Signal to the Stars: free puzzle app game for ipad, iphone

Signal to the Stars is a free topology puzzle app game.

The scenario: an alien is stranded. He has a spaceship. Place him on the grid anywhere, then move him horizontally & vertially to cover the grid.  The result will be a weird crop circle that will signal his mothership.

Special features: arrows that determine your movement. Fences that cannot be crossed. Farmers who guard, usually, 3 squares. The farmers must be hit first to free up the other 3 squares.

There are 30 free levels.  After that $.99 for the next 90 levels and another novel feature: picking up a gadget that allows you to convert a bush into grass.

I've done almost all of the 120 levels.

Yowsa! This is a good puzzle app game.

Esi-Code Breakers:

Robert Hardman recently contacted me about his new puzzle app game: Esi-Code Breakers: "On the first level you have to arrange all 5 colours into the correct sequence in order to crack the code. The next level it becomes 6 etc.

By tapping on the screen, it tells you how many colours you have in the correct place, then you use logic/memory skills to work out which ones are correct and which ones you have to move before the timer runs out. The more colours you have in the correct place, the more points you score if the code is not cracked."

You must tap rapidly! I solved the first level.

Give it a try.

Trivia Death Match: Ken Jennings Puzzle Game App

About a month ago I watched Jeopard and was not happy. The topic was geometry and the answer was a triangle with sides 6, 8 & 10. The question from 1 contestant: what is a right triangle. Alex Trebek said 'no, what is a scalene triangle.' Ugh! I immediately switched channels.

A few days ago I got a promo code to play test Trivia Death Match which pits your skills against Ken Jennings.  Each quiz is 20 mulitple choice questions. You get 1000 points for each correct response plus a time bonus for answering quickly.

Ken Jennings took 50 of these quizzes. So you get to compare your score to Ken's.  I've played this 8 or 9 times......and I've lost every time. However, I was close on a few.

Trivia Death Match right now has 50 quizzes and I think they're going to add more.

Normally, this blog focuses on pure logical puzzle apps. However, Trivia Death Match is fun and worth your time!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HItIrFmvH2Y

Dreams of Spirit: Fire Gate - puzzle game app for iphone, ipad

Dani Ohayan from http://www.mercurymaze.com/ has released Dreams of Spirit: Fire Gate.

The best way to describe it: it's like Myst, the game from 1994.

You awake in the center room of a strange building.  You must wander around to find things and solve puzzles.  Hints are given freely if you keep playing.

Look at the second image that says Beautifully Addicting. The door has 3 circles on it.  To open that door, you must align the circles by rotating them. It has a certain Spirograph feel to it. That's an old toy from the 60's that creates artistic patterns.

I have not completed Fire Gate. I've been distracted with the flood of new puzzle apps.

Nevertheless, I really like Fire Gate. Solving 1 of the puzzles was particularly challenging

Islands Planet: puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

Guillaume Ortega & Eric Caginicolau recently contacted me about their new puzzle app game Islands Planet.

You may recall that Guillaume Ortega made Akari 3D last year. It made the prestigous list of Best Puzzle App in 2012.  Such an excellent puzzle app game!

Islands Planet: this is a spherical version of Nurikabe from Nikoli press in Japan.  Each square is either land or ocean. No two islands can touch each other. Diagonal touching is okay.  There cannot be a 2x2 grid that contains only ocean. Also, you cannot create a lake that is enclosed. See the second image for that.

Below is an image of a solved regular Nurikabe puzzle and its solution.

Essentially: each number indicates how many squares are on its island. Islands may touch each other diagonally, but not otherwise.  Now look at the solution: notice that there are no 4 black squares in a 2x2 grid.

That's it.

Islands Planet has exactly the right number of puzzle levels: 20 easy, 20 medium, 20 hard & 20 very hard.  I've done all of them! It took about 2 weeks. I definitely struggled on some of them and had to restart.

Islands Planet is absolutely one of the Best Puzzle App Games of 2013. The graphics are outstanding. Most importantly, the puzzles are fun!

Spinpossible: puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

Eric Kelsic, Alex Sheive and Alex Sutherland from ALX Games recently contacted me about their new puzzle app game: Spinpossible. 

The object is to grab sets of numbers and rotate them to restore order.  If you can grab the first 2 rows, then 1, 2, 3 will become 3, 2, 1 upside down on the second row.

Of course, you could also grab all the numbers 1-9. Or just a column. Or even a single cell.

I like Spinpossible. However, in order to advance, you must get 3 stars for each level.

