Cryptic Cross: free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

       

Evgenij Ovcharenko has created a tough puzzle app game called Cryptic Cross. The object is to slide the two loops so that all the reds are together. Same for the yellow & blue & green.  I've done enough of these in the past. I'm not addicted to these any more. This is not easy!


https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cryptic-cross/id954604781?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D4

Super Looper: free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

Super Looper is a puzzle app game that incorporates Celtic Knots. Who doesn't like Celtic Knots? They're fun & beautiful.  The object of Super Looper is to swap tiles to make the shape shown on the right.

There are 100 handcrafted levels. I've done only 6. I'm not feeling any addiction.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/super-looper-puzzle-game/id921061059?ls=1&mt=8

Numbermania - Join the Numbers: free point scoring puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

          

Vladimir Golovnev has produced a terrific point scoring puzzle app game called Numbermania - Join the Numbers.
This game is NOTHING like 2048. Look at the first diagram.  See the 1 + 3 = 4? That will score you zero points.  See the 3 + 3 = 6? That will score you 6 points because the colors were different.
Each time you Join the Numbers, a new number/color will fill the grid. The random number can only be 1-4. 
There will be times when you must connect brown numbers to each other. Eventually, you will need to combine them with an identical number.
I've played this game about 20 times. I had 1 marathon game that didn't seem to end. At one point I had a blue 73 and somehow managed to create a green 73 right next to it.


The graphics will not dazzle you. But that's okay. The brilliance of this game comes down to this: what strategy will you employ to stay alive as long as possible. Yes there's an element of luck. But with very careful planning, can you stay alive forever?


According to the Game Center, there are 1,137 players.  The high scorer is DivODA with 36,912. Next is ~ Aas1962 ~ with 27,302. I'm at #3 with 22,696 points. That one game took about 4 hours.


Other Point Scoring Games Worthy of Your Time
Four Straight Lines
Pushopolous
Stickets
Folt
Nineout
BeeCells Lite


https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/numbermania-join-the-numbers/id903344970?mt=8

Letter Way: free word puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

Yan Fauriat recently contacted me about his new puzzle app game Letter Way. As you know, I normally stay away from word puzzles. However, this one seemed promising.
The object is to spell some words from the tiles that are face-up. When that happens, if there's a tile next door that's hidden, it will turn over.  When all the tiles are face up, you win.


Look at the diagram. See the tiles with the zebra stripes? They need to be turned over. This will happen if the letter next to them is used in a word.  Now, see the orange square in the middle? The G will have to be used in a word twice for it to be revealed.


The object is to reveal the entire board within 10 moves.


There are 100 levels of Letter Way and I've done 47 so far. The first 20 levels are easy, maybe too easy.  After that, it gets tougher and more fun.
Letter Way reminds me of FOLT, which is not a word puzzle at all.
Last year I reviewed Yan's other game Kindly Colors.
https://itunes.apple.com/app/id957298870

Follow Cliff Pickover on Twitter

A pi-prime is a prime number in the decimal expansion of pi. Humans may never find a larger one than here.


Cliff Pickover: I follow him on Twitter and he's always got gems like this.

360 Spin: free game to test your reflexes, for iphone, ipad

 

The image says it all. It's slick and fun. But it's not the type of game you're going to play forever.
https://itunes.apple.com/app/360-spin/id940489617

Digits Square Puzzle Game: free puzzle app for iphone, ipad

The object of Digit Square Puzzle Game is to slide the rows & columns until the numbers match the image in the top right corner. There are 100 levels. At first I didn't realize what this game was about. Normally, these games are presented with just colors and there are at least a dozen versions of this.


I solved the first 20 levels in about 10 minutes. The reason it took so long? Ads pop up.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/digit-square-puzzle-game/id959622726?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D2

Pieces of Paper: puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

Pieces of Paper is a point scoring match 3 type game. The circles can be swapped with each other if they are shaded in the correct direction.


