WrapSlide: free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

  

When I first saw WrapSlide on the app store, I immediately came to the conclusion: looks like another 'slide the rows & columns to match the pattern puzzle app. We have seen at least a dozen versions of this. I did not download it.


I was wrong. About a week ago Alewyn Burger, the author, contacted me about his game. WrapSlide is different in a significant way. See the heavy black lines that divide the shape into 4 quadrants? You cannot slide a single row or column. Instead, you will slide them all together. Meaning: you can slide only 4 things: the southern hemisphere or the northern hemisphere or the eastern or western.


You have the controls to set the level of difficulty.  See the first image? Your task is to get the yellow squares into 1 quadrant. As your understanding of the puzzle increases, you can increase the level of difficulty by making the grid larger and have more colors.


I started with the easiest level to get the feel for the game - it's more challenging than I thought. Then I jumped to 4 colors with the smallest grid. Getting the first color is relatively easy. The second color wasn't too bad. But I was not able to get the third & fourth which of course must be solved simultaneously.


WrapSlide is a serious FREE puzzle app game. Definitely, give it a shot.


https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wrapslide/id795712935?mt=8


On another note: this blog finally has 150 followers. It's taken 4 years to get that far. Because there are about 500 visits/day, I'm guessing that some people are not signing up as followers because they don't want junk email. Just so you know: you will never get any email from this blog. Unless you write to me.

Connect Cubes: free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

  

Connect Cubes is an edge matching puzzle. Red squares can be rotated, but not moved. The blue ones can move, but not rotate. The pinks can do both.


There are 200 levels. I've done about 40 of them.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/connect-cubes/id870093531?mt=8

10s Challenge - Hardest Game in The World: free puzzle-y type game for iphone, ipad

10s Challenge - Hardest Game in The World may or may not be the hardest game in town. But it is tough. You must drag the red circle to pick up the 3 yellow stars while avoiding the bouncing squares and the blue lines.  I got through 12 levels. I like this game, but that's probably it for me.
https://itunes.apple.com/nz/app/10s-challenge-hardest-game/id852451109?mt=8

Petaminx Tutorial - 8 hour video

Nixie - Challenge Your Brain: free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

 

Nixie - Challenge Your Brain comes from Andrew Zaharek and Joshua Levesque.  It's a free puzzle app game that took me extra time to understand.  It's very similar to Akari, which is also known as Lighthouse.  I exchanged a few emails with Andrew & learned that he never knew about Akari. Weird: I solved all of the beginner levels, but didn't really understand what I was doing!

You must place a circle that will light up the row and column and eventually get the whole board lit up.  Here are the key differences from Akari: a cluster of 3's means that there will be 3 circles in total that will touch them. Also, those circles can be placed diagonally to a number.  One more rule difference: no circle can be placed in a field of nothingness. A circle must be next to a number.


There are about 130 levels.  I've solved all but 10. Right now I'm stuck on the hardest category #2. It's a massive grid where one must use a certain amount of guess & check.


Something annoying: Nixie is free but there are video ads.  They pop up every 3 or 4 levels. Even more annoying, they can pop up when you want to clear the board by clicking refresh. Andrew informed me that they are going to make them less frequent. There's also a time element to them.


Without a doubt, Nixie is the best game of the week and will certainly make the list of Best Puzzle Apps of 2014. It's a pure puzzle.
Great job Andrew!
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nixie-challenge-your-brain/id546520101?mt=8

Block N Roll 3D: free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

Rolling block mazes have been around for a while.  After one of my students showed me Bloxorz, I gave him a 10 point bonus on his next test.


Block N Roll 3D is nothing special. There are 18 levels and I solved them in about 15 minutes.


Here's what's interesting: some tiles are yellow, which means that they cannot sustain much weigh. The 2x1 block can not rest entirely on it.


Good for kids.
https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/block-n-roll-3d/id876699817?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D2

RubiCube: fee puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

RubiCube is another 'slide the rows & columns to match the pattern' type puzzle. We've seen at least a hundred of these.  RubiCube has 200 levels. I did the first 14 levels in about 15 minutes. I wanted to jump to the harder levels, but didn't want to pay for that privilege.


