Mazzle: iphone ipad ipod touch puzzle app

Mazzle is similar to other puzzle apps. The object is to arrange all the colors into squares. This is done by shifting rows & columns.

There are 3 levels. The image above shows the medium & hard levels. Notice that each square is unique, so this is harder than the other versions.

Question: is it possible to exchange to adjacent squares?

Pipe Push: iphone ipad ipod touch puzzle app

The object is to shift rows and columns so that the lines have proper end points. 9 levels. Not too hard. I spent maybe 15 minutes on this. It's free.

Wang Yujin created this puzzle app. I reviewed another of his puzzle apps called Untangle.

Binary Sudoku Puzzle iphone puzzle app

Binary Sudoku: the concept has been around for a while. Each grid uses only 0's & 1's. Each row & column must have an equal # of 0's & 1's. No row can be exactly the same as another row. Ditto for columns.

The free version has 15 puzzles. The paid version has 100 puzzles. I did 1 easy, 1 medium & 1 hard levels. Definitely a nice change of pace from regular sudoku.

DropZap 2: iphone ipad ipod touch puzzle app

A while ago I reviewed a game/puzzle app called Drop 7. Amir Michail contacted me recently about his 2 versions of that called DropZap and DropZap 2.

The object is to remove the balls before they rise to the top. Sort of like tetris, but there is no time factor. To get balls to disappear, they must shrink down one size at a time. Also, you'll see chain reactions happening with a laser-like effect & mirrors.

Give it a test run!

Monorail: iphone ipad ipod touch puzzle app Review

About 2 months ago Glenn Iba sent me a promo code to play-test Monorail. Terrific stuff. Then I forgot about it. Now the real version is available. So I downloaded it. My progress on the puzzles from the demo version - gone.

But it's okay, because I spent about 2 hours doing these puzzles. There are 220 puzzles: yesterday I did about 100. The easy ones are fun! The hard ones are hard!

Oh yeah: the objective to to form one enclosed loop. Each dot must be connect to exactly 2 other dots.

What I especially like is that some lines are given: they are gray. The lines you draw are blue.

Monorail is truly addictive and more importantly fun.

Right now Monorail is free. Monorail was designed by Glenn Iba and Aaron Iba. Bravo guys!

Mortal Coil: iphone ipad ipod touch puzzle app

Puzzle Friends: you may have noticed that I've slowed down on posting reviews of puzzle apps. The truth of the matter: I've become a little too obsessed with Mortal Coil. I've solved 161 levels and have risen to #14 on the Leaderboard. Usually, when I start a puzzle I disable that functionality: who cares? But now, I care. My goal is to rise to position #13 by the end of the week. It's a silly endeavor. But this could be inscribed on my tombstone!

Head Spin: puzzle app

Head Spin has come out in more than one version. Simple concept: align the heads to be right up by shifting rows & columns. Tricky!

Parking ManiaS: puzzle app plagarism?

Parking ManiaS looks very similar to ThinkFun's Leapin' Lizards. Very suspicious.

Synchrony: time travel puzzle app

About 2 weeks ago I got this email from Haran Shivanan:

"Synchrony is a puzzle game involving time-travel.


As the protagonist, you have to travel backwards in time and work with past (and future) versions of your self in order to solve each level.
In each level, your objective is to reach the red flag.
You're given a fixed number of time capsules that allow you to go back in time to the beginning of the level, where you can see all your past selves in action.


You will have to work together with your past selves and manipulate objects in the level like switches and platforms in order to reach your goal.
Each level is progressively more difficult and introduces new concepts to be used. The levels also have additional milestones to be achieved that require a greater degree of planning, thought and skill.
Your ability to achieve these milestones determines your rating in each level."


Without a doubt there is no puzzle game like this. I have played & solved about 10 levels. Very interesting and strange. Definitely give it a try. There is a lite version to sample. Give it a go!

Lab Mice Puzzles: Award Winner!

http://www.parents-choice.org/product.cfm?product_id=29225

The very wise judges at Parents' Choice have awarded Lab Mice Puzzles from Mindware.com a Silver Honor.

This humble Mechanical Puzzle Correspondent for Games Magazine is the author of those Lab Mice Puzzles. The fan mail from mothers & kids have been pouring in.

Attention all Android users......

Two things:

1. Solitaire Chess is now available for Android users.

2. Which leads me wondering: are there any puzzle apps that is available for Android and not for the iphone & ipad? Let me know!

