Jerry Slocum - Master Puzzler & Champion Puzzle Collector

Jerry Slocum is a LEGEND. He's written numerous books on mechanical puzzles. He transferred his massive puzzle collection to the Lily Library at Indiana University.  And he's the founder of the International Puzzle Party.  I'm proud to call him a friend.

 https://www.artofplay.com/blogs/articles/how-one-collector-amassed-over-35000-puzzles?fbclid=IwAR0Orf9ZuwgL5sN1GoTLV4UG5S0we9I9I7YGo5xf9FSlUjySgeXKEnI_0mo

234+ Sliding Puzzle Game by Hung Do FREE

 

234+ Sliding Puzzle Game comes from Hung Do. It's a point scoring game that reminds me of the original Threes & the hundreds of clones known as 2048.

This game is different.  Each time you merge 3 #s - 2's or 3's or 4's or 2-3-4 in that order & direction - you score 1 point tile.  Those 1 point tiles have to merge also.

According to the Leaderboard, not many people have given this game a chance.  

Trust me, it's worth your time.  

Hung Do - great game!  I'm shooting for 200 points.

Logica Emotica by Bart Bonte FREE

 Logica Emotica comes from Bart Bonte. If you've been following this blog, you'll recall that I'm a big fan of Bart's. Logica Emotica is his latest. It's filled with a variety of puzzles.  

Look at images 1, 2 & 4: these are essentially 2 & 3 ball mazes where the monkeys have to land on the fixed objects at the same time.  Old concept, done with charming images.

Look at the 3rd image with the yellow circles.  This particular puzzle is a new variation of Sokoban.  The object is to push the yellow hands onto the white spots. First, it matters which hand lands where.  Second - and more importantly - Your Man - the Smiley Circle - cannot traverse over the same spot more than once.  All of these types of puzzles were simply great. The very last one, level 50, took me way too long.

Other Bart Puzzles:

What's Inside the Box?

Factory Balls - excellent

Boo! - a mini sequel to Factory Balls

Blocky XMAS - fun and at times hard

Yellow (game) 
red (game)

Sweet Drmzzz

blue (game)

25 game

HOOK 2 by Maciej Targoni $1.99

Maciej Targoni's new game is called Hook 2.  If you've never played the original Hook, stop right now, scroll to the bottom, find the link, and start playing.

Hook 2 is very similar. The object is to remove all the sword without collisions.  But, the arrangement is now in 3D.

There are some new elements - rotating the circles that connect the electricity is one.

There are 86 levels and I've solved them all. Took a few days.  More levels will be added.

Maciej: keep up the great work!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1871310/Hook_2/

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hook-2/id1595687061

Other games from Maciej that you must download.

Naboki
"klocki"
"Hook"
oO
"PUSH"
Up Left Out

The Next Time I Die by Jason Starr - published by Hard Case Crimes

The publisher of Hard Case Crimes sent me a free pdf version of The Next Time I Die by Jason Starr in exchange for an honest review.

I positively loved it. Our main character gets knifed in the stomach and wakes up in a hospital where things are different. The Star Trek episode Mirror Mirror comes to mind.

In the last few years I've become a big fan of the Max Allan Collins series called Quarry - also published on Hard Case Crimes.  Now I'm going to have to get Jason's other books.

Slitherlink Weekly and One Line Weekly by Marcelo Pars

My friend Marcelo Pars is a prolific puzzle app designer.  He's got 2 new puzzle games that are very challenging because of their size.

  

Both games are daunting in their size!  I have not solved a single puzzle in either game.  If you do, please send me a note!

Below are some of Marcelo's other games.  I particularly liked Save Planet Cube.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id1612935289

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/one-line-weekly/id1480090253

Marcelo's other games

Cage It
Save Planet Cube
Cube Loop
Cubicks Free

Book Review? The Puzzler by A.J. Jacobs

 

Last night I attended a Publishing Party for my puzzle friend A.J. Jacobs.  It was attended mostly by people in the publishing industry but a few core puzzlers also came.

A.J. Jacobs is funny!  I read his introduction on the train home.  I also skimmed what I think is the most important chapter: Rubik's Cubes & Variations.  I particularly liked page 39!

A.J. had very ambitious goals: there's a lot of history, a lot of new puzzles, and a lot of 'story'.  This is not the type of book to pore through in a week. Rather, it needs to be savored.

At the publishing party, there was a cake with icing depicting a Rubik's Cube. Yum. I had seconds.

Judith Newman of the NY Times wrote a great review.

I think this book is going to turn many semi-puzzlers into hard-core puzzlers.

Linko - Relaxing Loop by Kyung-Hun Kim FREE

Linko - Relaxing Loop comes from Kyung-Hun Kim. It's one of those 'rotate all the lines, curves, hooks & nodes within each square and make everything connect.

What I like about this game are the hooks.  

I solved 64 levels in about 45 minutes.  But that included time watching ads. Yeah, these are not hard. But they're still fun. 

I'm guessing there are 100 levels.
 

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/linko-relaxing-loop/id1608997896

Meridian 157: Chapter 1 $1.99

Meridian 157: Chapter 1 comes from NovaSoft Interactive. The Prologue was free.

The mystery continues: you're on this abandoned lab on an island off Alaska.  Lots of 'point and click' things to do. Lots of puzzles which open desk drawers, safes etc.