Right now I'm playing another new app that's more worthy of your time. Nevertheless, here's the link to this game.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/rubicube-puzzle-game/id874704243?mt=8

Numoo: free point scoring puzzle app

Numoo is a point scoring tilt/dodge game. You are the circle and can slide up and down the rope. As the numbers slide in from the right and left, you must crash into them only if they are higher than you.
It's not terribly good but it's actually hard to put down. In terms of the Leaderboard, there are 264 players and I'm #19 at the moment.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/numboo/id848633311?mt=8

Rubik's Cube turns 40

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2014/05/19/rubiks-cube-google-celebrates-40th-anniversary-of-toy-puzzles-invention-with-interactive-and-addictive-doodle/

Early 1981: after playing with the cube on/off for a few weeks, I woke up on a Sunday morning and said to myself: TODAY IS THE DAY THAT I WILL SOLVE THIS. 9 hours later, it was DONE! (Halfway through my grandmother came over and she wanted ...to try it. Within seconds, she ruined whatever progress I had.) I got the corners by partial luck and then figured out the edges. I didn't fully understand my algorithms. The next day it took me only 4 hours. The day after - 2 hours. Eventually I came up with an algorithm for the corners. I know that my method is slow - my fastest time is about 2 minutes. I'm resistant to learn the faster methods because I didn't figure them out myself. Erno Rubik is a great man.

Mr. Erno Rubik could be the most influential person of the 20th century.

Square - Push Square: free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

Square - Push Square is a sokoban type puzzle game. The circle is supposed to push the blue squares onto the white dots.  When that happens, the squares turn red.


Here's what I like: if you wish to move the dot (not pushing anything) to any place on the grid, tap that square and it will do the rest. Skips the tedium.


There are 240 levels. I did the first 20, another 40 levels in the middle and the final 20. They go pretty fast and are not very hard. But keep in mind that I've done a few thousand of these types in other games.


Square - Push Square is pretty slick and well done. I'd just prefer to see some very challenging levels.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/square-push-square/id866485895?mt=8

EnigmOn: puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

EnigmOn is a puzzle app game that is similar to 100 Floors and all of its clones.  There are 28 levels to solve.  See the key? That's level 1.

See the safe? That's where I'm currently stuck.


Right now the price is $1.99.  I got it for free because AppsGoneFree keeps track of cool apps - of all types - that become free for a limited time. About 2 weeks ago, they featured Can't Stop about a week after I paid $1.99. Oh well.


On another note, looking at newly published puzzle apps - there is a deluge of clones of Threes! and 2048! There must be at least 100 of these. What's disappointing is that it's harder to find the real gems under the rubble.  If you find something good, do send me an email.


https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/enigmon/id459892261?mt=8

Good article on puzzle apps for classrooms

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/game-apps-in-math-class-patrick-feeney#comment-186746

Jewel Keeper: free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad



Jewel Keeper is a sokoban type puzzle app. Your task is to push the jewels onto the green spots.


I first came upon the sokoban type puzzles from boxworld back in 1994. I love the genre.  However, Jewel Keeper is not terribly interesting. I suppose it's good for young puzzlers.  What's up with the young woman in the black dress?


https://itunes.apple.com/jp/app/jewel-keeper/id856235884?mt=8

Threes! Update

Hello loyal puzzle app blog readers,

above is the game that I'm obsessed over. I told myself that I would stop when I got to the 1536 tile.  After playing for 3 months, I finally got it and got a score of 62,000.  However, I'm still playing it. I got another 1536 tile. Now I'm gunning for the 3072 tile.  Crazy!

This blog will get its 500,000 hit today!  If it's you, take a screen shot and email it to me. My last name AT Hotmail.com Mobile computer users: sometimes the hit counter does not show up on your device. Oh well.

