Perfect Fit by Appsolute Games LLC Free

  

Perfect Fit came out last year and is a very popular game that tests your spatial reasoning skills.

  

The object is to fill the center square with the elements from above, below, left & right.  The pieces will travel until they hit an obstacle, which means that the sequence of those 4 taps is critical.

Oh yes, there's a time limit.  At the moment, my high score is 40 levels.  I haven't gotten to the 4x4 levels. I should do better.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/perfect-fit/id1103631263?mt=8

Roofbot: Puzzler On The Roof by Double Coconut LLC $2.99

Roofbot: Puzzler On The Roof is a very highly polished puzzle app game.

The object is to move the robot along the grid to pick up objects and drop them off at their targets, then arrive at the green square. Each square can be traversed just once.  Except for some, which can be traversed twice.

Of course there are wormholes.
Some squares cannot be landed on; instead, they propel Your Bot to the next square

There's a lot to like about Roofbot. The graphics are terrific; if your Bot stays put for a while, he'll juggle or play the guitar.

Most importantly, the levels get pretty tough.  There are 120 levels and I've done 51.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/roofbot-puzzler-on-the-roof/id1148435076?mt=8
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.doublecoconut.roofbot

Try these other Topology puzzle apps. 
Lines Numeric Fun
Space Dots
Just Routes
Dedale
SEQ
Square Time
Numeric Paranoia- Fantastic
Number Painting - Love this
Filling
Water Colors
Stroke!  - Genius
Pathle
Colors the Addictive Game
Chemin - Terrific
Patchmania 
Number Escape
Flow Draw A Line
YK Puzzle
Link Mind Bending Puzzle - loved this
Tomb of the Brain
Flud  - hard!

-Pila- by Chris Foreman

-Pila- comes from Chris Foreman.  It's a mobile maze puzzle app with some interesting features.

At no point does the game offer a tutorial or hints or even a simple explanation of the different tools to manipulate. Perfectly fine. Though I would like to know how many levels there are.

I like the sci-fi grpahics.  The puzzles themselves start off pretty simply. The curves - some of them rotate.  The most interesting component is the use of bumpers.

-Pila- is the actual name of the game.  There's another called Pila, which is totally different.

I'm around level 35.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pila/id1193454912?mt=8
https://pilaapp.wordpress.com/

Moonball Infinity by Matt Panzer Free

  

Matthew Panzer recently contacted me about his puzzle app game Moonball Infinity. Matt was only 15 when I reviewed his game Tertiary back in 2013.

  

The object of Moonball Infinity is to shoot your ball up, watch it come back down, and hopefully hit all 3 rectangular targets as they pass horizontally. The ball can hit the targets on either direction: up or down.

At the start each player has 5 lives.  My high score is 22.  On the Leaderboard, there are only 18 players.

Moonball Infinity is quite a simple game. I've played it way too many times. Which means it's fun.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/moonball-infinity/id1193784449?mt=8

New York Puzzle Party 2017

Puzzlers, sorry about not posting anything Monday or Tuesday.  Toy Fair at the Javits Center was exhausting. This past Saturday was the annual New York Puzzle Party.  There were 7 presentations. Of those, 4 were added to the schedule in the last few days.

Henry Segerman was added to the agenda on Saturday.  He's a mathematician at the University of Oklahoma. He presented his Quintessence Puzzle. I had seen this on Shapeways before.  He let me play with his copy.

https://www.shapeways.com/product/Y8V2E6NL9/quintessence-pulsar?optionId=41054600

Circle Pong! by App Cow Free!

Circle Pong! is a dexterity puzzle app game. The object is to move the paddle to keep the black dot inside the circle.

Are you old enough to remember the original Pong? I used to play it at the local bowling alley. It was just as fun as the bowling.

Cirlce Pong! is okay.  Though I'd like to see the black ball move slower, at least at the beginning.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/circle-pong/id905229109?mt=8

75 Years of Crosswords at the NY Times

Unquestionably, crosswords are the most popular of all puzzles in the US and the world. The NY Times crossword puzzle gets gradually harder through the week. Monday's the easiest, Friday & Saturday are the hardest.  Sunday has the biggest crossword.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/14/crosswords/crossword-solving-search-for-connection-answers-psychology-emotions.html

Symmetria: Path to Perfection by Platonic Games Free!

  

Symmetria: Path to Perfection is game to test your reflexes.

  

The object is to tap on the squares on the mirrored side to match the original image.

What's particularly good:
1. Sometimes the image is on the right, or left or up or down.
2. Multiple colors
3. The skulls - don't count them as part of the original image.
4. Countdown markers: every 5 or 10 seconds, the program will add fake squares to your image.

