Blue Box X: free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

Michal Pawlowski is the author of Blue Box X,  He describes it as A minimalist puzzle game, that takes you on a meditative journey through the puzzling world of a little Blue Box.


It's one of those discovery puzzle apps where you must first figure out what to do, then how to do it.  I don't want to spoil things except for this innocuous tip: never swipe in any direction. Simply tap the left side, or tap the right side. (I was confused about that for the first 3 levels.)


Each level must be studied carefully. There will be much trial and error. For example, some levels have multiple wormholes and you can't determine which wormhole matches with which - because they're all yellow.




I contacted Michal to at least find out how many levels there are: 60.  I'm stuck on 52. It happens to be the image below. The solution, I know, involves an 'aha' realization.

Blue Box X is charming, fun and absolutely worth $.99.  Blue Box X is in contention for a PAGY Award (Puzzle App Games of the Year).
http://hamsteroncoke.com/ That's right, Michal describes himself as a hamster on coke.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/blue-box-x/id980199613

Full Monster Puzzle Game: free puzzle app for iphone, ipad

 

Full Monster Puzzle Game comes from Le Hoang. His description: Choose a tile as begin point to start playing, then touch a tile in the same line horizontally or vertically to move.
Wisely find your way to go through all the blank tiles until the map is filled!
When there is no empty cells, you are the winner!


There are 100 levels and I've done 59 of them. These are very similar to a lot of other puzzle apps. I never finished Mortal Coil. Also, I don't like the mechanics: you must tap on the path to extend it. I'd rather swipe  - anywhere on the screen.


Similar Games

Filling - Much easier than Full Monster.
Block Path - essentially the same thing
Snake Walk - essentially the same thing
Mortal Coil - this is a much better version. For a variety of reasons.
Stroke! - this version is similar but adds a color matching scheme that makes it devilishly hard.
Full House Touch Basically the same thing but with arrows on the squares.


https://itunes.apple.com/ph/app/full-monster-puzzle-game/id973361282?mt=8

Lines: Connect the Dots - free puzzle app game for ipad

        

Lines: Connect the Dots is another topology puzzle app.  Remember last Friday's review of One Line: Circle & Conquer.  These are basically the same thing. Although that other game is much harder.


Today's game has 75 levels and I solved them in about 15 minutes. If you're having trouble with One Line: Circle & Conquer, switch to these. Once you know the trick, these become so easy!


I had a little trouble with one level because the dots were tightly packed and I was allowed to draw illegal lines between points.


There's one level with 3 stars that I particularly liked.


Hey, this game is totally free.


https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lines-connect-the-dots/id960351658?ls=1&mt=8

Block Mania! Free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

Block Mania! is one of those 'All the Men Travel Together' to get to their respective destinations.  In this case, it's the small colored squares that are fixed. The large colored squares do the traveling.

There are 21 easy levels: moving just 2 blocks.  21 medium levels: moving 3 blocks.  14 hard levels: moving 4 blocks. I've solved all the easy & medium levels and 9 of  the hard levels.


These puzzles are well designed. I especially like the fact that I can solve these with lots of moves. I'm not a purist; I don't need to solve these using the least number of moves.


Mechanics: When swiping, you must an actual square, not an empty space, which I'd prefer. There's also a slight delay. After swiping the red man down, then the other squares will move down.

https://itunes.apple.comus/app/block-mania!/id982794090




Very similar games:
Movez  Came out earlier this year. Pretty much the same as Block Mania but it has 1680 levels. I've solved 592 of them. That's probably enough.
Frozen Ice Cubes came out last year. What's different: there's a point of 'no return'.
Vubu came out 3 years ago. What's different: the vubu men have different powers. Very sophisticated.
Escapology, reviewed by Nicola Salmoria. He told me about this game ages ago. I played it and enjoyed it, but never blogged about it.

XXOO - free

     

XXOO comes from Yin Liu. It's kind of like Lights Out where the objective is to get all the tiles to 0. You do this by drawing rectangles of any size within the grid. Whatever's inside that rectangle will switch.
There are 200 levels. Ads started popping up around level 40 - at least for me.  I solved 104 levels in about an hour and a half.  Once you get going, these go pretty fast.  The ones I did were mostly 3-step puzzles.  Around level 90, they became 4-step.
I wish I could finish these, but I just don't have the time.
https://itunes.apple.com/gd/app/xxoo/id955324519?mt=8

One Line Circle & Conquer: free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

 

One Line Circle and Conquer is a confusing, difficult, but very cool topology puzzle app. The objective is to draw one continuous line/path so that:




1. The number 1 is circled first. Then 2, etc.
2. If there are two 5's (see diagram) they are circled simultaneously.
3. The starting point can be anywhere and is probably NOT next to 1.




The easy levels are HARD.  After the first 3 levels, I was stuck, turned it off & was hesitant to confront this extremely hard set of puzzles. I tried again a few days later and was still confused: I circled all of the numbers....but there was no explanation for why it wasn't solved.


Once I solved the first 15 levels and got the hang of it, I suddenly realized something. I won't reveal what that was. But after that, I was solving these very rapidly.  After another 75 levels, I considered myself a total master of these.  Then I got to the last batch - I'm stumped on a bunch.




There are 250 levels and I've solved 225 of them.


