NineOut: point scoring puzzle app: another update

I have posted blurbs about NineOut a few times. You might say I've become obsessed with this little game. About 1 month ago, I was the world leader with 80,000 points. Then the developer overtook me. I leapfrogged him with 120,000 points.  He reclaimed the lead with 130,000.  After a couple of weeks, I finally overtook him!  My high score is now 151,000.  I need to stop playing it.

I have 3 distinct strategies to play this game. But I'm not going to reveal them.


Click here to see the video of how the game works.

Cast Spiral: Hanayama Mechanical Puzzle of the Week Review

This puzzle resembles a 4 piece puzzle that is shaped as a square. The old Binary Arts company, now known as ThinkFun, produced it.

The idea is exactly the same: take it apart. He he.

Actually I thought both versions weren't too hard. Surprisingly, guests give up.

At the very least, get this for a teenager as a gift.

Click here for the solution.

Stoked: free puzzle app for iphone, ipad

The object of Stoked is to eliminate all the bugs - in this case - with 3 taps. Tap on a red bug and it shoots 1 bullet in each direction. This leads to massive chain reactions. Only red bugs will fire bullets and disintegrate.

After an orange bug is hit once, it will turn into a red bug. A green bug is 1 level higher than an orange bug and a blue bug is still 1 level higher.

Stoked is identical to another puzzle called Shrooms which I review about 3 months ago.

Stoked has 180 free levels (I've solved them all) and 600 paid levels.

Chess - Free by CNVCS: free puzzle app for iphone, ipad

There are many free chess apps available.  Do a search for cnvcs at the app store.

This particular version has lots of bells & whistles. You can play chess at a variety of levels.

Of particular note is the list of chess puzzles - some 38,000. What would make them better: if each puzzle were classified. For example: Mate in 2. Another problem is that the player can make 12 silly wasteful moves and still achieve checkmate, which negates the true nature of the puzzle.

Guo Kuang is the author of this chess puzzle app. Here's what he said about my puzzle app blog: "Because of the Great Firewall of China, I can't visit the blogspot.com. What a pity!" I told him about my qualms and he said it's a good idea.

Curvy Free: puzzle app for iphone, ipad

The object of Curvy Free is to rotate all of the tiles - in place - until all of the lines and colors match up.

We've seen this type of puzzle app before, but usually with square tiles for plumbing or light bulbs.

Tapping on a tile rotates it - a bit slowly. But still, it's fun. A kid would think this puzzle to be awesome. Unfortunately, it will not make the list of Best Puzzle Apps of 2012.

Slide Frog: free puzzle app for iphone, ipad

The object of Slide Frog, a free puzzle app, is to slide rows and columns - not individual cells - to match the given pattern.

We've seen this type of puzzle at least 10 times. But Slide Frog seems more fun. 100 levels.  Not terribly hard. I've done about 40 levels.

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Cast Nutcase: Hanayama Mechanical Puzzle of the Week Review

Oskar van Deventer created this take-apart puzzle. It's tough! I spent hours twisting the nuts back and forth.

One of my students brought the puzzle and asked: have you seen this? Yeah, and I can't solve it. Then he showed me.

People sometimes ask me what types of puzzles I collect. That's hard to answer, but I always start with: Oskar's puzzles!

Click here for the solution.

Brain Fit 2: free iphone ipad puzzle app

The object of Brain Fit 2 is to assemble the pieces to fit into the light green rectangle at the top of the screen.

The graphics and user interface are terrific. If you like this type of puzzle, go for it.

I've done enough of these to be a bit bored of them. Brain Fit 2 is a free puzzle app, but it does not climb onto the list of Best Puzzle apps of 2012

Frankenword

The object of Frankenword is to use the given letters to find two words that blend into each other.

Frankenword is a free puzzle app. Well, the first 50 puzzles are free. After that, you gotta pay. I think it's fun.

Another good word puzzle app is 7 Little Words.  If you've got a favorite word puzzle app, let me know.

PathPix HD: puzzle app for iphone ipad

The object of PathPix HD is to connect pairs of numbers with a line that will cover exactly that many squares.  Look at the center of the image: the two 12's are connected with a big yellow S that's exactly 12 squares.

PathPix has about 200 levels. It's very well done. In terms of difficulty - not hard. Slightly tricky. Some of the grids are super large - but that doesn't mean they're any harder.

Young puzzlers will definitely like this. You really need a big screen for PathPix.

Click here to Kris Pixton's web page.  At the very least, download the lite version - it's free.