Duality: iphone ipad maze puzzle app

Ajit Rao has come up with a challenging, fun, brilliant, original set of puzzles. The object: move the blue orb to the big blue dot. Note; the blue & red dots are linked. If the blue dot moves up, so does the red. To change the distance between the blue & red dots: move one of the dots next to one of the force fields.

There are 50 levels. I have solved 38 of them. Highly recommended. There is a free version called Duality Prime with 8 levels.

TipTapTop: puzzle app for kids

TipTapTop - also known as T3 - is a puzzle app for kids. Tap on 2 images to make them swap and restore the photo to order. Patrick Shirkey from Iguana Productions Company made this.

Gemocide: puzzle app for iphone, ipad, ipod touch

Move gems round a board and see how they interact to help (or hinder!) clearing gem-homes. No time limits, no random scoring – what you do is what you get! And this is a game where low scores are best. Minimum moves gives a Gold, nearly-minimum gives Silver and there’s Bronze if you clear a level but take a few extra moves to do it.

And get creative. Whether or not you clear any of the 120 set levels, you can Create your own levels and Export them to your photo albums so you can share them with your friends as you would any other picture. Email them, put them on your website, Facebook, whatever, so they can Import your level into their game. Will you devise the most fiendishly tricky level yet?

Gemocide features

Innovative puzzle system
7 tutorial levels to introduce the game

Mortal Coil: iphone ipad ipod touch puzzle app

Mortal Coil is similar to many other puzzle apps: there is a tilt-maze aspect combined with a topology problem of filling in all the squares with one unbroken string.

200 easy levels
200 medium levels
400 challenging levels. Nobody has solved more than 390 of these. I've done 38 - in about 1.5 hours.

One of this blog's followers pointed this unknown app out to me. It came out in 2009. $1.99 is a bargain for this gem. Adam Miller & Erich Friedman are the brains behind this.

Hi Lo sudoku variation iphone ipad ipod touch puzzle app

Does the world need another variation on sudoku? No! But this one is so fun, I spent about 1.5 hours on it yesterday. Object: make a Latin Square so that each row & column uses the #s 1-4 or 1-5 & 1-6 for the larger grid sizes. The inequality signs must be true for adjacent squares.

Download this for free - you get 10 levels. $1.99 for 150 more levels. Totally worth the money. Fun!

TriZen: puzzle app for iphone ipad ipod touch

TriZen is a tangram type puzzle with some 500 levels. Craig & Lindi Kemper are the authors. They've also created some other tangram puzzles. Check out their web page: http://littlewhitebearstudios.com/products.html

Tippy Tower: balancing puzzle app for iphone, ipad and ipod touch

We've seen many version of this type of puzzle. The makers of Tippy Tower contacted us yesterday with great enthusiasm. Tiago Loureiro is the author.

I downloaded the free version & solved the first 12 levels. The graphics are sleek. Pieces can be picked up and rotated: this requires using a second finger.

Some people may find this incredibly fun. My taste lies more in the cerebral puzzles. However, this puzzle app does require strategic planning. Give it a shot!

Twister 3D: iphone ipad ipod touch puzzle app Review

Twister 3D is a series of take-apart puzzles. I tried this on my ipod touch and was a bit frustrated. The graphics are smooth and sleek. But, having taken apart hundreds of burrs - actual physical puzzles - doing it virtually is not quite the same.

Nevertheless, we applaud the efforts of Frank Worrell and James Low for bringing interesting puzzles into this format. Let's hope that users will be turned on enough to start seeking out, and collecting the real McCoys.

If you are interested in exploring more of these types of puzzles, do check out the Mother Lode of puzzle designs: http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~rh5k-isn/Puzzle/

Trigee Color: iphone ipad ipod touch puzzle app Review

Trigee Color comes from http://istomgames.com/. Istvan Galos is the game designer. The object of the puzzle is to restore the colored triangular tiles to match the pattern given at the beginning.

We've seen dozens of versions of this. The first came from Dough Engel & his circle puzzles in the 80's. Mad Triad is more recent. It was made in limited quantities because users weren't careful & they broke. Store owners refused to sell them after that. But it's a fine mechanical puzzle.

Back to Trigee Color. It's essentially the same thing. Not so hard. However, one must memorize the correct pattern before solving.

There is a free version, so download it. Note: this is not a great fabulous puzzle. However it certainly does not deserve the 1 & 2 star ratings that some 36 people gave.

