Block Path: free puzzle app game for ipad, iphone

Block Path is one of many topology puzzle apps that have been made over the past couple of years. It's hard to keep track of them!

You are given the starting square - blue and must draw a continuous loop that covers the whole grid.  Orange squares are obstacles. If you have ever studied topology, you should first identify which square must be last. From there, it's a lot easier.

There are 35 free levels. I got stuck on a few of them, but prevailed!  Each World of 35 costs $.99. There are 5 Worlds.

I then downloaded BlockPath Pro which only cost $.99.  (Thanks for the promo code Richard!)  I did the 165 puzzles in about 90 minutes while cooking, watching tv etc. I've done thousands of these, so I've become really fast.

Still, some of them had me stumped.

If you're looking for more of these, try Numeric Paranoia, Chemin and Mortal Coil. Mortal Coil is most similar to Block Path. It is more difficult because the grid sizes are huge and it does not give the starting square.

Still, I think Block Path Pro is a very good game and will look forward to updates.

Color Contagious: free puzzle app game

Color Contagious is exactly like Flood It! which I wrote about ages ago. Look at diagram #2. See the tiny red square in the upper left corner? That's you at the start. You are adjacent to a green tile. Turn yourself green and you will absorb your neighbor. Keep doing this until you have absorbed everything. Like the Borg. Hopefully within a limited number of moves.

Look at the third and fourth images. When you select a new color, there is a very cool flipping. Try it just for that.

PipeBomb: free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad.

PipeBomb is a free puzzle app game from http://woowaa.net/
It's like Flow but with 2 distinctions. First, look at the top left corner of the image. It indicates how many squares each color will occupy.

If you don't solve the puzzle in the given time......booooooom.

Stay away from Pipe Bomb. It's not terribly interesting or original. And besides, if you do a search in the App Store, the NSA will probably record that and you may never be allowed to fly again. Ha!

Super Bubble Crush: free point scoring puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

Super Bubble Crush comes from Tom Chen and Yuanyuan Dong. They contacted me about 2 months ago, and I'm just now getting around to it. The immense pile of new puzzle app games is overwhelming!

Super Bubble Crush is a point scoring puzzle app similar to Bee Cells, a game I spent many hours on - to much frustration.

The object is to score points by lining up 5 or more balls in a vertical, horizontal or diagonal line.   You are allowed to move 1 ball at a time. After that, 3 new random balls appear.  Each ball is worth 10 points. There doesn't seem to be a Leaderboard for this game.

My first game: 1440 points.  2nd game: 3310 points. This game could be addictive. Give it a shot and tell me what you think.       

Loops: free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

You have 60 seconds to make as many loops as possible. The bigger the string, the more points you score.

If you are able to connect a string into a square loop, you get 2 extra seconds.  If the rectangle is bigger, you can get 4 extra seconds.

This game was formerly known as Dots Dots Dots!    

https://www.facebook.com/loopsgame
       

Fields: puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

Fields is a puzzle app game from Kevin Langdon. He's got a sense of humor: 'WARNING: This game is so addicting that you may never leave the toilet again!'

The object of the game is to fill all of the grid with colored crops.

 The Fields do not have to be rectangles.  Some squares have rocks - no crops can grow. One more thing, a yellow field can never be next to another yellow field.

In the 'Original Release' there are 100 levels. The grid sizes range from 4x5 to 8x11. Of those 100, I've done 60 levels. Since I originally downloaded Fields, Kevin added another 100 free levels. He's also added a 'Time Trial' for those who like speed contests.

Fields is a winner!

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

http://www.buzzershot.com/fields/   

TupTap: free puzzle app for iphone, ipad

TupTap is a puzzle app game that's similar to the 15 puzzle. But it's different!  The object is to get the numbers in order. Blue #s on top, green #s on the bottom - in the correct order.

Tap on 2 adjacent numbers and they will switch.  Tap on 2 numbers not next to each other, and they will shift.in this way: Look at the blue 1.  Tap on it first, then tap on the yellow 6. All the numbers in that row will shift to the left - except for the blue 6. And the blue 1 will be just to the left of the blue six and to the right of the yellow 6.

You are given a limited number of moves to sort everything.

The Lite version has 5 easy, 10 hard and 20 pro levels. The easy ones are way too easy. The hard ones have 96 cells. One minor problem with it: the colors are not quite distinguishable.

Still, I like the concept and think this is very good.   

'Draw Line: Cross' - free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

 'Draw Line: Cross' is a free puzzle app game from BitMango: http://m.bitmango.com/

If you're a fan of Flow, you should like this. There is a Cross in each level. In the first diagram, you can see the blue goes straight through the cross.

In the second diagram, blue makes a right angle turn in the cross.