Fuusio: puzzle app for ipad, iphone Review

Marko Salmela recently contacted me about his new puzzle app Fuusio.  You are presented with grids of different colors. Your task is to merge them to form 1 complete colored grid of the same color

The first few levels are quite simple. Then they get hard, very quickly.

There are 40-some tutorial levels where you will learn about action blocks: inversion, mask, swap, shift etc. Suffice it to say, it's easier for me to direct you to view the video.

You might think that all the 3x3 grids are easy. No! The 5x5 grids are multiple puzzles in one.

Fuusio is tough. I cannot simply play this while 'watching' the news. Full concentration is required.

Fuusio absolutely jumps onto the list of Best Puzzle Apps of 2012. If you finish all the levels, please contact me.

Cast Devil: Hanayama Mechanical Puzzle of the Week Review

Click here for the solution.

I first got this puzzle from Thinkfun. I believe they called it Twin Tangle. It's a disentanglement puzzle.

What I particularly like about this puzzle is that you can give it to kids and they will not be able to break it!

Oh! I remember Thinkfun had it in their discount bin, so I bought a few copies for $1 each.

Get it. Let me know how you like it.

Colbox: free iphone ipad puzzle app

Colbox: the object is to make all the tiles the same color. You start with your man being colored in the top corner. If an adjacent tile is green, then you can make your lone tile green - enabling you to absorb that other green tile.  Each puzzle comes with a given number of moves.

We've seen this type of puzzle app before. Floodit comes to mind.

I like the artwork of the title!

Magic Bricks: update on this puzzle app for iphone, ipad

Previously, I wrote about Magic Bricks. It's fabulous, incredibly addictive. But I'm royally pissed off.

Look at the image here:

It shows that I've completed all of the highest levels.  When I completed level 100, I knew that I had to go back and do level 33. That was the only level left for me.

Level 33 took about 45 minutes to solve.  Now look at the next image. After I solved level 33, the program discarded my success on levels 34 - 100.  I had to delete it from my ipad.

So, if you do attempt to do this puzzle app: don't skip any levels!

Lost Souls: Enchanted Paintings

Marta Miernik recently contacted me about her company's new puzzle app for kids: Lost Souls: Enchanted Paintings.

As you can see by the images, this is for young kids.

But that's okay. I've played this game with my 9 year old son.

You are transported into a painting/world. Find some objects, use them in other places, solved some simple puzzle, get rewarded.

Lost Souls can best be described as Myst for kids. What I particularly like is that when you reenter a place, a message might say 'there's nothing to do here'. This saves a lot of time and won't frustrate young puzzlers.

So far we've done 5 painting/worlds. They're all basically the same. But my son really likes it.

Update on NineOut: free puzzle app for iphone, ipad

I've previously posted two mentions of NineOut, which is a point scoring puzzle app.

2 things you should know.

1. I regained the lead and am the high scorer with 120,000. In 2nd place is Sandro Bagattini with 100,000. He's the developer. Ha!

2. NineOut is free until July 15.  That doesn't give you much time.

Runeline: free puzzle app for iphone, ipad

Runeline is an edge-matching puzzle. Grey Runes can rotate and move. Yellow Runes are fixed, but they can rotate. Blue Runes cannot move or rotate.

(A long time ago, I knew some folks into Runes. They're a set of tiles that have symbols on them. A book came with it and each symbol had some kind of vague adage. A draw bag came with it. The Rune folks always seemed to think that some cosmic force destined them to draw that specific rune from the bag.  I didn't get it. Too new-agey for me.)

See the Wikipedia article here.

There are 48 levels.  I've solved15 levels and am stuck on level 16 which has 22 tiles. Anatoliy Tsvetkov is the designer. Runeline is a free puzzle app, so definitely give it a chance!

English 16: free puzzle app for iphone, ipad Review

In 1990 I bought 2 books of Sam Loyd's puzzles. This puzzle was in one of them. The object is to slide tiles 1 square at a time, or jump tiles one square at a time to interchange the colors.

I remember spending a good 30 minutes looking for the fastest solution.

This version is free and, hey, you won't have to collect bottle caps to do this puzzle.

Update on Rows Free: free iphone ipad puzzle app

About 5 months ago I wrote about Rows Free which is a puzzle app that is similar to the card game SET.

My high score is 22,613. That was one game and it took 2 continuous hours.

Today, I see that Joy1127 is the world leader with 523,637. That score would take me about 26 hours - without making a mistake!  So Joy1127, if you're reading this, please contact me and inform my readers how long it took you.

Cast Cricket: Hanayama Mechanical Puzzle of the Week Review

Click here for the solution.