There's a lot to like about Symmetria: Path to Perfection.  We should all be playing games like this to ward off Alzheimer's.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/symmetria-path-to-perfection/id1173591563?mt=8

ROOM Δ -Room Escape Game- by Mani Morishita

ROOM Δ -Room Escape Game- by Mani Morishita has received so many positive reviews on the App Store.

Just a few days ago I reviewed another escape game from Mani: Sphinx.

I solved 95% of this game on my own.  The other 5% I consulted a youtube walkthrough. A problem with that: even watching it, I still didn't grasp the solution to the clock.

A major problem I have with Room Escapes is the absence of a plot. I just can't do these on a regular basis.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/room-d-room-escape-game/id991258188?mt=8

Sphinx -Room Escape Game- by Mani Morishita Free

Sphinx -Room Escape Game- comes from Mani Morishita.

It's like a lot of other room escape puzzles: pick things up, use them elsewhere and of course, solve strange puzzles.

This particular game got a lot of press.  Enough press that there are at least 2 walk-through videos on youtube.  Which I confess to watching. No guilt! Okay, I feel a little guilty.

The graphics are quite good.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sphinx-room-escape-game/id897099238?mt=8

Panic Cube by Fishbowl Interactive Free

  

Panic Cube has a stellar icon.   See 2nd image.  The colors are crisp, modern and enticing. The only piece missing is that the icon doesn't readily help explain the objective of the game.

The game is similar to the classic music game Simon. The program will quickly flash arrows in random directions.  Your task is to repeat them.

I like the idea.  But the arrows flash by just too quickly.  There should be a gradual increase in speed.

Note to all Indie App Developers: your icon must be fantastic!

http://www.fishbowlinteractive.com.au/
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/panic-cube/id1168294196?ls=1&mt=8
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fishbowl.paniccube

Find the Road by Magma Mobile Free!

  

Find the Road is a maze puzzle with a sliding tile element.  The object is to arrange the sections to form a path from start to finish. They start off pretty easy.  On some of the first batch, I may have stumbled on an alternate solution because it took a while to shift the pieces around.

   

There are some 250 puzzles, which is far more than I want to do. But I still like this game.

At the moment, I'm stuck on level 25.

Good graphics.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/find-the-road/id1191778703?mt=8

ReBound Lite by Hoon Nam Free!

ReBound Lite comes from Hoon Nam. It's a maze with rotating mirrors game.   The object is to get the little silver ball to collect all the big red balls and finally get to the white square as its destination.

We've seen lots of games like this in the past. They're fun. ReBound Lite has 15 levels. At the moment, I'm on level 9 or 10.

1. The graphics are okay. But the silver ball could be a larger.
2. If the silver ball has too many rebounds before all the goals are met, you lose.
3. Very Interesting: Look at the 2nd image.  See the black circles that resemble clocks? When the silver ball passes over them, certain reflectors change direction.  Most of the reflectors: you can change the direction by tapping. But not all.
4. Love This: You can pause the round midway to rethink how you're going to get the last set of red balls.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/rebound-lite/id1194359128?mt=8

Addendum 2/7/17:
Level 9 I thought was impossible. Clever problem.
The paid version has 24 levels for $.99.

Districts by Chequered Ink Ltd. Free

Do you know what gerrymandering is? From Dictionary.com:
U.S. Politics. the dividing of a state, county, etc.,into election districts so as to give one politicalparty a majority in many districts while concentrating the voting strength of the otherparty into as few districts as possible.
And: 1812, Americanism; after E. Gerry (governor of Massachusetts, whose party redistricted the state in 1812) + (sala)mander, from the fancied resemblance of the map of Essex County, Mass., to this animal,after the redistricting
Every 10 years, there is a census in the US to determine the redistricting of congressional seats. Some states gain seats, some lose.

Districts is a puzzle that is all about gerrymandering. Each district must have the same number of constituents.

Look at the last image: the bottom shows how many districts must be won by red (3), blue (3) etc.

There are 72 levels and they go pretty fast. I solved them all.

1. The graphics are excellent.
2. These problems could be made harder. For example: every district must be won by a color. If a district has 7 squares, blue wins automatically with 4. However, it could also win with just 3 squares, if the remaining are 2 red and 2 yellow.

This is a good game. It's original, fun and free.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/districts/id1194527406?mt=8

Mirror Maze - A Different Kind of Maze Game by Silly Dog Games LLC Free

  

Description from the App Store:
Are you ready for a new, fun, and challenging take on maze games? With Mirror Maze, your movements are mirrored as you try to complete mazes of varying complexity and difficulty. Packed with three maze collections containing 60 unique mazes, ranging from simple to complex. As if that weren't enough, four different game modes will add even more challenge.

  

In the Casual Mode: I did all 20 simple mazes and 9 of the Complex ones.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mirror-maze-different-kind/id1177013336?mt=8

If you like Mirror Maze - A Different Kind of Maze Game, then definitely give MirriM a try.