Nino: puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

The object of Nino is to get your man, the puffy white cloud, from one side to the other without being attacked by the dark clouds. Good & evil theme.
Your man can move 2 squares at a time, while the black clouds can only move 1 square at a time.
The first set of challenges - that's about it. Then there are a whole slew of elements. See the windmills? Land on one of them and you can move another square. See the drooping sunflower? You will need to land on the fish tank to pick up some water, then land on the sunflower. Other elements you will face: smoke stacks and electrical grids. There could be more that I haven't seen yet. There are 200 levels. I've solved only 37 - because they get hard!
https://itunes.apple.com/app/id838156285?mt=8

Frozen Ice Cubes Fall Strategy Challenge: free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

Frozen Ice Cubes Fall Strategy Challenge is a deceptively good set of puzzles.  The object is to move one ice cube to one pail. The ice cubes can drop into the pails from the top or sideways - okay that's a bit weird.  Ice cubes travel together - right, left, down, but never up. 


Frozen Ice Cubes Fall Strategy Challenge reminds me of another outstanding puzzle app game: Vubu: http://gottasolveit.blogspot.com/2012/09/vubu-puzzle-app-for-iphone-ipad-review.html


This is the second time in recent memory that ice cubes have been used as a puzzle element: http://gottasolveit.blogspot.com/2013/02/puzzle-retreat-puzzle-game-app-for.html




Great feature of this game: each level can be solved at 3 modes: easy, medium, hard. Essentially, the easy modes allow you to solve the same puzzles with more moves.  Regardless, some of the puzzles are hard with an unlimited number of moves. Tricky is a better word.

There are 120 levels & I've done 63 so far.


Undone Panda has done a great job here with this puzzle game app.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/frozen-ice-cubes-fall-strategy/id864197998?mt=8

OverColor: puzzle app for iphone, ipad

OverColor is an interesting puzzle app game.  The object is to match the shape in the left square by placing the various shapes in a certain sequence.

Look at the example. See all the blue-ish shapes? It appears that they will not all be used.

There are 100 levels. I've solved 8 levels. I like this game. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/overcolor/id695133496?mt=8

500,000 visitors!

Want to win a prize? This blog is about to get its 500,000th visitor. If it's you, take a screen shot & mail it to me: Mylastname@hotmail.com to receive a small prize.

WonderCube: free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

WonderCube is a free puzzle app game that's surprisingly difficult. The object is to score a certain number of points within a certain number of moves to advance to the next level.


The point scoring system is not explained anywhere.  Tap on a group of 1's and you will score that number of points and they will turn into a single 2 - at the spot where you tapped them out.


Suppose you tap on seven 3's.  You will score 21 points. Straight forward. But now we come to scoring with a chain. First tap on some 1's. They will become a single 2. If that 2 is part of a group of 2's, then you will get double the points. If that group of 2's becomes a 3 that forms a group of 3's, then you will get triple for that.


However, suppose you start your chain with the 2's. When you tap on the 3's you will only get double the points.

Strategy: you definitely want to build up to get a chain of 5's. But your moves are limited.


WonderCube is all about building successive chains.


See the row below the grid? You can swap those tiles when necessary. However, doing so will break the chain scoring.


Regarding the graphics - yeah, they're geared to the youngsters. There are numerous opportunities to buy your way out of a level.


Bottom Line: WonderCube is actually quite serious. There are 50 levels and I'm stuck on 11. Why? Because after level 10 there's an 'energy' level. I only got 1 star on that and cannot try again for another 7 hours. Unless I buy some energy for $.99.


https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wondercube/id793022723?mt=8

Don't Click Me: free point scoring game for brain speed

Don't Click Me is a great game for folks worrying about Alzheimer's.  The directions are so poorly written!


See the green squares: don't click on them. Or the white squares. Only click on the black squares, starting at the bottom and working your way up. The screen will become like a treadmill. You must tap on the black tiles as they scroll down. 


I like this game a lot. When things speed up and I'm going back and forth to get all the tiles, my brain is exercising. Then suddenly the goal is achieved and the scrolling comes to an immediate halt. It feels like a jolt and I'm a bit dizzy.