James Dalgety, I believe, has the world's largest puzzle collection. He's from England and he designed this Cricket puzzle.

I've played with this puzzle and have solved it.

Also, I played the actual game Cricket when I worked at a summer camp with some of the counselors who were British. I didn't fully understand the rules. It's not as good as baseball. Sorry James!

Update of Snake Slider: puzzle app for iphone, ipad

Bas de Reuver recently contacted me about an update to his puzzle app: Snake Slider. He's got 25 more levels.

I've solved 23 of them. Those last 2 are killing me.

7/14/12 Update: I solved the last 2 levels. Oh yeah!

Number Zone: free puzzle app for iphone, ipad

The object of Number Zone is to fill the grid completely with groups of colored circles. Look at the 2: that group will consist of 2 circles, while the 8 will yield in a group of 8 different colored circles.

Number Zone is not terribly hard. Grid sizes are 4x4, 5x5 and 6x6.  I noticed that my standing on the Leader Board was low. So I kept playing the easy levels to advance and that's when I discovered that the game keeps repeating the same puzzle levels. Ugh.

Still, it's free and it's fun. But it won't make the list of Best Puzzle Apps of 2012.

Rubricks: free iphone ipad puzzle app

The title alone makes this puzzle app worthy of my attention. Worthy of your attention? That's another story.

Blocks come down in rows all at once - actually quite slowly - and you have to line up same colored blocks with opposite arrows to eliminate them.

I could describe 5 reasons why this game is awful. But I'd rather not spend any more time on this.

Micron: puzzle app for iphone, ipad Review

Micron is a mirror-maze puzzle app which requires an element of timing. Bullets are shot from the starting point. In the case above that starting point is the blue mark on the extreme left. The target is the grey target on the extreme right.

To open the blue gate on the right, one of the bullets must hit the blue mark at the bottom right corner first.

 Notice the colored lines? A red bullet can go through a red line and continue onward. The red bullet will cease to exist if it hits the orange line.

Look at Level 24. 1 mirror is tilted, the other is vertical. I don't think I've seen that element in mirror mazes before.

 Wormholes are also used.

Micron has 51 levels. I have solved them all! They start easy, and get, seemingly, impossible. I found an alternate solution to level 40 that does not utilize all of the mirrors. Tom Voros, the author, has since fixed that in the latest upgrade.


Micron has old-school 1980's graphics. But that's okay. It's the challenge and fun of the puzzles that propels it into the list of Best Puzzle Apps of 2012.

Bravo Tom Voros!

World's Hardest Sudoku?

Arto Inkala has spent months making this puzzle. 11 stars. Nobody has solved it.

Cast Key: Hanayama Mechanical Puzzle of the Week Review

Click here for the solution.

This is not the hardest puzzle in the world. But it's one of the most charming.

The object is to separate the two keys. If you like the Cast Bike puzzle, you'll like this too.

Perfect Tiling: puzzle app for iphone, ipad

Eric Paquet recently contacted me about his new puzzle app: Perfect Tiling. It's his first puzzle app.

The diagram above pretty much sums up what this puzzle is all about. Fit the pieces into the blue square above.

There are 10 different grid layouts.  One is a cross.  Within each of those 10 grids there is an infinite number of puzzles.

The puzzles are not easy to solve. Fortunately, you can get a hint in the form of 1 puzzle piece being placed in the correct position. I have solved 1 puzzle in each category.

 It's a bit like the recently reviewed Fish Crackers. If you like that, then definitely give Perfect Tiling a try.

PushPop

Pushpop is a solitaire version which is similar to Crazy Eights and Uno.

Tap on any card at the top of a column. The next card must match the number or color. Try to get all the cards off the grid. Not terribly hard. Also, I'm pretty sure there are multiple solutions.

This is good fun for kids. 

I would like the graphics to move faster. T

Twin Beams: iphone ipad puzzle app Review

The object of Twin Beams: plant 2 trees in every park so that each row and column has exactly two trees.  Also, two trees cannot be adjacent to each other – vertically, horizontally or diagonally.

I've seen this type of puzzle before.  Most recently in '63 Logic Games' which is another puzzle app. They call that game Parks.

Nicola Salmoria contacted me recently about his new app Twin Beams with a really long explanation of everything: how much time he put into it, how he borrowed the concept etc.

Bottom Line: there are 10,000 levels: 2500 at each level.  The easy levels are easy. However, I couldn't stop playing them. My objective was to solve each in less than a minute. The addiction has set in, it's real.  My newest goal is to solve each medium puzzle under 2 minutes - but I'm not quite there yet.

