Squares - Puzzle by Murillo Frias Free

  

Murillo Frias contacted me months ago about his puzzle app game Squares - Puzzle. At first, it seemed like another 'move Your Man over every square and get to the destination' puzzle.  In fact, it is, but there are some new elements.

  

The round dot is Your Man and must traverse across all the gray squares and then enter the yellow square.

The Light Gray squares: must be crossed over twice.
The Purple squares: landing on them is like sliding on ice. Your Man will land on the next square.
The White squares: can be landed on as many times as you like.
The Black squares: must be pushed to its destination at the same time Your Man must cover every square.
The Red squares: either move places or shrink. Landing on 1 red square may affect the other red squares.

Squares - Puzzle is highly polished.  My only criticism is that the gray squares could be more contrasted with the black background. The levels start out easy but they get very challenging.

Great job Murillo.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/squares-puzzle/id1045830662?ls=1&mt=8

Similar Games
Mortal Coil - in the Puzzle App Hall of Fame
Stroke! - largely overlooked,  adds a color matching scheme that makes it devilishly hard.
Full House Touch
Full Monster Puzzle 
Berry Puzzle 
Eat A Way
Filling 
Block Path
Snake Walk
Mr. Square
Rookfall

atapgame by Kyle Gorlick FREE

  

Kyle Gorlick is the author of atapgame. It's a dexterity/timing game.  The objective is to tap on the circle to launch it into space - to ultimately land at its destination. Without colliding into moving line segments.

  

It's not very hard game. But it's well designed and fun.  Options include changing the circle to some other images - including your face.

The first 20 levels or so are free. After that, I think the rest costs $1.99. I paid it.

Altogether there are 51 levels and I'm stuck on 45, which I think is too hard!

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/atapgame/id1189851352?mt=8

Combilock by 1860636 Alberta Inc. FREE

  

The goal of Combilock is to get the 2 circles to align their holes directly against the locks.

Tap on the inner circle, then move left or right. The inner circle will rotate faster than the outer circle.

The opposite occurs when you tap on the outer circle and move left/right.

Combilock is tough! The concept is unique. I've only solved it twice.

Go the company's homepage, bottom link below. Watch the video - short, but fabulous.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/combilock/id1096654722?mt=8
http://combi-lock.com/

Logistricks by Galliker Transport AG FREE

  

Christian Schnellmann has made Logistricks for Galliker Transport AG, which is a Swiss Trucking company. I have never been to Switzerland, but I can tell you this: if I need a trucking service, anywhere in Europe, I'd contact Galliker, just because of the fact that they commissioned a puzzle to be made.

So what's the game about? The object is to transfer the boxes from the ramp to the correct truck.
Elements: 
1. Swipe in any direction and all boxes move until they hit an obstacle.
2. Pallets are obstacles and they can be tapped out at any time.
3. Some boxes must be moved within a certain number of moves.
4. Some levels must be completely solved within 5 seconds.

Not sure how many levels there are. I'm stuck on #50. I'm guessing there are 125 levels.

The graphics are clean and crisp.  Logistricks is FREE.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/logistricks/id1182304603?mt=8
https://www.galliker.com/

HIT n RUN by Greenery FREE

  

The other day I was looking for an old puzzle app. I don't remember the title, but it's no longer available.  HIT n RUN was similar in title, and it popped up.  I love this game!

  

HIT n RUN is a point scoring game.  The object is to stay alive as long as possible and score as many points. Every time you move Your Man, the orange square,  you get 1 point for the move.  If you crash into a blue square that has 3 on it, you get 3 additional points.

Your Man will die if he lands next to a piece that he's not crashing into. No image above to show you an example.

There are other things that you have to figure out for yourself. Like how the blue squares merge. And how they will try to box you in.

I still can't figure out why the orange square turns red temporarily and what the significance is.  The folks at Greenery have a web page - all in Korean - but not contact info.

I can't stop playing it. I make my moves too quickly. This game is a winner.

My high score is 1074. Sagar is #1 with 5555 and John Paurillo is #2 with 4996. #3 has 2596.

Update 5/23/17:  Two things.  First, I can't stop playing this game.  I'm going to have to delete it.  Second, one of my students found a glitch in the program and is now the top scorer with 5614.  I'm tempted to do the same, but I just can't.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hit-n-run/id1010108856?mt=8

Article

https://www.dailysabah.com/life/2017/03/10/how-one-turkish-man-discovered-his-lifes-calling-in-puzzle-making

ZeGame by Jesper van den Ende $2.99

ZeGame comes from Jesper van den Ende.  It's a 3-D maze puzzle app game.