Very interesting: after pieces have been eliminated, you don't have to fill the spaces right away. You can make/score other combos, before those pieces fall back to the board.


http://piecesofpapergame.tumblr.com/

Predikt - Hidden Object Puzzle Game: free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

           

Andy Dobson contacted me about 6 months ago about his puzzle app game: Predikt - Hidden Object Puzzle Game. Why the delay? It's because so many puzzle app developers are contacting me via LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Google Groups, my work email, my home email. Am I feeling overwhelmed? Heavens to Betsy.


Let's talk about this puzzle game. The two images show a very easy level. Inside each grid are one or more hidden diamonds. These diamonds are located on the small circles. At the start of each level, you are presented with a blank grid. Tap a square outside the perimeter and that ball will shoot through the grid. If you look at the second image, it's clear that one of the diamonds belongs in the upper left circle.


The grid sizes get bigger, and with that, the difficulty. I polished off the 20 easy levels quickly.  The medium puzzles are quite tough! On those levels, there are 5 hidden diamonds on a 5x5 board.  I have not solved the first medium level - after 7 or 8 attempts!


Predikt - Hidden Object Puzzle Game is very similar to an old board game called Black Box from 1977. For more info on that, go to Board Game Geek. There is always one for sale on ebay for about $5-$10.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/predikt/id892194966?ls=1&mt=8

I'm quoted in the Wall Street Journal

http://www.wsj.com/articles/four-puzzle-apps-to-give-your-brain-a-workout-1422560643
Javier Espinoza must think I'm an authority on puzzle apps.

Swap Puzzle

Manish Gupta has created Swap Puzzle. It's one of those 'slide the blocks until they hit a wall' mazes. The object is to get the X shape to the white square.  There are many levels that have 2 blocks.


The graphics are a bit 'old school' and the puzzles themselves are not terribly hard.  Of the 100 levels, I solved 61 of them very quickly. They're too easy for me. These would be good for kids who are new to puzzles.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/swap-puzzle/id950245914?mt=8

Boxxle: free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

'Boxxle is a unique puzzle game with 120 challenging levels for you to solve.

How to play :
- Drag rows horizontally and columns vertically
- Match the highlighted shape
- All boxes have to stay connected'


My opinion: this is a really cool concept and they're fun. I solved all 120 levels pretty quickly. But I did not get 3 stars for each level because it took me too many moves.  There are ads that pop up every so often.
If you liked MoveZ, which I reviewed not too long ago, you will like Boxxle.
https://itunes.apple.com/be/app/id954145453?mt=8

2 Ballz: free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

              

'One of the hardest ability and logical games that you ever seen. Use finger swipe to drive the two balls at the same time to their destination avoiding that any of them falls to the vacuum.'


My opinion: the puzzles are good, but having to start over at level 1 is beyond annoying.
Last night I restarted the game at level 1 and wondered: how many levels are there? With 1 life to spare, I completed all 23 levels. 'More are coming soon.' Yeah, well, if and when they come, will I have to start at level 1 again?


Better games with the same idea: Double Maze,   Grid Blox  and Duality which is outstanding.
https://itunes.apple.com/app/id957179953

Quindoku: free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

  

Rudolf De Rooij recently contacted me about his new puzzle app game Quindoku. The object is to place 5 different colored tiles in each column and row and each outlined region.


Look at the region that has the blue & yellow squares.  That yellow square means that the 3 blank squares in that region cannot be yellow. Since that bottom row needs yellow, the only place for it will be the very bottom right.


Quindoku has 'thousands of puzzles'. However, there is no menu to see which ones you've solved & which you have not. The whole interface is very Spartan. But the puzzles are challenging & fun.


Logi5Puzz is virtually the same. So is NumDom. But NumDom has larger grid sizes.


