This blog focuses on GREAT, FUN PUZZLE APPS for the ipad, iphone and ipod. If you are creating your own puzzle app and want it reviewed, contact me at LinkedIn. Tom Cutrofello
Friday, June 29, 2018
Up Left Out by Maciej Targoni $.99
Up Left Out comes from Maciej Targoni. Any time I see his name, I know the game is going to be artistically and intellectually pleasing.
There are 51 levels. I solved them in about 1.5 hours. Not too hard. One particular element, which I won't mention its nature, is really cool. Well worth $.99. Keep up the good work Maciej.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/up-left-out/id1339172788?mt=8
http://upleftout.com/
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rt.upleftout
https://store.steampowered.com/app/867380/Up_Left_Out/
Other games from Maciej that you must download.
"klocki"
"Hook"
oO
"PUSH"
Thursday, June 28, 2018
Path to 9 by Halil Ozdemir FREE
Path to 9 comes from Halil Ozdemir. It's a point scoring game. The object is to place the 3 pieces at the bottom to fit on the grid and score points. When the pieces don't fit, the game is over.
When adjacent squares match, the square of the tile being placed disappears and the existing square/s will increase by 1. When a tile gets to 9, it disappears and you have more room for future pieces to fit.
But this game has problems. First, the scoring seems to be cumulative from previous games. Second, the game has ads which I think interfere with starting the program.
Tomorrow I'll complain about another game. But Friday: I've got a winner.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/path-to-9/id1382235764?mt=8
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.habosoft.pathTo9
https://sites.google.com/view/path-to-9/home
Tuesday, June 26, 2018
Solitaire Cube, Classic Cards by Tether Studios FREE
When I was a kid, my father mentioned that he had heard it was possible to win money playing the standard Klondike Solitaire game. We were always intrigued by that notion.
Solitaire Cube, Classic Cards is an app that somehow enables you to make money by playing solitaire. Essentially, you play against other people and your score is determined by how many cards you got on top. Your score also increases by ordinary play: placing a black 4 on a red 5.
You have 5 minutes to play a game. If you use less time, that's more points for you.
Very intriguing concept. I've played for a few nights and won no money. The 5 minute time limit definitely helps set up the 'just 1 more game' feeling.
Must delete this.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/solitaire-cube-classic-cards/id1114214294?mt=8
Monday, June 25, 2018
The Futoshiki by Aliaksandr Uvarau FREE
Loyal Blog Followers: I'm back. I wish I could say that I've been swamped with so many great new puzzles. Unfortunately, the hits are harder to find. I've also noticed a significant decline in the number of puzzles being published on the App Store.
The Futoshiki comes from Aliaksandr Uvarau. The object is to create a Latin Square where each row/column has different numbers. The black triangles are actually 'greater than signs'.
The 4x4 grids are incredibly easy. Perfect if you're listening to a tv show that's all dialog. The 9x9 grids are really terrific. I've only done a few and each has taken about 30 minutes. These puzzles reminded me of Sudoku Killer.
Altogether there are 12,000 levels - completely free. I tried to contact Aliaksandr about how he generated these. I was unsuccessful. Surely he didn't do them by hand!?
Also interesting, the 'greater than' symbols always point down or right and never left or up. Hmmmm.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-futoshiki/id1398126397?mt=8
http://coralgames.com.au/app_info?id=com.alexuvarov.android.futoshiki
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.alexuvarov.android.futoshiki
Similar Games & Other Latin Square Puzzles
Sudoku Sweeper
Futoshiki also known as Hi-Lo Sudoku
LogicCity
Kropk'i Sudoku
Logi5Puzz
TetragonoS
Futoshiki Light
Futoshiki Game
Joint Number Place
Tuesday, June 12, 2018
Lateral Puzzles : Series #1 by HYBRIONA TECHNOLOGIES LLP FREE
I've been a fan of Lateral Thinking Puzzles since I was about 12. The coining of the phrase Lateral Thinking was done by Edward de Bono.
This particular game Lateral Puzzles : Series #1 has 100 puzzles with a few ads thrown in. I've done 50 in about 30 minutes. Many are old. Some have spelling mistakes.
I'm attaching just 1 image. The solution made me laugh.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lateral-puzzles-series-1/id1394753363?mt=8
This particular game Lateral Puzzles : Series #1 has 100 puzzles with a few ads thrown in. I've done 50 in about 30 minutes. Many are old. Some have spelling mistakes.
I'm attaching just 1 image. The solution made me laugh.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lateral-puzzles-series-1/id1394753363?mt=8
Friday, June 8, 2018
Hexologic by MYTHICOWL SP Z O O $.99
Hexologic comes from MYTHICOWL SP Z O O. It's a math puzzle. The object is to fill each hexagon with either 1, 2 or 3 dots so that the cells, in a row, add to the corresponding numbers. All tiles that have more than 3 dots are already given to you.
