metal version too.  

Brilliant concept.

Click here for the solution.

Lasers Free: puzzle app for iphone, ipad

The object of Lasers Free is to move the laser nodes around so that the beams strike all of the white diamonds.

There are more than 500 levels, so this will keep you busy for a while. I've done about 25 levels.

If you get into this type of puzzle, you can create your own puzzle levels.

SEQ: free puzzle app for iphone, ipad Review

SEQ comes from Thomas Castel and is an interesting puzzle app! The object is to draw paths from each colored number to any of the zeros on the grid.

Here's where it gets interesting: some squares can/must be used by both sequences. And the key is figuring them all out.

SEQ has 160 levels: I've done 117 levels so far. I've been stuck for a few days now.

Definitely worth your time. SEQ could land on the list of Best Puzzle Apps of 2012.

Update August 31: I solved all of the levels. SEQ is absolutely fun.  If you like this, you'll also like Numeric Paranoia.

TYL: free puzzle app for iphone ipad

According to Benjamin Dicken, the author, TYL is "the most AMAZING PUZZLE APP YOU WILL EVER PLAY!" I'm not sure I'd agree with that statement, but I will say this: TYL is a fun puzzle app.

The object is to get all the colors to be the same. Jumping off a square will make that square change its color. The easier puzzles: each square will toggle their colors in this order: red, blue, green.  The harder puzzles: each square or rectangle will toggle in this order: cyan, magenta, yellow and black.

The easier puzzles have 21 levels and the harder puzzles have 18 levels.  I've solved them all.

TYL does not make it onto the list of Best Puzzle Apps of 2012. But it's fun, fast and mildly challenging. I did struggle on 4 or 5 levels. For other levels, I solved them well under the given number of moves.

TYL is worth your time and hey, it's free.

Cast Star: Hanayama Mechanical Puzzle of the Week Review

Click here for the solution.

This is a classic take-apart puzzle.  Great as a gift for kids.

Blink Blox: puzzle app for iphone, ipad Review

Blink Blox is a sliding tile puzzle app. The object is to get the colored tiles in a row or column in order to make them disappear.  The Big X tiles are fixed in place. The small X tiles can be moved

Each puzzle has a time limit. Does Blink Blox make it onto the list of Best Puzzle Apps of 2012. Probably not. But it's fun.

Neon Snake: free puzzle app for iphone, ipad

The object of Neon Snake is to slide the green snake to the big green circle.

Neon Snake reminds us of Wriggle and Snake Slider.

There are 68 levels. I've done all of them, except for level 21 which I'm convinced is impossible. Otherwise, I think this set of puzzles is a bit too easy.

But hey, it's free!

CrossCross Puzzle: puzzle app for iphone, ipad

The object of CrossCross Puzzle is to make each square get to zero. Tap on a square and all the squares in that row and column will decrease by 1.

I've seen this type of puzzle before.

CrossCross has 168 free levels. Of those, I've done 84 of them.

You might think that the solution is to automatically tap the highest numbers. Not necessarily.

CrossCross Puzzle does not make the list of Best Puzzle Apps of 2012, but hey, it's free and fun.

International Puzzle Party

I just got back from attending the annual International Puzzle Party. It was held in nearby Washington D.C.  There were about 400 puzzlers and of course lots of mechanical puzzles. There were some fabulous new designs.


The International Puzzle Party is by invitation only to serious puzzle people. If you're interested in attending this event in the future, let me know.

Woodhead: puzzle app for iphone, ipad Review

Matthew Klundt, of Terrible Games, recently sent me a promo code to play-test his puzzle app Woodhead.

Woodhead is a sliding tiles puzzle that uses the principle of: a tile will slide all the way until it hits a wall or solid object. We've seen several dozen of these types of puzzles before. A favorite is Blockhouse.

Woodhead has some old and new, interesting elements.
1. The object is to swipe Woodhead to the exit and picking up jewels first. Nothing new here.
2. On some levels, Woodhead must first pick up a key to unlock a door. We've seen this before - recently with Snake Slider - but that's not a sliding tile puzzle.
3. The player must pick up blocks and pick up arrows and place them strategically. This I haven't seen before!
4. Spikes: some sections on the walls have deadly spikes. Ouch.
5. Sliding Bars: these act as room dividers.
6. Some squares can only be traversed once, after that, it's death. Double ouch.
7. Sticky Blobs: these will halt your progress in the middle of the grid. Also, Sticky Blogs can be collected and placed anywhere on the grid.
8. Co-Woodheads will swipe travel together. Unless you tap one of them to sleep; he'll stay put. It's okay for one of the Woodheads to die. Life can be unfair.

Before each puzzle is presented, a Fake Politically Incorrect Newsheadline is presented:
"Eccentric Street Wanderer Getting Increasingly Difficult to Ignore"
"Sandwich: Greatest Invention of All Time"
"Frenchman Polite to Tourists"

Woodhead has 55 levels. Of those, I've solved 47 of them. Does Woodhead make it onto the list of Best Puzzle Apps of 2012? Quite possibly. You'll have to visit my blog at the end of December for the award ceremony. It would be great if you could bring the champagne, chocolate, and cash.

Cast Heart: Hanayama Mechanical Puzzle of the week Review

I first got Cast Heart about 10 years ago.  It's one of those few disentanglement puzzles that I really like.

It's not terribly hard.

 
Click here for the solution.

Chess Puzzle of the Day: puzzle app for iphone, ipad Review

Chess Puzzle of the Day comes from Adrian Hanft.

This is a legitimate 'Mate in 2' or 'Mate in 3' puzzle app.

If you try to make a wrong move, the program forbids it.

Chess Puzzle of the Day is a free puzzle app.