Spinpossible is a serious puzzle app game. I particularly like the graphics. I have 1 qualm: the user should be allowed to play any and all levels and not have to earn his way step by step.  For example, on another puzzle app, I'm stuck on level 63 & 87. But I did have the opportunity to do #64 - 100.

Sequential Movement Fans: give Spinpossible a chance!

Ship Shuffle: latest ripoff of Rush Hour

Ship Shuffle is the latest ripoff of ThinkFun's Ship Shuffle.  I believe this is the 4th ripoff this year.

On another note, have you signed up as a follower?  Are you playing puzzle apps that I have not reviewed? Feel free to contact me.

nQubed: Rubik's Cube type puzzle app for iphone, ipad

nQubed comes from Gregory R Wathen. Practice your cube solving skills from a 2x2x2 to a 7x7x7 cube.

Want to get the orientation of the inner cubies right? The option is there for you. Me? I've always been content to solve all the faces - good enough for me.

Swapagon: free puzzle game app for iphone, ipad

Swapagon is an interesting puzzle app game. Timo Heister is the author.  The object: rearrange the squares on the grid so that the numbered tiles are next to that number of other tiles. 

 

 

Thus: a 4 needs to be surrounded on all sides by other tiles. Diagonal touching does not count.

 

 

We've seen this type of puzzle app game before. This is well done. And hey, it's free!

 

 

Is is one of the Best Puzzle Apps of 2013? Probably not.  Stay tuned. The awards will be announced at the end of the year.

Acuity Games: train your brain puzzles

Acuity Games has a mission: to train your brain to work fast to ward off Alzheimer's.

It's a good mission.

There are a number of games: Sudoku, Concentration, Mathematics, Edge Match. Play the games fast and improve your time. Get smarter!

If you know somebody with Alzheimer's, have them try these games. Perhaps it will help.

Rynglets: puzzle game for iphone, ipad

 

Ken Tylman recently sent me a promo code to play his new puzzle game app: Rynglets.  The object is to rotate each circle so that the rings will transfer to their matching circle.

 

The individual circles can also be flipped over via their horizontal line of symmetry or the vertical line of symmetry.

 

This is a very serious challenging puzzle app game!

 



Side note: on December 31, I will publish the list of Best Puzzle Apps of 2013. Stay tuned.

Pack A Puzzle: puzzle game app for iphone, ipad

Kasper Bøttcher recently contaced me about his new puzzle app game: Pack A Puzzle.

The object: fit the pieces into the grid.  We've seen this type of puzzle numerous times.

Here's what's cool: the rectangular grid will change sizes as you position the pieces. The final objective is to get them into a suitcase sized grid.  Very sleek.

Do you know the song I'm Leaving On A Jet Plane? John Denver wrote it and Peter Paul & Mary made it famous.  On the app store for Pack A Puzzle, they've changed the lyrics.

(I can't copy and paste from the app store. What's up with that?)

There is a Lite version of Pack A Puzzle. Give it a try.

Color Fill !!! free puzzle game app for iphone, ipad

'Color Fill !!!' is the name of this puzzle app game. The object it to color your map with just 4 colors or less so that no 2 neighboring countries have the same color.

We've seen this type of puzzle game app before: Just Four Colors and Quartzic come to mind. Hey, this is free. But it's not my favorite type of puzzle.

Does this puzzle app make it onto the prestigous list of Best Puzzle Apps of 2012? 

Just Four Colors: free puzzle game for ipad, iphone

Just Four Colors is based on an old math theorem: any map can be colored using just 4 colors so that no 2 neighboring countries have the same color.

We've seen this on the app store a few times.  Quartzic is another title.

There are 10 free puzzle levels.  After that, you must pay.

300,000th visitor - will it be you?

If you're the 300,000th visitor, take a screen shot and send it to me via email. Then I'll send you a prize. Nothing expensive. Sorry, my budget is low.

Boxes Free: puzzle game app for iphone, ipad

The image basically shows the objective. You are given a grid with numbers. Draw rectangles that have exactly that many boxes.

We've seen this type of puzzle game for many years. Nothing new here.

Also, they're not too tough.  However, I can picture novice puzzlers saying: brilliant.  Hey, it's free. But this will not make it onto the list of best puzzle apps of 2013.  Sorry.

Matrix Cube: free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

Matrix Cube is very similar to Lab Mice Puzzles. See the link just to the right of this column.

The object is to connect the red squares with a red path that do not intersect with the blue path or green path etc.