Other variations of Sudoku that I've played/reviewed over the years.
Spindoku is totally different, but still very cool.
Hi-Lo Sudoku is one of my favorite variations.
Cryptdoku I played it so long ago, but it's cool.
Stimko Gold - outstanding version of squiggly Sudoku.  Handcrafted puzzles.
Kakooma - interesting for about 3 levels
RollDoku - never even solved 1 level, so hard
Cohabit- played this on my ipod touch - before ipad was invented
FlowDoKu - one of my favorites
Sudoku Mine combines Sudoku with Minesweeper
Sudoku Killer  combines Sudoku with Kakuro
3Doku - a cubic version of Sudoku
Pokergreen Puzzles - a poker version of sudoku


https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/quindoku/id954170169?mt=8

Twisted Snake: puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

           

Alexander Morozov has produced another version of the modern classic game Wriggle. The object is to slide/wriggle the blue man to the exit. The puzzles themselves are actually pretty good. However, the graphics are not as fluid as they should be.


There are 48 levels and I solved them all except for these: #13, 15, 39, 40, 42, 46. They're pretty hard and I can understand why some people say: I hate puzzles.




Much better and very similar games that have more fluid graphics:


Quetzalcoatl       Choo Choo      TRUpuzzlE      Neon Snake         Snake Slider        Wriggle 


https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/twisted-snake/id840047572?mt=8

Four Straight Lines: point scoring puzzle app

Four Straight Lines looks a lot like 2048, but it's nothing like it. Except for the fact that you must swipe the tiles in any direction.  If 4 of the same color make a line- vertically, horizontally or diagonally, they disappear & you get 4 points. After every move, a new tile will appear randomly.


My high score is 508. The top scorer on the leaderboard is ikkejessica with 1988. Very impressive.


Theoretically, one game, played perfectly, could go on forever, I think. Similar to Stickets. Although I think Stickets  is more elegant and sophisticated.
I should mention that Four Straight Lines is FREE.


Update 3/1/15: There are only 469 players on the Leaderboard. The high scorer has 4860 while the second scorer has 2832. Very impressive. ikkejessica has fallen to #25.
https://itunes.apple.com/app/four-straight-lines/id951332817?ign-mpt=uo%3D5

Who Wrote Shakespeare's Plays?

Barry Clarke is tackling one of history's greatest mysteries: Who Wrote Shakespeare's plays? 


At this point I must confess that I have not read even half of the plays. Probably because I spent too many hours in front of the television.


http://barryispuzzled.com/shakpuzz.pdf

Fullhouse Touch

      

Kevin White is the author of Fullhouse Touch - a free puzzle app game for the iphone & ipad. The black dots are walls. Your objective: place the red dot anywhere on the board and fill the board with arrows completely.


Look at the first image: the starting point was in the center, then down, right, up, left, down, left. This path is clearly wrong because there is  no way to get the remaining squares


Look at the second image. The red dot must travel to the left and will not stop until it hits a wall. Then it must go up, right, up, right, down and right to complete the puzzle.


The essential questions: where is the starting point and where is the endpoint? Sometimes, neither is evident. There's a lot of trial and error.


What's good: there are only 30 levels and the game is free! (I've done 24 levels.)


What could be better: there is no undo button. Which means you have to start all over again. Also, ads pop up after you solve each level, but not when you restart a level.


https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fullhouse-touch/id955388857?mt=8


Similar Games
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.

'Brain Rush - Two Way' free 'test your reflexes' game for iphone, ipad

       
'Brain Rush - Two Way' is a  free 'test your reflexes' game.  It's one of many clones of another game. I have no idea what the original game was. Squares & Circles will come down the lines. Make sure that your home square & circle are aligned properly to catch the correct shapes.


In the 'One Brain' mode, the shapes come down staggered. In the 'Two Brain' mode, the shapes come down at the same time. Trickier.  You can play the Two Brain mode by yourself, or invite a friend.


We should all be playing these types of games to ward off Alzheimer's.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/brain-rush-two-way/id956622503?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D2

COLORswipe: point scoring puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

          

Tyler Ruetz recently contacted me about his point scoring puzzle app game COLORswipe. The object is to score points by combining adjacent colored tiles.