One Line Circle and Conquer is eligible for a PAGY Award (Puzzle App Games of the Year). December 31 is the award date. Mark your calendars.




https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/one-line-circle-and-conquer/id975106234?mt=8

Block Eraser: free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad & android

 


Block Eraser comes from Jaeho Lee. The object is to clear all the squares by getting the numbers to zero.


The first levels are kind of easy: you have a strip of 3 cells. Move them up, down, right & left and hit the check mark. All the numbers in those 3 cells will decrease by 1.  Note: you cannot use the checkmark twice if the cells are in the exact position as before.


Let's say you've got a 2 that must be cleared: your line of 3 cells can be horizontal the first time, then vertical the second time.


On harder levels, the grid size gets larger and the strip of 3 morphs into harder shapes.


At first I thought this was easy.....it gets very tough.


There are 250 levels. I have not done many. Only 20 levels or so.The graphics could be better. But more importantly, it's missing a certain element of fun. But that's just my opinion. I can see some folks loving these.
I can't find the iTunes address. Here's the address for Android.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wingless.blockeraser3

Japanese Minesweeper: free puzzle app for iphone, ipad

Japanese Minesweeper is very different from the regular Minesweeper we all played 20 years ago.

Each free cell that you tap will show 4 numbers.  They indicate how many mines are above, below, to the right & to the left of that cell. I'm not sure if I've seen this concept before. I think I have.

Each grid has 100 cells and 25 of them are mine.

When I finally solved a level - after 10 tries or so - I peeked at the Leaderboard and discovered I'm the only person playing it This could be the only puzzle app where I'm first and last. However, I deleted this game - does my name still exist on this game's leaderboard?

What I don't like about Japanese Minesweeper: there are times, usually near the end, when you have no choice but to guess.  Knowing probability is going to help you though.

Dimension Crusher: Clone of Monospace?

Remember the game Monospace? http://gottasolveit.blogspot.com/2010/11/monospace-iphone-puzzle-app.html  It's a puzzle app masterpiece from Daniel Lutz.






Dimension Crusher seems to be a clone. There are only 12 levels.  The graphics are not as vibrant. The movement is too slow. It feels like an old car, by comparison.




I contacted the developer to see what the story is and this was the response, which I appreciated:


Hi Tom,

Dimension crusher is inspired by Monospace. 

However, 

- The app is free

- All levels are unique

- Users can suggest additional levels

- The app is available on the android (unlike monospace) https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.webdigi.dimensioncrusher

Let me know if you need anything else.

Thanks & Regards,
Anil Mathew
Website: http://www.webdigi.co.uk

My Thoughts:
1. No pencil puzzle can be patented. Therefore, this game is perfectly legal if all the levels are different from Monospace.


2. We puzzlers form a rather small group. Everybody knows everybody via 2 or 3 degrees of separation - at most.  For the most part, it is a community whose characteristics include: honor and appreciation.  With that in mind, the developers of Dimension Crusher should mention on their website that their game is derived from Monospace.


3. It's understandable that certain parties are going to be upset at what's perceived to be a clone. However, let's keep this in mind: nobody is making any real money.
4. Somebody is eventually going to come up with another version - maybe a rectangular prism or a cylinder or even a dodecahedron. Building on the ideas of others has boosted the puzzle world to levels unimagined.


https://itunes.apple.com/app/id979285574

Something Cool and Something Funny

Cool: http://www.themetagrobologist.co.uk/old-puzzle-apps-worthy-of-your-time/ I wrote this article for the esteemed magazine The Metagrabologist.




Funny:
I mentioned to a class of mine that NYC mayor Bill DeBlasio is a friend of mine from way back.


I got this email from a parent, whose son was skeptical of my claim. The audio portion is too faint at the beginning.

Hi Tom - 

Hope you are well. 

Zach was at recent Greek parade and wanted to ** test ** if you really went to school with Bill De Blasio :-)  

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5RsJCCWoCPdZ0t6T0RXUU9TU1E&authuser=0

Best - Brett

Rect Pushers: free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

 

Rect Pushers is an excellent set of 2 very interesting and original puzzle concepts.  Look at the first image. The purple & green rectangles must push the fans off the board. However, the purple man can only move independently right/left, while the green man moves up/down.


How do we get the top fan off? Slide the purple man 2 steps to the left. The green man will push him two steps up. Then the purple man can push the top off by sliding left. Needless to say, the objective is to push off all of the fans. The middle ones are the easiest. The essential puzzle is how to get the ones near the 3 corners off.




Look at the second image. See the green squares with X's? They are fixed.  On other levels, the red squares & rectangles can be pushed, but not off the board.


Boys and Girls: this puzzle app has another game called Fill Free Space.

Fill Free Space has the same feel as the other game and it's hard to describe. Look at the green and blue squares. Your task is to expand/grow them so the entire board is filled with a green rectangle, and a blue rectangle and the red squares. This concept is truly terrific and fun. I like this game more than the other.


  


I've taken a few screen images to show how to do level 3. Look at the green rectangle. Stretch it up and then to the right to push the blue square. Then return the green rectangle back to normal and reconfigure it to push the blue square upward.
Each game has 30 levels - perfect!  On Fill Free Space, I've done them all except for 1 level which I think is impossible.
These puzzles are very cool, complicated and fun.
I'd like to see more Fill Free Space levels and I'd like there to be a way for users to create their own levels.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/rect-pushers/id778293815?mt=8