The object is to get the green cube to the target, which is the light blue cube.

When you slide the green cube - in any direction - it must hit an obstacle. Same concept as Lunar Lockout, except the green cube is the only one that can travel.

The purple cubes are wormholes.  They require a lot of trial and error in order to determine which are the matching pairs.

Very cool: at any time, you can zoom in/out and rotate the perspective.

There are 140 levels. I've done 57.

After playing the Free version, I decided to buy the full one.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/zegame/id991958457?mt=8

Laser Glow by Kenneth Isaacson Free

  

Kenneth Isaacson is the author of Laser Glow. It's a laser puzzle that uses only a 4x4 grid.

What's interesting:
1. Some of the levels are tricky.  I tweeted that level 19 was impossible. Actually, it was just fine.
2. The yellow squares are fixed and no mirrors can be placed on them.
3. The white dots on the grid: the beam must pass through it.
4. The black dots are on some of the mirrors and those mirrors must be used.

The menu indicates there are 49 levels. But there are 47 and I solved them all.

Laser Glow is fast and fun.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/laser-glow/id1212149668?mt=8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2PoPh2B9qo  Funny video

Other Laser Puzzles (Not a complete list!)
Laser Maze 2015
MatrixLines
HackBeam
Shoot & Reflect 3x3
LaserBox
Photon Lab
Amid Worlds
RouteOut - not a laser game, but uses mirrors
RouteOut 2
Neon Connect
Mirrors & Reflections
Guide the Light
Lasers Free
Laser Logic
Lazors
ReflecTs DS

Friday's math problem

I mis-stated Friday's math puzzle.  Find 2 consecutive numbers such that, when you add the digits of the first number, the sum is divisible by 7 and the sum of the digits of the second number is also divisible by 7. Sorry about that!



https://qz.com/935952/it-took-the-inventor-of-the-rubiks-cube-a-month-to-solve-his-own-puzzle/

New article about Erno Rubik.

http://www.puzzlesolver.com/puzzle.php?id=29;page=15  Very old article about Rubik.

Fun Math puzzle

Find 2 consecutive integers such that, the sum of the digits of the first number is divisible by 7.  And so is the second number.

Pinball Star by Adam Rogan Free

  

Pinball Star comes from Adam Rogan. The object is to hit the white dot (see 2nd image). The black dots are bumpers.

I played the first mode: solving 49 levels.  The second mode: shooting hoops is harder. I have not played the Endless mode.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pinball-star/id1211198338?mt=8

Other Pinball Apps
Pinball Sniper
Pinout!

Smart Cookies from Foxmind $24.95

About 10 years ago I reviewed Fox Mind's Meta-Forms puzzle for Games Magazine. There is a similar game from ThinkFun known as Chocolate Fix. They are both logic games where the object is to place the colored shapes onto a 3x3 board with some clues thrown in.

Smart Cookies is the sequel to Meta-Forms.  The objectives are the same. However, the clues have become more sophisticated.

There are 64 levels.  I cruised through the first 32 in about 1 hour.  The next 18 were troublesome.  At times I thought: something's wrong or I need more clues.

The last 14 levels were even more difficult. Seems like 6 clues is just not enough! I was placing coins on the clues that I thought I was done with. Unfortunately, I had to start from scratch. But I persevered with every last one. Except for #64. I'm still working on that.

The very last level has many clues....but they're all about the color blue. Having completed 1-63, I was suddenly overwhelmed on 64.

Did I mention that the playing pieces are thick and bring on a certain food craving? They feel more like rubber than plastic.

Michel & Robert Lyons created the original Meta-Forms. Polina Sabinin Ed.D. has taken Smart Cookies to a more sophisticated level. Great job Polina!


http://foxmind.com/games/1496-smart-cookies
http://foxmind.com/games/1257-meta-forms

Cubicks Free by Marcelo Pars Free

  

Cubicks Free comes from Marcelo Pars. The object is get tap on the gray cubes and create a Latin Square on each fact.  That is: each row and column must have 1 red, 1 yellow, 1 green and 1 blue.

There are 1000 levels split into Easy, Medium, Hard and Evil.

The graphics are outstanding. There are little cracks between each square and if you maneuver the cube just right, you'll see the colors on the opposite fact.

The Easy levels aren't so easy.  Took me a few tries to get the hang of them.

Things to change.
1. Instead of 1000 levels, there should be 100.  At the most: 200.
2. Instead of the program randomly choosing a level, the user should see a map of which puzzles have already been done and choose accordingly.