This concept of doing this on a cube is not new.  Still, this puzzle game app is free. 30 levels.

Parking Jam: this month's ripoff of Rush Hour

I predicted a dozen ripoff versions of Rush Hour for 2013.  Well, here's another one. I think it's the second one. 

Miscellaneous Updates and Ramblings

The Voxel Agents have updated their puzzle app Puzzle Retreat: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=thevoxelagents.puzzleretreat Puzzle Retreat is out on Google Play with 50 puzzles to solve for free!

Luma Link also has an update: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/luma-link/id579343484?mt=8

Senkai has added an easy level - phew! http://grifia.com/senkai

I've recently been playing NineOut again. 3 things: my new high score of 217,000 was not recorded on the Leaderboard because my wifi was turned off. I am now in 4th place. The 3rd place person looks like he's 15 years old. Another blow to my ego - a kid is ahead of me. The first place person has a score of something like 440,000. More than double my score.

Nonogram Style Lite: free puzzle app game for ipad, iphone

Tom Chen recently contactec me about his puzzle game app: Nonogram Style Lite.

The concept is not new. There are 60 free levels, and I've done them all.  I like the mechanics of this game.

It's not one of the best puzzle apps of 2013, but it's worthy of your time.

Just Routes: free puzzle game app for iphone, ipad

The object of Just Routes is to draw 1 continuous line that never intersects itself. Naturally, you must start at 1 and finish at the highest number.

There are 45 easy levels, 35 medium levels and 25 advanced.  I've done them all.  I really like this set of puzzles.

I'm not sure if the puzzle designer Oleg Gorshunov intended this: your path need not cross over every square.

What I really like is that it's easy to erase your moves.

Another puzzle game app that I think is better is Numeric Paranoia. Same concept except many more puzzle levels and more difficult. But once you make a mistake, you must start over again.

Nice job Oleg!

Bubble Maze: free puzzle game app for iphone, ipad

Bubble Maze was designed by my Dutch friend Oskar van Deventer.  The object is to tilt your device so that the blue bubble will eventually land on the yellow dot. Joe Miller did the programming work.

This puzzle game app has only 1 level, but it's free.

I highly recommend downloading Amazing Cube Maze - another Oskar van Deventer puzzle app.

http://www.josephclaymiller.com/games/bubble-maze

Mechanical Puzzle Review: Smartphone

Smartphone is a sliding tile puzzle game.  Raf Peters of http://smartgamesandpuzzles.com/inventor/Home.htmlinvented it. In the last 5 years Raf has invented a slew of puzzles!

The grid has tiles that are 2 by 1.  Some of the tiles have circles. The object is to move the tiles around so that the circles hover over the telephone numbers of your friends. Notice that each friend has only a 5-digit telephone #!

There are 32 challenges.  I have not done them all. But I have done the 'expert' levels.  And the solutions can be tricky for a novice puzzler.

Smartphone is not easy to find. Check with Puzzle Master to see if they have any in stock.

Lazors : free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

Lazors is a puzzle app game from the the good people at Pyroshere - great company name!

Instead of placing the typical mirrors, you must place white squares on the grid so that the little black circles get hit by a lazor. Important: you must place all the tiles on the grid - some will certainly get in the way.

Black squares: they act like black holes - the light will die and not bounce off.  The gray tiles act as a doubler: when a ray strikes it, 2 rays will emerge, one bouncing off, and the other passing straight through.

A good set of puzzles will let you bounce around between easy & hard.  Lazors does this. 

Right now I've done about 80 of the levels of varying difficulty. 

There have been many lazer puzzle app games published......Lazors is refreshingly good. Not that the others are bad.

Matcube: free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad



MatCube is a very interesting, difficult sequential movement puzzle.  It's similar to Lights Out.  Touch 1 cube and the surrounding cubes rotate.  In Lights Out games, the surrounding pieces turn on/off.

I tried MatCube at the easiest level and got stumped!

I was able to get all the top squares to be the same color, but the side squares have to match too.  MatCube is a totally free puzzle app game.  Let me know how you fare.

New Blog about Puzzles

Nicola Salmoria created Twin Beams, which is a puzzle that I really like.  He has also been sending me puzzle recommendations for the past 6 months.

Now Nicola has a blog that's very similar to mine.  So, go to his site and sign up as a follower.

http://nontrivialgames.blogspot.com

Puzzle Retreat: puzzle game app for iphone, ipad

Simon Joslin is one of the Voxel Agents who created Puzzle Retreat. A better title that would help describe the objective: Ice Cube Tray Puzzles.