Don't Click Me may be a clone of something else. I've seen 2 other people playing this on the subway. One was called Piano Tiles.


Question: is it better to use one hand or two hands for this.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dont-click-me/id861238914?mt=8

Grid Puzzle the Brain Training Game: free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

Maiaz Rahman recently contacted me about his puzzle app game: Grid Puzzle the Brain Training Game.




It is a Nonogram type puzzle, which we've seen many times before.  One nice feature: you can get a hint about where one of the pieces goes. Another nice feature, which I believe is unique among the Nonogram type puzzles: a randomizer. If you're stuck, you can push the randomizer button and that will scramble the tiles while preserving the ones that are correctly marked. It's very cool.


I played/solved about 20 levels. On more than 1 occasion, there were multiple solutions. There's a lot of interesting graphics & bells & whistles. If you've been following this blog, you know that I always deem that as secondary to the actual puzzles.  In this case, it takes too much time to go from 1 puzzle to another. But I understand and appreciate that others would like that. The credits show that a lot of people worked on this.


Did I mention that Grid Puzzle the Brain Training Game is free?
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/grid-puzzle-brain-training/id845110271?mt=8

Magic Hexagon Ultimate: free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

 

There's a mechanical puzzle called Mad Triad. The object is to swivel the center circles to rotate the triangles around.


Magic Hexagon Ultimate is from Pham Quang Viet and does exactly what Mad Triad does.  Mad Triad was a commercial failure because it broke too often and stores got too many returns.


This app has another challenge mode where you must solve the puzzle within a given number of moves.
https://itunes.apple.com/cn/app/id866163788?mt=8

The Impossible Dodging Game: free point scoring game for iphone, ipad

Diego Acevedo is the author of The Impossible Dodging Game. The object is to place your man, a small square, anywhere on the board and then dodge the oncoming traffic of rectangles that fall from above. You can slide your man side to side & up and down.


I like this game a lot because things start off nice and slow and very gradually speed up.  My high score so far is 279.


This is the kind of game where I say I'll play it a few times, but end up playing it for a month.


https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-impossible-dodging-game/id864264318?mt=8




Diego also created the Impossible Cube Maze Game, http://gottasolveit.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-impossible-cube-maze-game-free.html

Percepto: puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

Recently I discovered Percepto which came out 2 or 3 years ago. Percepto is very difficult to describe. Here goes: your task is to get your man to the exit (the white door). You can perceive the blocks from 4 directions as you rotate the room.  Tap to shrink the room to a 2-D space and if the blocks line up, your man can travel to another block. You will have to go back to a 3D perspective, check all 4 different views, and shrink it back to 2D again. Essentially, Percepto is a very sophisticated series of mazes. Major kudos to Daniel Hooper for this excellent puzzle game design.






The staircases are self explanatory. The red buttons turn on and off blocks that will travel up, down & diagonally.


I'm guessing that Daniel Hooper must have seen another puzzle app game called Monospace. See my review from about 4 years ago. In Monospace the room can be rotated from all 6 perspectives. It is a masterpiece. I've solved 59 out of the 60 levels. (Grrrr)


Back to Perspecto: right now I've completed 38 level and I'm stuck on #39. Altogether there are about 40 levels; Daniel's not sure. I really like Perspecto!




http://danielhooper.tumblr.com/post/18736849461/percepto
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/percepto/id419502225?mt=8

Amid Worlds: free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

I started playing Amid World more than a month ago. I was on a plane and could not access level 27 or so because the program insisted that I view an online ad. So I forgot all about it.


Yesterday, I rediscovered the puzzle game. Amid Worlds is a laser maze game. Line up the alien with the pear by tapping on the squares & octagons. The first image pretty much sums up the game.


Starting at level 30 or so, there are 2 objectives.  The second image says it all.

You might think that it's harder, but not necessarily so.  Once you achieve one of the objectives, then those tiles cannot be rotated again. Also, notice the curved lines in some of the square tiles.