Blue + red = purple

Blue + yellow = green

Red + yellow = orange

Purple + orange = brown

Purple + green = brown

Green + orange = brown

Brown + brown = Black

Black + black = Diamond

There are a bunch more rules but, I want to keep this relatively short.  I've played this game about 12 times and really like it. I confess that I don't fully understand the scoring rules. But that's okay.
There are only 254 players on the Leaderboard.  I'm #2 with 100,389 points.  #1 is somebody named TylorTy with 8,715,582 points. That's right, his score is 87 times my score. He's a legend.
COLORswipe is free, so there's no excuse to not play test it.


http://readysetretro.com/


https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/colorswipe/id826177892


Similar games:      Tripevo               Triple Town           Kindly  Colors

Cubot - The Complexity of Simplicity: puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

Nicolas Pierre-Loti-Viaud is the creator of Cubot - The Complexity of Simplicity, a terrific puzzle app game. As you can see from the first image, it's a rolling block maze. But with a great deal of complexity.
Focus on the first image. See the solid blue square? It must land on the big blue square. How to do so? First, the red cube must roll down to the bottom layer and land on the small red square. That will bring the red & white cube, which is an elevator, down. Next, get the blue square to roll on top of the now-down red elevator. Move the red cube off the elevator activator. And that will make the blue cube rise up to that level. Then, the blue cube must activate its elevator to get the red cube back upstairs.

Things get even more complicated. First of all, all cubes travel at the same time. The red cube travels 2 squares. The Green Cube travels 1 square in the opposite direction. The purple cube travels 2 squares in the opposite direction. Did I mention the teleporter? Or that a cube can change colors?


There are 80 levels and I've done approximately 55 of them. Tough! The game costs $.99 which will provide you with a bunch of hours entertainment.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cubot-complexity-simplicity/id905935289?mt=8




A very similar game is QVOID, which I reviewed almost 4 years ago.

Blogic Puzzle Fee: puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

      

Blogic was one of a slew of good puzzle app games that got published at the end of 2014.  The object is to draw one continuous path that will cover every square.


What's particularly good: You must also figure out where the entrance and exit are.
Also good: there are plenty of easy levels to solve. The graphics are very good. The tutorial is helpful for novice puzzlers.


What's not as good: there's a weird system of earning stars that doesn't make much sense. Not that that's important anyway.
Also not so good: on the harder levels, you can figure out parts of the path.....but eventually you will have to do some guess & check.  When you do that and want to backtrack, there's no proper undo button; you may as well just start from scratch.


What's good and bad: Over 1000. levels. Perhaps you want that. Too many for me.
https://itunes.apple.com/ph/app/blogic/id936579419?mt=8

'Quick Route - A Puzzle That Requires Thought To Solve' - free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

     

'Quick Route - A Puzzle That Requires Thought To Solve' comes from Horis International Limited. Essentially, it is the famous Traveling Salesman math problem: given a whole bunch of cities on a map, what's the optimal route that will minimize the distance traveled.


I believe the Traveling Salesman problem was solved - sometime in the 80's.
'Quick Route - A Puzzle That Requires Thought To Solve', has a bunch of easy problems with just 4 points and 5 points. After that, it gets very difficult. There are 102 levels and I've solved 14 of them. Surprisingly, there is an addictive element to this puzzle game.


Very Cool: whatever route you draw, if it's not correct, the program tells you what % longer it is than what the optimal route is. I've drawn one route that was a mere .2% longer.
https://itunes.apple.com/app/quickroute-the-game/id882744410?mt=8

TimeCube: point scoring test-your-reflexs game for iphone, ipad

TimeCube comes from Michal Syzmerski. It's a game that tests your reflexes. It's different from so many other games that test your reflexes.