The object is to slide the ice cubes to the empty spaces and fill up the tray. Naturally, ice cubes will slide over other ice cubes and then fall into an empty space.

At times, you must slide 2, 3 or 4 ice cubes at once to fill up a row or column.

This is a sequential movement puzzle: the order of the sliding matters.

Interesting features: Directional arrows that divert the path by 90 degrees. The Ice Cube with a handle on top: once that ice cube lands in the tray, nothing can slide over it.  The Fire Cube: this will melt all th ice cubes in that row or column. You must then refill those empty spaces.

The good people at Voxel Agents sent me a promo code to download and play-test Puzzle Retreat.  This includes 96 levels. They are not terribly hard, but they are compelling and fun.  And yesterday I bought a level pack of 24 levels for $.99, which I think is a bargain.  There will be a new level pack every month.

Bottom Line: Puzzle Retreat is a fun, challenging, original concept puzzle game app. It earns a spot on the prestigous list of Best Puzzle Apps of 2013. Congratulations Voxel Agents. Everybody: after a hard day of work, you need a Puzzle Retreat. Now do you understand the title?

http://puzzleretreat.com/

Extremely Detailed Review of My Puzzles

Mindware.com has published 2 of my puzzle games: Lab Mice Puzzles and Find Your Way Gnome.  Click here to order them.

Below is a very detailed review. Who is Mr. 99?
http://www.toysaretools.com/2012/05/review-and-giveaway-find-your-way-gnome.html

Tring: puzzle game app for iphone, ipad

Tring is a new sliding tile puzzle game app that is similar to ThinkFun's Rush Hour.

As you can see from the pictures, the pieces are parallelograms and trapezoids and they must slide along a triagular grid system.

Jason Fieldman is the brains behind this. I've done about 50 of the puzzles. They are challenging!  The best part of this puzzle game app is reading about Jason's trials & tribulations.

http://www.fieldman.org/

Rotago: puzzle game app for iphone, ipad

Andrey Biglari recently contacted me about his new puzzle game app: Rotago.

I had to do the tutorial 3 times before I truly understood the directions. The first two times, I solved all of the tutorial levels, but still kept tapping wildly.

Look at the first image. Your goal is to complete the square that is outlined by the little white triangles. Now look at the square that is outlined with the thick white line: that's the Active Square. Rotate that so the blue lines up with its neighbor and then transfer the blue triangle. That makes the neighbor the Active Square.

Once you've done the tutorial, you advance to The Continuum which is 40 levels. You are given a time limit for each level and you may not use too many moves.  Once you fail, you go back to level 1!

Rotago is actually a route-finding/shunting puzzle.  On The Continuum, the levels start easy, but they get tricky and I started to panic.  The highest level I got to was 14.

Also, new puzzles are generated each time, so you can't memorize solutions.

I'm normally averse to puzzles that give you a time limit. However, the time limit here makes the challenge: how many levels can you do?

Rotago is one of the Best Puzzle Apps of 2013. Congratulations Andrey!

Harbor Master: free puzzle game app for iphone, ipad

Harbor Master is a puzzle game app where you have to quickly direct purple ships to the purple docks and the yellow ships to the yellow docks without collisions.

Think fast & react quickly.  You must also quickly get the ships out of the docks.

Lots of people love this game.  Not I.  Perhaps you will.

Hexius: point scoring puzzle game app for iphone, ipad

Paul Ripley recently sent me an email about his puzzle app game Hexius.  There are 3 modes of play.  The one I'm interested in is the Strategy Mode where you are given 30 moves and as much time as you want to get the highest possible score.

Are you familiar with the Traveling Salesman problem? The objective is to minimize the distance for multiple cities.  Hexius is the opposite: you want to maximize the distance to score points. But there's more strategy involved which is too difficult to explain.  Go to their web page and watch the tutorial.

You will also notice that this company made Guide the Light, which I reviewed not too long ago.

http://www.phasiclabs.com/?p=home

Side note: The List of Best Puzzle App Games of 2013 will be published December 31. Mark your calendars.

Jelly Fits Puzzle: free puzzle game app for iphone, ipad

Jelly Fits Puzzle comes from Qmax, Inc in China.  The object is to slide the colored tiles onto their homes.

Look at challenge level 24: see the small blue square? When the normal blue square gets to its home (which is covered up temporarily by the long vertical red rectangle), then the small blue square will disappear and turn white. Which means that pieces may travel over it.

There are 36 levels. I've done them all. Not terribly hard, but there's potential here.