I completed all 60 levels. I watched all of the annoying ads. Then I decided to pay the $.99, as a thank you to the developer, Vasile Dediu.


Much to my surprise, there's been an update with 30 more levels with 3 objectives.

Amid Worlds is well done, fun, mildly challenging.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/amid-worlds-free/id807206902?mt=8

Crazy Bad Cuber

Recently, I became a fan of CrazyBadCuber. His reviews of new plastic twisty puzzles are excellent.

Connect Infinite: free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad There is a surprise

We've seen many 'connect the pipes' type puzzle apps. Connect Infinite comes from Glen Dizon.


The object is to rotate the pips, in their fixed places, so that no steam escapes. I did the first 25 or so levels rapidly while watching the news. I checked the leaderboard and saw only 50 players.


A couple of things are different: see the double pronged gray pipes? That's new. Look at the yellow shapes: those are pipes that must be connected - but you don't know what the opening/closing valves look like.


Big surprise: see the red circles? Tap on them once and that whole square region will rotate. Very interesting.


One negative element: each time you start a new level, the top of the puzzle is obscured by that blue bar with the time. I didn't realize, until level 60, that you're supposed to drag the playing field down. Ugh.

Major Surprise: Starting at level 76, there are red circles, whose squares share some pipes. This means that pipes can migrate from one square region to another. At this point, Connect Infinite becomes a serious, hard set of puzzles.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/connect-infinite/id717071107?mt=8

Want to make some money in puzzles? Are you a great programmer?

Want to make some money in puzzles?  The Grabarchuk family is world famous for creating all types in vast quantities. I particularly liked their app: Strimko. It's a Latin Square puzzle. Each row & column should have the numbers 1-5. Also, each string of circles should also have the numbers 1-5. I particularly like the larger grid sizes.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/strimko/id328286124?mt=8


Let's talk business: Peter Grabarchuk is looking for investors for their MASSIVE COMPENDIUM OF PUZZLES, which they call PUZZLIUM. 2 months ago, they came to the New York Puzzle Party Symposium and made their demonstration/pitch.  I was the guinea pig that day.  Puzzlium is beyond humongous and good.


'Puzzlium's mission is to release people's creativity to make the world smarter. Founded in 2014 by Serhiy Grabarchuk, Serhiy Grabarchuk Jr, Peter Grabarchuk, and Mehmet Murat Sevim'.




So far they've raised $72,000.  I'm friends with 3 of the investors. Also, they are looking for great programmers.  Go to the link at the bottom to see more. If you do end up working/investing with them, do let me know.







The main goal of Puzzlium is digitizing the puzzle world in order to:
1) transfer all puzzles from the current non-interactive media to multitouch interactive platforms;
2) preserve and give an easy access to the world puzzle heritage and achievements;
3) sparkle creativity in creators and developers to bring brand new modern puzzles;
4) avoid an ad-based mechanism of monetization;
5) build all social algorithms based solely on the participants' interaction.

The Puzzlium network comprises three main elements:
I. Solving puzzles - interactively.
II. Creating puzzles - easily.
III. Competing with other - socially.

About Puzzlium Inc.
Puzzlium's mission is to release people's creativity to make the world smarter. Founded in 2014 by Serhiy Grabarchuk, Serhiy Grabarchuk Jr, Peter Grabarchuk, and Mehmet Murat Sevim.
angel.co/puzzlium

PInochle HD - free for a short time

A story: when we were kids, our father taught us Pinochle. We never knew anybody else who played the game.  We had marathon sessions - always when we were on vacation.  One day, my father saw a classified ad about a Pinochle tournament.  But the phone number was wrong. My father theorized that it could've been a case of espionage: when a spy completed his mission, he would place a classified ad that nobody would pay any attention to.


Pinochle HD has a rule that we never used: after the bidding is complete, the partner can pass 4 cards to his partner. The bidder gets to see them before passing over 4 other cards.  Also different: the opening bid starts at 250.