You are the red hexagon at the bottom. It stays in place and never moves.  Various things shoot in from the top left with different horizontal speeds and a constant gravity speed. The objective is to not let the objects hit Your Man by slowing down and speeding up the horizontal speeds.


It's an interesting concept. According to the leaderboard, there are over 17,262 players.  I'm not very good at this game! I'm dead last of 17,266 players because I wasn't able to solve the first level. My consolation: somebody has to be last, and I'm still first on Tripevo.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id943476579?mt=8

Kickstarter for a 3D Puzzle Ship

This puzzle looks like fun.


https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/924057985/3d-puzzle-ship

MoveZ Puzzle Game: puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

               

MoveZ Puzzle Game is one of those 'move all the colored squares at once to get to their destination' puzzles. They go pretty quickly. Most can be solved within 9 moves.


Look at the first image.  See the empty square on the bottom left? There's a pretty good chance that you will want to move 1 blue square there - temporarily. 


See the second image? Now it matters which square goes where. A lot of the puzzles in the multi color levels actually are in the mono color section.


Ready for this? There are 1680 levels. Insane. But they go pretty quickly. Many levels are solved in seconds.
In order to advance to the next section of levels, you must solve 60% of the previous section. Each section has 120 levels.


According to the Game Center Leaderboard, there are only about 300 people playing MoveZ. I'm #2 with about 460 levels solved. Sounds crazy. But really, I've only spent about 20 minutes/day for about 10 days.


Very similar games:
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.
Yet another game, reviewed by Nicola Salmoria. He told me about this game ages ago, but I forgot about it.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/movez-puzzle-game/id947780554?mt=8

0h h1: free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

       

One of my students pointed this game out to me recently. The objective is to fill the grid with red and blue squares. Each row must have an equal number of blue & red.  Also, there can never be 3 of one color in a row.


Here's what's good: the graphics are crisp & clean.
Here's what's not so good: on the 10 x 10 levels, there comes a point where you may have to guess.


This game is well done. It's pretty much identical to Binary Sudoku, which I reviewed back in 2010.  Another version of Binary Sudoku I reviewed in 2011.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/0h-h1/id936504196?mt=8
http://0hh1.com/

LogicCity Jr: puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

Description from the App Store: 'The goal of the game is simple, to fill the grid with shapes, without repeating a shape in a row or column (yes, like sudoku !). But wait - there's more ! You have to manage the colors and the shapes simultaneously - adding a whole new dimension to sudoku.

These puzzles have been developed by Michel Lyons and Arunima. Michel is the creator of several highly popular and highly rated board puzzle games such as Metaform, Architecto .. etc. He has also written math curriculum books with a focus on problem solving.'

 

LogicCity Jr is very similar to ThinkFun's Chocolate Fix.  You'll note in the directions above that Michel Lyons developed Metaform & Architecto. Those are outstanding puzzle games produced by Foxmind, which has a long history of producing great puzzles.


There are 75 levels and I've done about 15 levels, including the last 5 hardest levels. These puzzles are great for young puzzlers. Lots of elementary schools have enrichment programs for gifted students. This is exactly what they should be doing.
The game costs $1.99 and there is a lite version.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/logiccity-jr/id936822232?mt=8

Make Them Fall: puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

                

Make Them Fall is a point scoring puzzle app game that's really designed to test your reflexes and keep your brain synapses sharp.
The title 'Make Them Fall' is not appropriate for this game because your man is supposed to shift side to side within each colored region.


Look at the 1st image with the blue & red split image. The 2 stickmen are hugging the wall. The spikes scroll upward. You must tap the blue part to make the stickman shift to the opposite wall.
The dual screen is 'Normal' but tough and my high score is just 91.  There are 5 other versions. with more men to control. The hardest level is called 'Heart Attack' and has 6 mini screens.


Make Them Fall actually turns out to be a good partner game.  In the version that has 4 men, get a friend and each of you will control 2 men.  Better yet, get 3 friends and each controls 1 man for better control and a higher score. This is the easily the best partner/reflex game on the market. Though I don't think it was intended for that.