Don't be a Puzzle Purist!  There are numerous walkthroughs posted on youtube. I was looking everywhere for a silly triangle block. I couldn't find it in the game room. It ended up being in the basement near the generator. Walkthroughs save you the time to find stuff.  In terms of solving the actual puzzles, it's still okay to use the walkthroughs.

This game is actually quite long.  I've completed the Prologue and now Chapter 1. So I'm moving on to Chapter 2. 

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/meridian-157-chapter-1/id1484024784

Meridian 157: Prologue FREE

 

Meridian 157: Prologue comes from NovaSoft Interactive. 

It's a 'point and click' Myst-type puzzle.  The basic story is that You get to an island off Alaska and are in an abandoned lab.  Naturally, there are tons of little puzzles.  Interesting: you can set the game for easier/harder puzzles and with/without hints.

This first game in a series is free.  I've already completed this and Chapter 1, which isn't free.

Some of the puzzles are quite good.  Some exist only so that you can open a safe and find....a hammer.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/meridian-157-prologue/id1470338632

Strange Case: The Alchemist FREE

 

I don't know who Labeledman is but he's made an interesting game called Strange Case: The Alchemist. 

You are a detective and your mission is to find clues, pick up tools and of course solve puzzles.

It's not a very long game.  Maybe 4 hours.

Look at image #3 with the crazy man locked up.  I was predicting, based on the unused shackles in another room, that I would have to drag him out of the cell and hook him up to the shackles and then pull one of his teeth.  Alas, getting a tooth from him was much easier.

Overall, it's a fun game. It's free. No ads. Well, I did pay $2 to get rid of the ads.

I look forward to other games from Labeledman.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/strange-case-the-alchemist/id1545174203

Bikit by Leon Keeley FREE

Bikit is an outstanding puzzle app from Leon Keeley. It's minimalist, which means the rules are not explained.

The object is to get the blue & green circles to their targets.  Look at the 2nd image.  You need to find 4 points that make a rectangle.  Connect them all at once and all of the circles will shift 1 space along the rectangle.

There are 35 levels. The first hard ones are 10 & 11. 25 took me about 25 tries!

Bikit has a 'I get the idea right away' feel to it.  But gradually, you start to realize that certain actions will lead to dead ends.

Yo Leon: I solved all the levels. Then I paid $.99.  Can't wait for your next game.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bikit/id1609104375

Puzzlums Free

 

Puzzlums is not a hard game. The object is to slide the marbles to the correct ring & sector.

If a ring is complete, it disappears and then it gets much easier. 

I was not expecting to solve almost 40 levels. It's not challenging enough. But it's well made and is very relaxing.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/puzzlums/id1602362970

Logic Wiz Sudoku & Variations FREE

 

Logic Wiz Sudoku & Variations has a wide variety of sudoku versions.

Each version comes with many levels in beginner, easy, moderate, hard mode.

My favorite version is Sandwich Sudoku.

It's free, comes with ads, but is very well done.   

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/logic-wiz-sudoku-variations/id1530683853

Milo and the Magpies $1.99

 Milo and the Magpies comes from Second Maze, the makers of Mitoza, which I blogged about this time last year. Here's the link.

Milo is a cat who has lost his way. Milo must get home by crossing the backyards of 7 or 8 neighbors.  Each backyard comes with its own set of unique puzzles.

The game takes about 2 hours to play.  $2 is cheap.

I heard about this game via the Rusty Lake people. 

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/milo-and-the-magpies/id1529462789

Flood It Extreme FREE

Flood It Extreme comes from Nowvista LLC.  It's pretty much the same as the original Flood It, which I blogged about way back in 2010.  Here's the old link.

In this version, the grids start small and gradually get larger. At the same time, more colors are added for greater difficulty.

I solved 32 levels in about half an hour.  It's fun, but there are ads - fortunately they last 10 seconds.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/flood-it-extreme/id1607169558

The White Door 12+ A Rusty Lake puzzle adventure $2.99

The White Door comes from the Rusty Lake people.  I've played almost all of their games.  This came out in 2019.

You wake up as a patient in a psych ward.  Solve a slew of puzzles for 6 days in a row.  Discover things about your past.  Etc.

If you've been following this blog, then you'll know what to expect in a Rusty Lake game.  $2.99 will yeild a solid 3-6 hours of entertainment.

Apple: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/the-white-door/id1472184189

Google: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=air.com.RustyLake.WhiteDoor&hl=en_US&gl=US

Milo and the Magpies by Second Maze Studio $1.99

• The good people at  Rusty Lake have been promoting Milo and the Magpies.  These are the same people who brought us Mitoza which I played last year.

In this game, the object is to get your cat home by crossing the backyards of various neighbors.

It's a relatively fast game. Maybe 1.5 hours.  Charming.  I liked it.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/milo-and-the-magpies/id1529462789

Sliding Edge by Haraldur Dadi Thorvaldsson FREE

Happy New Year Puzzle App Players.

Sliding Edge: Total Sliding Madness comes from Haraldur Dadi Thorvaldsson.   The object is to get Your Man, the white cure, to the yellow cube.

However, the red cubes slide back and forth and will kill you.  The red cubes move horizontally, vertically and sometimes diagonally.

Definitely not a hard game. But some levels are hard.  I paid $.99 for the extra 100 levels. But only 25 are ready at the moment.

I think it's fun!

 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sliding-edge/id1586881466