I played Pinochle HD for about 30 minutes. I really like it.....but I'm not sure that the program is people smart. I let the person to my right win the bidding and he picked spades as trump....I had 5 spades including the ace and two tens.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pinochle-hd/id364543479?mt=8

Another Robot solves Rubik's Cube in record time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0pFZG7j5cE&feature=player_embedded


I've lost track of how many robots have broken the record for speed cubing. This record is going to stand for a while.

3Doku: puzzle app game for iPhone, iPad

Tired of Sudoku? Me too. But recently Simone Tellini sent me a promo code for his 3D version of Sudoku which he calls 3Doku.


It's MONSTER SIZED. The idea is to solve 27 Sudokus simultaneously. 9 in each direction.


Look at the bottom right image. All of those white dots represent numbers that have already been filled in.  Now look at the other 3 images: you will view those grids at the same time. So, if a 6 works on the x-axis grid, you will have to confirm/prove that it works on the y & z axes.


I solved 1 puzzle at the 'Easy - I'm just learning the game' level and it took a while.  A few minutes to figure out the controls.  Then I'd say it took another hour or so to complete it.


I felt the need to document solving it so I took a screen shot. (Am I being insecure? And why won't  BlogSpot let me copy and paste it so I can show the world.)


If I didn't have so many other puzzle app games to play, I'd give the harder levels a go.


3Doku is $.99.  Do it to prove your brainpower. At the very least, it'll impress your friends. Especially if they're playing that stupid Candy Crush game.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/3doku-for-iphone/id452799900?mt=8

Croco's Escape: free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

My instinct when seeing this kind of graphic - stay away - it's just for kids! Nevertheless, I got an email - spam, really, talking about how there are 120 levels and you have to get Croco to escape.

Here's the deal, it's a rectangular version of Rush Hour.



Croco starts on the left and must get to the exit. You have to move the obstacles.  I did the first 20 levels and the program told me I couldn't go on because I didn't get 3 stars for each level. I don't know how I didn't get 3 stars. Nor do I really wish to go back to earn them. The graphics are a bit clumsy and I've already done a few thousand of these Rush Hour types before. There was one thing that was cute - when Croco gets tot he exit, he looks up at you, presumably to say thanks. Croco's Escape is strictly for kids.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/crocos-escape/id787410621?mt=8

Pathle: free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

Simone Tellini recently contacted me about his puzzle app game Pathle.  (The word is a combination of Path & Puzzle.)  Essentially, it's a topology puzzle game.  We've seen many of these types before.




Here's what you have to do: trace your finger over all of the dots passing over the lines once. Sorry, no image available now.


When I was a kid, drawing a house using these rules was quite popular. It consisted of 4 dots making a square and a fifth dot above the square.


I studied some topology in college and can do these types puzzles very quickly.  There was a similar app from about 2 years ago - any time I couldn't sleep, I'd do them. I don't remember the name of that app.


Interesting feature: some lines must be passed over twice, or three, four and five times.


Pathle is fun, free and definitely worth some of your time. There are 250 levels.  Right now I've done about 105 of them and took 2 hours. At the moment I'm second on the leaderboard.
http://blog.tellini.org/2014/04/pathle-for-iphone-and-ipad/


https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pathle/id850545047?mt=8


Update 4/14/14: I finished all 250 puzzles with an average time of 39 seconds per level. However, those times did not include the times where I made a mistake. Altogether I spent a little more than 3 hours.

Caveboy Escape: free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

Desmond Lee recently contacted me about his puzzle app game Caveboy Escape. It's a maze game. The object is to get the caveboy from the bottom star to the arrow on top.  He must travel on like colored tiles in groups of three. For example, he can travel brown, brown, brown, gray, gray, gray, tan, tan tan. I have 1 qualm. When I step on a brown tile, it changes its shade so I sometimes loose track of things. But it's a minor complaint.