Roll Doku: sudoku type puzzle app for iphone, ipad, ipod touch. Review

Download the Free version of Roll Doku & just try to do 1 puzzle. A solved Sudoku puzzle is wrapped around a cylinder. Then it is scrambled in a clever way: The rolls are shifted around horizontally. Furthermore, the rows are shifted up and down. Very tough! Yet each puzzle has 1200 solutions.

David Whitehead is the author and he boasts that Rollduko is 'the best sudoku app ever!' That's similar to many claims of 'the hardest puzzle in the world'.

Puzzlers in the news: Scott Kim - cool puzzler.

My favorite newspaper, the Wall Street Journal, has this interesting article about Scott Kim who's had a brain teaser column in Discover Magazine.

ChessQuest (one word): iphone ipod ipad puzzle app

ChessQuest is an interesting series of puzzles. There are about 25 puzzles, which I solved in about 15 minutes. Why am I so good at this? Because of another app called Solitaire Chess which is the exact same thing, but far better.

ChessQuest is a little different in that there is a scoring system. A pawn taking a queen is worth more than a queen taking a pawn. Ignore that part of the game. Go with the Real McCoy: Solitaire Chess, which is one of the best puzzle apps ever. And I'm not saying that because Vesa Timonen is a friend. It really is exceptional.

Mystic Glyph: iphone ipad ipod touch puzzle app

Puzzle friends: I have received some 50 queries the past few days about why I have not posted in 1 week. The reason: I have been consumed with a new puzzle app called Mystic Glyph by Staton Richardson.

Mystic Glyph is a tilt maze puzzle. At least that's what I thought at first. Slide the tiles in any direction until they hit an obstacle. When sliding 1 tile, the other tiles will stay put. Join the 4 red corners to make a square. Beware: if your bottom right red corner connects to a bottom left blue corner - game over.

There are 91 levels. The first 15 levels are simple. Right now I've been stuck on level 72 for a few days.

A Lite version will soon be available. I can assure you: $1.99 is a bargain

2Bit: iphone ipod touch ipad puzzle game app Review

2Bit feels like a 1970's arcade game. You are the little white square. You are always moving forward. As you progress through the grid, try to avoid missiles, battering rams and whatnot. Drag your man backwards to slow him down & avoid these pitfalls.

There's a Lite version. Take it out for a spin.

Produced by: http://www.industrialbrothers.com/

9 cards puzzle app for ipad, iphone, ipod touch Review

9 Cards is an edge-matching puzzle. Place the cards into the frame so that all the edges match.

We've seen several hundred versions of this puzzle in all sorts of forms: rectangular grids, hexagonal pieces, 5x5, 7x7 and even 10x10.

Nadav Solomon created this app. It's not the greatest puzzle app, but if you've never tried edge matching puzzles, go for it.

Definitely look for Nadav's other puzzle app called Nadibom

ZooLogic: iphone ipad ipod touch puzzle app Review

Place the animal and food tiles on the various grids to avoid confrontation or eating. The dog cannot be next to the cat or the bone. The mouse cannot be next to the cat or the cheese. Keep the cat away from the fish!


The 150 challenges will appeal to 5–year olds and College Mathematicians. Designed by Inon Kohn.

This puzzle was made in a physical form about 5 years ago by FoxMind, a fine Canadian puzzle company. Get it too! The app version differs from the physical box version: A tile must be placed on the angry ants - but not a food tile.

Free to download the first 15 or so levels. $2.99 for the rest.

Unlucky Twist: an Oskar van Deventer puzzle

I am now the proud owner of Unlucky Twist from Oskar van Deventer. The order: 1x2x13. This puzzle is not hard to solve. What make the puzzle so interesting is that when the two main lines separate, the pieces at the ends do not fall off. Look closely at the photo and you'll see that the piece at the end is connected all the way to the center with a telescopic shape.

http://www.shapeways.com/shops/oskarpuzzles

Spins 3D puzzle app for iphone, ipad, ipod touch Review

Spins 3D is a very sleek puzzle app authored by Nathan Carter. The object is to spin each circle to rotate the positions of the balls. Match the colored balls to the colored spots & you're done.

Each puzzle can be solved at different levels of difficulty. For example, the treasure box needs to be opened with a key to let out the ball. Some balls get itchy. If they are in the correct positions too long, they flee.