The one qualm I have with Twin Beams is that the user can skip a puzzle, but not return to it very easily. I think you have to cycle through the remaining 2500 at that difficulty level.

 Look at the Statistics! This is the first puzzle I've seen that records how much time the user has actually played the puzzle.  Myself: I've played the puzzle for 9 hours and 41 minutes - so far. I expect to get at least another 50 hours of entertainment. Not bad for a couple of bucks.

Twin Beams absolutely joins the list of Best Puzzle Apps of 2012.

Great job Nicola!

Cast Bike: Hanayama Mechanical Puzzle of the Week Review

Click here for the solution. 

Cast Bike is part of the Hanayama collection. The object is to get the ring off the bike.

In terms of difficulty, this one is pretty easy. But there is a certain element that is so appealing. I won't give it away.

Also, the metal itself is really nice to have in the hands.

If you don't have this, add it to your collection.

BlockUnBlock: another ripoff of Rush Hour

I've lost count of the number of total ripoffs of Rush Hour. This is the worst. Why? Because it comes with just 27 levels.

Skip this crap and look for Blockado. It's a set of 4 puzzle apps that have some clever innovations to the Rush Hour theme.

NineOut: an update

I've written before about NineOut which is a point scoring puzzle app. I am now the all-time high scorer at 97,000 points. Oh yeah! I'll be famous.

Here's the note I got from the developer:

Incredible… here, take the gold medal. But be prepared, i want to get her back :-D

Congratulations and best wishes from switzerland

Sandro

Kaleido 10: free puzzle app for iphone, ipad

The object of Kaleido 10 is to score points by finding 3 or more tiles whose sum is 10. When that happens, the tiles above fall down. Also, the surrounding odd tiles will decrease by 1

Some tiles are greater than 10 though! Double tap on them if they're even and they are divided by 2. 

Kaleido 10 has the potential to be a really fun puzzle. However, there are too many tiles greater than 10.

A better game is NineOut.

Clickmazes Boxup: puzzle app for iphone, ipad

The object of Clickmazes Boxup is to push the red C into the blue C. Think of it as a kind of sokoban.

Years ago I became a huge fan of Andrea Gilbert's website clickmazes.com.

One of my favorite puzzles was Boxup. It only had 12 levels. But I'm sure I solved them several times each.

Now, finally, Boxup is available with 110 levels. They are classified as: Trainee, Speedy, Quirky, Sneaky, Nasty and Beastly. I have solved all of the Trainee to Nasty levels.  Of the 20 Beastly levels, I've done 3 of them.

This is excellent fun. Well worth the money. Clickmazes Boxup easily makes its way onto the List of Best Puzzle Apps of 2012.

Fish Crackers: puzzle app for iphone, ipad

Fish Crackers is another puzzle app from the prolific Grabarchuk Family.  The object is to assemble the tiles into each frame.  There are 100 puzzle levels.  I have to admit: I'm not a big fan of these types of puzzles. Nevertheless, this is a fine set of puzzles. I know that my 7th & 8th grade students would like this.

Without a doubt, you should also try their other puzzle  Sliding Tiles.

Strimko is another terrific puzzle app of theirs.

Cast Elk: Hanayama Mechanical Puzzle of the Week Review

Cast Elk was one of many puzzles designed by Nob Yoshigahara.   The object is to take the 2 antlers apart.



When you solve it, it seems quite simple.  Then try again a week later and it's not easy any more!  Very inexpensive at $13.  Click here for the solution. 

 I knew Nob casually via the International Puzzle Party. He was quite a character. He performed a magic trick at one of our banquets. The trick involved giant cards placed in envelopes. He never touched anything. In the middle of the trick, he told me how simple the trick was. I don't think anybody figured it out.
 

Moskeez: free puzzle app for iphone, ipad

The object of Moskeez is to match numbered tiles. Two 1's will form one two.  Then two 2's will form one 3. The tiles must be aligned horizontally or vertically. The number of spaces between the tiles is irrelevant.

Keep doing this until only one tile remains.

The Lite version comes with 60 puzzles. I solved them all in about 1 hour. Moskeez reminds me of Lunar Lockout, Fling, and Monster Joe with a numerical element.

You should definitely download Moskeez. It's fun! I will certainly buy the level packs.

Cargo-Bot: puzzle app for iphone, ipad Review

Cargo-Bot is a programming puzzle. Your task is to pick up the colored crates and re-stack them. More than one of my 'followers' has pointed this out to me. I've solved 18 of the levels. My solutions were not efficient and I got mostly 1 star each time. I like Cargo-Bot, but I'm not feeling the addiction.