Here's what I don't like: on the Normal level, the speed increases too quickly. Nevertheless, it's still quite fun.
We should all be playing this type of game to ward off Alzheimer's.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/make-them-fall/id907164110?mt=8

Space Kitty Puzzle — family logical adventure: puzzle for iphone, ipad

Alex Perezhogin recently contacted me about his puzzle app game: Space Kitty Puzzle. The objective is for your space kitty to travel through the maze to pick up objects, get to the exit and thus save the world.

Main feature: The space kitty will have to fire his laser gun to rotate the screen 90 degrees.
I have not played this game beyond 5 or 6 levels. Why? I'm more absorbed in some other puzzle app games. Nevertheless, these puzzles are interesting. But I'm not crazy about the graphics/theme.


https://itunes.apple.com/app/id937242587

Number Painting: update

 

About 2 months ago, I became obsessed with Number Painting a free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad: http://gottasolveit.blogspot.com/2014/10/number-painting-free-puzzle-app-game.html


A few days ago I completed all 600 levels. Crazy, I know. Having done thousands of these types of topology puzzles, I found most of the levels not too hard. But every so often a level would have me stumped for days and weeks. The last 100 levels I did in about 2 hours, on a plane ride.


So yes, I really like this game. However, at the moment, it's not possible to go back and redo any level at all. Unless I delete the program & then reinstall it.
https://itunes.apple.com/app/id928917515


Some other good topology games:
Lines Numeric Fun
Space Dots
Just Routes
Dedale
SEQ
Square Time
Numeric Paranoia

MindArrow - Game To Train Your Brain: for iphone, ipad

Artiom Zayats recently contacted me about his point scoring puzzle app game called MindArrow.

 

If you see a green arrow, swipe in the direction that the arrow is pointing and ignore the word.
If you see a red arrow, do the opposite: ignore the direction of the arrow and follow the word.
Swiping correctly gets you additional time. Swiping incorrectly - your time will be penalized.


I played MindArrow once and got a score of 348. Only 31 players are on the Game Center Leaderboard. I'm #10 at the moment.


I found MindArrow a bit too slow. But I still like the concept and think that we should all try these games out once in a while as a change of pace.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mindarrow-game-to-train-your/id942357959?mt=8

Shuttle Shuffle: puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

 

Mat Loz recently contacted me about his free puzzle app game Shuttle Shuffle. The objective is to slide the aliens to their ships. These puzzles are not too hard. However, solving them in the fewest # of moves is essential if you want to unlock the next level.


Sliding a row makes all the aliens travel together. That's really the key. While I was playing this game, I kept saying to myself: this reminds me of another game, but which?!

The harder levels have death holes and wormholes. When I solved level 24, which is the last of the free levels, the board was completely filled, I realized which game this reminded me of. There are actually a lot of games which often bill themselves as 'the 2D version of Rubik's Cube'.


If you get into Shuttle Shuffle, you can develop your own levels.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/shuttle-shuffle/id937331329?mt=8
http://www.shuttle-shuffle.com

Quebix: puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

      

Glen Morris contacted me almost 2 months ago about his puzzle app game Quebix. It seems very similar to another puzzle app game called MatCube. See my review of that.


Quebix is more similar to Head Spin a game I reviewed about 4 years ago. That was terrific, but is no longer available.


Quebix is easier than MatCube and Head Spin. I can do these, and fairly quickly. The objective is to swipe horizontally & vertically, until your cubes match the pattern at the top/middle.
Of the 25 Beginner Levels, I did 7 of them.
I skipped the 30 Apprentice Levels.
Of the 28 Master Levels, I did 6 levels
There are 30 Expert Levels, I did all 30. I did them pretty quickly. However, I definitely did not solve them using the fewest number of moves.


https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/quebix/id907007581?mt=8