Those are minor complaints.  Cubicks Free is great.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cubicks-free/id1212435415?mt=8
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.marcelopars.cubicks

Akari 3D is not the same as Cubicks Free. But it also has an outstanding cube interface.

Interview with a Toy Designer

This guy has a fun job!

https://www.fatbraintoys.com/play/2017/3/3/delving_into_the_details_of_toy_design.cfm

Trail Puzzle Game By Ionut Panescu

Trail Puzzle Game By Ionut Panescu. His description:
Create your own trails through the maze, over walls and around obstacles. Sometimes you need to be patient, sometimes you have to be fast! Oh, and stay out of the turrets' way ! 
"Trail was inspired by simplicity. Minimal design, basic mechanisms combined with ingenuity. We wanted a creative game experience, that can be challenging but at the same time offer limitless solutions at any level".

Tom's thoughts: the objective is to trace a path through all of the blue lines just once.  On some levels, when you get 'stuck', you can 'swap heads', with your tail.

It's a bit similar to the Impossible Puzzle Game,  It's all graph theory. As long as you know it, these puzzles go pretty fast.

I did 31 of the 108 levels.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/trail-puzzle-game/id1088234684?mt=8

9 Moves: Ball game - Move balls in 60 seconds by Tuplebits LLC Free

  

The object in 9 Moves: Ball game - Move balls in 60 seconds is to shoot the colored balls, one at a time to the right, while avoiding the missiles from the red triangles.

  

There are 20 levels and I've solved 10 or 11.  It's fun.

https://itunes.apple.com/app/id1191372210

Similar Game

Moonball Infinity

Puppo! by Shumpei Hayashi Free

  

Puppo! comes from Shumpei Hayashi. I'm a big fan of his other game Levels - Addictive Puzzle Game.

The object of Puppo! is to score points by placing three yellow 1's in a row. It will turn into a single yellow 2.  At first I thought: oh, this is like Merged! and a slew of other games.  Yes and no.

The big difference is that when you get that single yellow 2, it comes off the board and you can place it anywhere you like.  Another difference - the numbers with stars on them that act as wild cards.

This is a very interesting point-scoring puzzle app game. My high score is 18,000 which places me in the top 50 out of 2000 players.

They key to scoring high in this game is to get combos as seen in the second image.  Also, it's possible to buy 'stars' which will turn some of your regular tiles into wild cards. Of course, that could explain how somebody got a score of 55,000.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/puppo/id1178446982?mt=8
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.flow.puppo

Other Point Scoring Games Worthy of Your Time
NumberMania
Four Straight Lines
Pushopolous
Stickets
Folt
Nineout
Nineout II
BeeCells Lite
Kindly Colors
HexAgony
Domino Drop
Put Number
Tripevo
Triple Town
Kindly  Colors
COLORswipe
SubaraCity
Virus Pop Smash
+1 Number
4 Way Puzzle
Merged!
Enso

Politaire

Treple

numDance

Black Boxes

o:anquan
Levels

Buckets

Linia by Yari D'areglia Temporarily Free

  

Linia comes Yari D'areglia. It came out last year and is temporarily free. Act soon.

  

The objective is to draw a straight line  so that when the line crosses through the figures, the sequence of colors matches the one at the top of the screen.

Look at the second image.  See the squares? Each square is spinning, so your timing is as important as your aim.

Look at the last image. The circles stay in place, but the grow and shrink.

There are 80 levels, of which I've done about 20. It's a fun game.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/linia/id1132539563?mt=8

Connect The Cubes by Perfect Tap Games Free

  

Connect The Cubes came out a few weeks ago and is one of those 'Your Man must pass over every cell' games. We've played and solved thousands of these.

  

What's interesting:
1. Some boards have triangular and hexagonal cells.
2. According to the Leaderboard, there are over 25,000 players.
3. This game is far too easy.  The 'Very Hard' levels are still very easy, they just have larger grids.

You're better off playing one of the games listed below.  On the other hand, if you want something fast and easy, you can do these 200 levels in about 1 hour.  Novice puzzlers would also like this.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/connect-the-cubes/id1200285352?mt=8

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 Great
Number Escape
Flow Draw A Line
YK Puzzle
Link Mind Bending Puzzle - loved this
Tomb of the Brain
Flud  - hard!
Roofbot - well polished and challenging

Tomb Light by DAEJIN JEONG Free

  

Tomb Light looks a lot like the game Lazors from 4 years ago.  That was great.  The object is to move the squares around so that the light will hit the circles.

This is a good game. No idea how many levels there are. At the moment, I'm stuck at 40.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tomb-light/id1195421435?mt=8