I'm not a fan of Flow because I can often make all the connections without using all the squares in the grid.  The same happens in Draw Line: Cross.  I did 'Regular Pack 6'. It has 150 levels with grid sizes from 5x5 to 9x9.  I was forced to do all the 5x5s before moving on to the 6x6s.  The small sized grids are way too easy.

I was looking forward to the 9x9s. Unfortunately, they were too easy too.  The whole set of 150 probably took about 1 hour which includes a snack break.

Still, young puzzle fans should really like this. Serious puzzle fans: skip it.   

Rubik's Block: free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

Rubik's Block is a free puzzle app game. The object is to slide the rows and columns to group the colors into square regions.

We've seen this type of puzzle many times.  This version has 8 levels. I solved them all in about 10 minutes.

Young puzzlers should like this.       

Color LInes! - free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

Color Lines! comes from Anton Gladkikh. It's a point scoring puzzle game. The object is to move the balls to form lines of 4, then they disappear. The concept is not new or original. But it is fun.

The small grid sizes are way too easy. You might never get stuck.  I played the 10x10 grid and scored 1099 which took at least an hour. This puts me at #11 out of 533 players on the Leaderboard.

If you like this, try Bee Cells.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Color-Lines-iphoneipad-game/445102132215139

Light Cross: free puzzle app game for ipad, iphone

Light Cross comes from http://keaton.com/apps/lightcross/en/

This type of puzzle has been done many times before under different names: Akari, Lighthouse, to name a couple.

Look at the first image. See the 2? you must place 2 lights on the adjacent sides. All cells must be illuminated. A light bulb cannot be in the path of another light bulb.

There are 40 free levels. I've done them all, very quickly. I particularly like the design of the boards: they are not necessarily squares.

I tried to purchase the 'Green Pack' of puzzle levels. But I don't think they're available yet.

'Can You Connect the Dots?' - free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

'Can You Connect the Dots?' is the name of this point scoring free puzzle app game. Pradeep Chelani is the author.

To pass each level, you must score a certain number of points within a certain time.  The pink bar below keeps moving to the right as you score. The green bar keeps moving to the left as time expires.

On the Leaderboard, out of 2050 players, I'm at #16. However, I took a break after level 61. When I tried to continue, I had to restart. Had I not taken a break, who knows what my position would be?

Can You Connect the Dots? is not a totally original concept. But I was entertained.

Win at Sudoku

Caro Eardley recently contacted me about her book which teaches you how to solve Sudoku puzzles.

(I became a Sudoku fanatic back in 2001 when I went to Japan for the first time.  However, my enthusiasm has waned.)

Caro was kind enough to send me her book in pdf form. The diagrams are excellent. I have not read it yet, but I have skimmed it.

It's serious, thorough and could be the definitive text on the subject.  I plan to read it cover to cover next month.

http://www.amazon.com/Win-At-Sudoku-Christmas-ebook/dp/B004QX08FE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376221840&sr=8-1&keywords=Caro+Eardley

Colorooh comes from http://colorooh.digidingo.com/. They made Grooh last year, which I really liked.

Colorooh has 4 distinct puzzle games. The best one is Match-3. I don't like the title because it implies that it's similar to other 'match 3' point scoring puzzle apps.

Match -3: your objective is to swap 2 adjacent men so that: each Grooh-man is in a group of 3 or more. Look at the diagram: the yellow men must all be next to each other, because there are only 5 of them.

Now look at the red men: there are 9 of them. So, you can have them in 1 large cluster, or 2 or 3 clusters.

Each level: you are given 10 moves to make. If you win, the Grooh-men jump and dance with joy. If you lose, they weep and moan; and you realize you're a bad, mean puzzler.

Colorooh, has 3 other puzzle modes. The Shift Mode - this is not original. The Puzzle Mode - I have not explored this enough. It's a challenging set of topology problems. Too difficult to describe.  The Memory Mode tests your memory.

Without a doubt, the Match -3 Mode is the best and is an excellent, original concept.

Download Colorooh now!

Color Tower: free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

 Color Tower comes from Tanu Kush.  The object is to unstack the tiles and restack them according to the master plan.

 There are 20 levels. I did the first 3 and the last 3. As a thinking puzzle, I'm not feeling the addiction. But Color Tower has gotten very good reviews lately. I wish the board could be rotated in order to tap those back cells.  

 http://www.peepalapps.com/contact-us.html

Quantum Game: free physics puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

Bryan O'Neil from http://www.metalsgames.com/  recently contacted me about their new puzzle app game Quantum Game.

The object is to fire bouncing balls to ricochet off walls/obstacles to their targets.

Look at the center of the 2nd image.  See the circle that's half red/half white? That's where you fire from.  When you aim a red bouncing ball, another white ball will be fired from the same location in the opposite direction.

Hopefully, the red ball will hit the red circle and the white circle will reach its target.

There are 100 levels.  I've done 9 of them. Stuck on #10.