Overall, I do recommend this puzzle!

Nadibom: iphone ipad ipod touch puzzle app Review

I downloaded Nadibom in part, because the image seemed silly, but compelling. The object is to get your man to the bomb. The mazes look simple but The Hero, must push walls inward to get to the closed off paths. However, walls cannot be pushed all the way onto another wall. Therefore, your task is to quickly determine a route by finding which walls can and should be pushed before time expires and BOOOOOM!, you die. I have managed to get through about 25 levels, before dying.

Nadav Solomon is the author. He's working on other puzzle apps too. Download it!

Bumpling: iphone ipad ipod touch puzzle app Review

Have you played Fling!? If so, you will love Bumpling. The object is to knock the balls off the hexagonal grid until only 1 remains. However, there are wormholes. Also, there are rotating plates: if your man passes over this, it will exit at an angle. I'm not going to mention the 2 important elements of the turn-arounds.

Suffice it to say, this is one of those puzzle apps that you keep. Bravo to the Doodle Panda company for making this.

Cube 2D: iphone ipad ipod touch puzzle app Review

For a few minutes I thought to myself, 'Oh no, not another sliding rows and columns puzzle!' Yes and no.

For the easy puzzles, it's exactly that. Scroll down through this blog and see similar puzzles.

For the harder puzzles: things get more complicated. Some rows are linked with other rows. So, if you slide row 1, row 3 will follow. Same with the columns. Definitely give this a test run.

Eui-Hwa Park is the author.

Reiner Knizia's Cluster Master: iphone ipod ipad puzzle app Review

Reiner Knizia has produced many high quality great puzzle apps. Cluster Master: Fit the hexagons into the grid to make clusters of the same color. Larger groups get more points. This is not quite a puzzle game, but it's entertaining. Download the free version and give it a test run.

Jabeh: iphone ipad ipod puzzle app Review

There are so many very good puzzle apps to play. Jabeh is a deceptively great puzzle app. Find the 12 stones in the grid. The numbers on the top indicate how many stones are in that column. The numbers on the left show how many stones are in that row. The arrows point to where a stone must be in that direction, not necessarily next to the arrow.

Arash Payan is the author. The free version has 50 some levels. I couldn't stop, until all the levels were solved. The paid version is a bit pricey at $4.99. Bravo Mr. Payan!

Boxat: puzzle app for iphone, ipad, ipod touch Review

Does the world need another tilt-maze? Not really. However, life is so much richer when a good one comes along. The makers of Boxat are modestly known as Ultimate Team. Boxat comes with 100 levels. Some are very difficult. However, this Mechanical Puzzle Correspondent tackled them all. 99 cents gets 2-3 hours entertainment. If you've never done any tilt mazes, this is a good introduction. Then graduate yourself by getting Blockhouse.

Move It

The object of Move It - to move the red square to the upper right corner. 50 levels are free. After that, there are 6 Level Packs to purchase (optional) each having 100 levels. Move It has a sleek feel & is fun. I solved all of the free levels in my doctor's waiting room. If you like Move It, do try Rush Hour & HexSlide too.

Boxed In 2: completed!

Not all puzzle apps have this little reward for completing all the levels. Boxed In 2 consists of 50 sokomind puzzles with a twist. Some of the boxes need to be pushed into corners. So if you've done many sokomind puzzles, it's difficult to break out of that habit.

Pixel Shift: puzzle app for ipad ipod iphone Review

If you've been following this blog, then you have seen half a dozen or more puzzles very similar to Pixel Shift. Slide the rows and columns to match the figure. This one has a very nice interface. Solve a puzzle quickly and receive 3 stars. 2 stars for medium speed. 1 star for slow.

Martin Robaszewski created this app. It's free, so play it a few times.

Drazzle: iphone, ipad, ipod touch puzzle app Review

Here's a colorful puzzle that's very similar to some other puzzles we've reviewed. The object is to slide the horizontal & vertical lines so that the green balls are in the middle, purple on top, etc.

It's free, so give it a shot.

See the Light: iphone, ipad, ipod touch puzzle app

See the Light has nothing to do with religion. It is a puzzle app. Use mirrors, prisms and lenses, absorbers and other tools to direct the light to the target, thus saving humanity. All in a day's work, right? Brian Sowers has created 80 puzzle levels. Fans of Lumi, Prism (Nintendo DS game) and Slime Lumia will be challenged heartily with the new gadgets.