The game starts very easy and continues to be very easy until about level 45.
Cells that have a red border must have the same number of dots. I like this feature. Makes things more challenging.
Hexologic was featured in the New Games We Love section of the App Store. I'm not going to rate it quite so high. But it's very good. Think of it as a hexagonal version of Kakuro. Definitely worth $.99. I solved all the levels and was a bit sad when it all ended. Looking forward to more levels.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hexologic/id1343246862?mt=8
http://www.mythicowl.com/
Other Math Puzzles
Pluszle
Math Puzzles If, then
Cotrio
Golden Sum
PuzzleNum
Factors Game
Tap the 3s
Nonplussed
Social Sessions
Chinese-Puzzle
Tower Locked
Tchisla
Nomics
Chisla
Tilemetry
Solvego
Number Chef
Sumaze!
LogicCity
Divide By Sheep
Zeroed Out
Quick Route
Wednesday, June 6, 2018
9 Maker by Cho KwangHyeon FREE
9 Maker comes from Cho KwangHyeon. It's a point scoring puzzle game. The object is to place the random numbers into the grid to make sums of 9 or to make 3 of the same number in a row/column/diagonal.
Look at the 2nd image. Just under the grid are 4 buttons: +, -, ?, *. Those are power-ups. Power-ups can be earned by getting, say three 2's within the next 10 moves. Power-ups can also be earned by watching a 15 or 30 second ad.
9 Maker is a fast game. Unless you end up watching all those ads. At the moment, my score is over 1000 and I'm first on the Leaderboard. Fewer than 100 people are currently on the Leaderboard.
I really like the graphics. But the ad watching skews the playing field. When the game starts, the random #s are just 1, 2 & 3. So earning a power-up is not too hard. Once the 5's, 6's & 7's appear, earning a powerup is almost impossible.
Other Point Scoring Games Worthy of Your Time (Some are no longer available.)
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
Monday, June 4, 2018
Exiled Digits by Jordan Goulet
Exiled Digits comes from Jordan Goulet. It's a point scoring game. How fast can you tap the number that is NOT exiled. Look at the first image. That means that the number to tap in the next image must be 8.
8 is now the Exiled Digit that cannot be tapped in the next screen. That leaves 749 to be tapped. The next screen: the number to be tapped cannot have 7, 4 or 9.
I played Exiled Digits once yesterday and was proud that I was #2 on the Leaderboard. At the same time, I felt a bit inadequate because I was also last.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/exiled-digits/id1387370988?mt=8
Other Point Scoring Games Worthy of Your Time (Some are no longer available.)
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
8 is now the Exiled Digit that cannot be tapped in the next screen. That leaves 749 to be tapped. The next screen: the number to be tapped cannot have 7, 4 or 9.
I played Exiled Digits once yesterday and was proud that I was #2 on the Leaderboard. At the same time, I felt a bit inadequate because I was also last.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/exiled-digits/id1387370988?mt=8
Other Point Scoring Games Worthy of Your Time (Some are no longer available.)
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
Friday, June 1, 2018
Scalak by Michal Pawlowski $1.99
When Michal Pawlowski publishes a puzzle app game, you know it's going to be great. His other games include Zenge and Blue Box X and "Push".
Scalak starts off very simple: fit the shapes into the slots.
Gradually, things get more complicated and rectangular shapes have to be rotated & flipped in order to find the empty spaces to place the edge pieces and face pieces.
There are 90 levels and I solved them all. The last 10 took a while.
One minor issue: sometimes the cubes didn't rotate quite right. The only thing to do was restart. This was an issue for level 10 (or so) but then I downloaded an updated version. The problem mostly went away, but not completely.
Scalak is not hard, but the graphics are really excellent.
Maciej Targoni and Michal Pawlowski have teamed up for other great puzzles including klocki.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/scalak/id1335784091?mt=8
Scalak starts off very simple: fit the shapes into the slots.
Gradually, things get more complicated and rectangular shapes have to be rotated & flipped in order to find the empty spaces to place the edge pieces and face pieces.
There are 90 levels and I solved them all. The last 10 took a while.
One minor issue: sometimes the cubes didn't rotate quite right. The only thing to do was restart. This was an issue for level 10 (or so) but then I downloaded an updated version. The problem mostly went away, but not completely.
Scalak is not hard, but the graphics are really excellent.
Maciej Targoni and Michal Pawlowski have teamed up for other great puzzles including klocki.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/scalak/id1335784091?mt=8