There is a time limit to solve these puzzles in groups of threes.  There are some 500 levels which translates into 1500 puzzles. But they go pretty fast. I played the game yesterday for about an hour and solved about 75 levels. They're fun! I did get stuck a bunch of times, so that's good.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/caveboy-escape/id718644916?mt=8

Lost Lands - a Treasure Hunt Puzzle Game: puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

Ryan Ding recently contacted me about his puzzle app game Lost Lands - a Treasure Hunt Puzzle Game. It's very similar to the game Turnstile from ThinkFun: http://thinkfun.com/turnstile  What's different? Lost Lands has a bigger board and a whopping 168 puzzle levels.


The object is to move your man from the top left corner to the bottom right corner by swinging through some gates at the intersections.  Note: the gates only move 90 degrees, so it's possible that you won't be able to push a gate.


Right now, I've done 38 of the 168 levels. I got stuck on a bunch of them, but persevered.
Here's how the game could be improved - graphically. The squares - make them smaller and make the intersections larger.
Lost Lands is a good puzzle game app. Young puzzlers will like this.


https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lost-lands-treasure-hunt-puzzle/id494313743?mt=8

Another Clone of Threes!

You may have noticed that I've been slowing down on the puzzle app reviews lately.  That's because I've been playing Threes! every day.  My highest tile: 768, which I've gotten at least 75 times.  As soon as I get the 1536 tile, I'll quit.

Slide Five is the latest clone.  The first successful clone was 2048, whose rules are a bit different. I got up to 1024 after playing it 4 or 5 times.  I'm sticking to Threes!


I will say this, the graphics on Slide Five are faster and they're pretty slick.


Slide Five sticks pretty closely to the rules of Threes!  The differences are pretty obvious based on the images.


Here's where I'm stuck at Threes! and Slide Five: what's the highest new tile that will be given. I'm pretty sure that in Threes!, it's 1/8 of whatever your current high tile is. In Slide Five, there is no '+' hint that signals, you'll be getting something higher than a five.


I've said many times, if you like a game, go ahead and pay for the upgrade - at least as a reward for the time you've been entertained already. In Slide Five, the game is free and you can pay $.99 to remove the ads.  In this case, spend $1.99 to the true authors of the original game - Threes!

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/slide-five/id834351580?mt=8

Eights! Match Pairs or Add Fives and Threes 2048: puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

If you've been following my puzzle app blog lately, then you know that I positively love Threes!  2048 came out about 3 weeks ago and may have overtaken Threes! in popularity because it was available to play online and now that it's an app, it's free.

Eights! Match Pairs....is another clone of this game. I'm not crazy about this for 2 reasons. First, the graphics are not as good. Second, look at the title! It's not just trying to piggyback on Threes!, it's also hanging on to 2048.


https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/eights!-match-pairs-or-add/id830152738?mt=8

Slidercrash: free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

If you've been following this blog for the past 4 years, then you know that I'm a big fan of Lunar Lockout, Fling! and other games where pieces slide across the board, until they hit an object.


Slidercrash comes from Joachim Merten. It's got some interesting elements.


First, you must crash the reds together, and the blues etc. Look at the first image. See the top red circle? There's a ring around it. That means it can't move on its own. It can be crashed into and then travel.

Other features: Arrow squares that can change the direction of a piece. Some of them are fixed. Some you can rotate.


There are 60 levels altogether. I got stuck on Rookie #2!  I really like this game! Hey, it's free too.
Actually, you get 15 free tutorial & 15 Rookie levels. I was happy to pay $.99 for the next 30 levels. Right now I've solved 46 of the 60 puzzles.


Slidercrash is definitely worth your time.


https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/slidercrash/id770145513?mt=8

Can't Stop: gambling game app for iphone, ipad

Does the name Sid Sackson mean anything to you? Sid invented hundreds of board games.  About 5 years ago I got a chance to play Can't Stop which is a gambling game that doesn't involve money.

You are given 4 dice and must use them in pairs to advance your men up the board. You will want to keep rolling, but if you don't make your numbers, you will lose the progress you made on that turn.

The app version is a whole lot cheaper than the Real McCoy on ebay - usually in the $20 range.  I like this game app.

http://playdekgames.com/games.php?games=cantstop_page.php&title=Can't Stop