Did I mention that this a free puzzle app game? Unfortunately, you may be subjected to video ads.

If you like Angry Birds, give Quantum Game a shot.

'Push Box - Sokoban': puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

I got my first computer in 1994. It was a Gateway. I immediately bought a CD of games for $5. One of them was Box World. It had 100 levels of Sokoban - a new concept for me at the time. I did solve all of them. But I remember a few of them that took hours to solve. Specifically, #25, 35, 45. The program wouldn't let you skip a level either.

Rafael Martins recently contacted me about his new puzzle app game 'Push Box - Sokoban'.

'Push Box - Sokoban' has 240 new, original sokoban type puzzles. You can skip around the levels. Thanks Rafael! The puzzles are hard! Right now I've done 112 of them. It's going to be a long time before I complete them.

The graphics are pretty basic, but that's okay. Damn good puzzle app game.

Excellent job Rafael!

PicSanity: puzzle app game for kids

Samantha Zerman from Scrapple Labs recently contacted me about their picture game.  Strictly for kids. However, I did find myself playing it for a solid 30 minutes. Many of the answers are obviously simple - a child could figure it out in  a few seconds. But there were a few that I got stuck on.

Will PicSanity make the list of Best Puzzle Apps of 2013? Heaven's to Betsy - NO! But that's okay.

'Number Flow +' free puzzle app for iphone, ipad

About a week ago I saw a puzzle in the New York Daily News (a real newspaper) called Hidato. It had a somewhat funky grid with 126 boxes. I liked it enough to do a search on the App Store and found Number Flow +.

Number Flow + comes from Stanley Lam who has produced a lot of good puzzle apps recently, including Ripple Effect, which I also really liked.

The object in Number Flow + is to connect the numbers by 1 continuous path. The grid sizes are 6x6, 7x7, 8x8, 9x9 and 10x10. Each grid size includes 10 puzzle levels.  I've solved them all.

Number Flow + is absolutely fun, challenging and did I mention that it's free?  Download it!
http://brightskygames.com/

HexConnect: puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

If you've been following this puzzle app blog, you know that I really like topology puzzle apps. As far as I know, this is the first one that uses a hexagonal grid. About a week ago Tamas Mile, who made HexConnect, sent me a promo code to play his game. Thanks!

HexConnect has 250 'Basic 1' levels and another 250 'Basic 2' levels.  I've done all of the Basic 2 levels. It took me 2 hours, 21 minutes and 28 seconds. I particularly like this time feature. I'm always amazed that people would refuse to pay 1 or 2 dollars for something that would entertain them for 2 hours. But they have no hesitation buying a soda for $2.50 that lasts 20 seconds. Or plunking down $10 to see a movie that may be awful.

HexConnect is not that hard because the hexagonal grid offers more freedom of movement.  Nevertheless, HexConnect is a winner! Feel free to read the list below. If I were you, I'd skip it and just download it.

Oh, I just discovered there's a Leaderboard connection. Of the 923 players, I'm ranked #2. The person who's ahead of me has a much higher score. I think he downloaded the additional levels. And he probably did all the Basic 1 levels.


Key Features

• Highly detailed graphics: play in a nice high-tech feeling environment with sharp edges even on the highest resolution displays
• Continuous level expansions: in addition to the two default level packs with a total of 500 levels, you get new free levels each week, and four new purchasable level packs with a total of 1000 levels each month!
• Bonus levels: besides the weekly and monthly levels, you can get extra bonus levels in various ways!
• Varying difficulty: the game offers a great variety of board shapes and difficulties to meet everyone's needs
• Challenge: you can either go casual or strive for perfection and collect stars by completing levels with the least number of moves
• Easy control and Convenience: you need only one finger to play the game
• Fast game play: even if you have only a few minutes to play, you can pull up HexConnect and complete several levels
• Game Center support: your progress is tracked on Game Center leaderboards and you are rewarded with over 20 great achievements for your accomplishments

 http://www.sntapps.com/hexconnect/faq

Track by Track: free puzzle app game

Track by Track is a free puzzle app game from Georgy Sarkisyan. It's very similar to another puzzle app called Lazors.

The object is to move the brown/tan squares so the cannon will shoot the ball into the hole while passing through specific silver targets on the grid.

There are 60 levels. I did them all in a couple of hours - not continuously.  There's a good mixture of easy, medium & hard puzzles. I particularly like the levels that have 2 cannons.

Track by Track is fun!

http://www.ju-studio.com/Sajt/Home.html

101 Check Mate in 2 puzzles: free puzzle app for ipad, iphone

Natalie London recently published 101 Check Mate in 2 (moves) puzzles.

I was really looking forward to this - especially because it's a free puzzle app game. However, there were only 5 or 6 problems posed. To get access to the rest, you must pay $.99.

Oh well.