SubaraCity: point scoring puzzle game for iphone, ipad

 

The object in SubaraCity is to increase your city's population by merging smaller houses into bigger houses and really big houses into skyscraper apartment buildings.


Look at the bottom of the first image. See the brown apartments? The one on the left is an '8' and the one on the right is a '9'. Merge them to form a 10. Once a building becomes a 10, it then turns white.


Suppose you combine 10's: two of them will form a yellow 11.  However, you cannot combine any building over 10.  The key strategy to scoring BIG, is to get a super cluster of 10's and then merge them all at once.


SubaraCity was created by Ryuji Kuwaki. A typical game for me is getting 2,000,000 points and that takes about 15-20 minutes.  My high score is 32,927,440 which ranks me  at 4268 out of 144,509  players.  I got by combining fifteen 10's. It led to a level 24 building.  That particular game took over an hour.
So now I'm trying to beat my top score. Extremely difficult. Here's what's been happening: I get a cluster of twelve 10's and then am forced to merge them. The resulting 21 building (I know - why isn't it a 22 building?) becomes a dead space on the board. So I end up restarting the game. Which makes me despair a bit.


SubaraCity is in the running for a PAGY Award. (Nominations: check back on December 30th.)


https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/subaracity/id988621911?mt=8


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

Zobrist Cube and Caviar

Al Zobrist, creator of the Zobrist Cube puzzle set, has another kickstarter project underway. Essentially, Al wants to raise money so he can send 100 copies of his puzzle to 100 different schools. You'll be spreading the joy of puzzling to middle schoolers.  At the very least, watch the video:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1740305425/zobrist-cube-game-for-the-brain-for-the-schools-ed?ref=nav_search

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/caviar-food-delivery-plus/id931355786?mt=8


The folks who run Caviar were passing out free meals at Bryant Park the other day. I particularly like getting free meals, especially when I'm about to purchase one.


As a small token of gratitude, I'm spreading the word for them!

Less Than 8: free puzzle app for iphone

 

The object in Less Than 8 is to place the 16 numbers in the grid so that each row & column adds to exactly 8.


The 16 numbers are given to you randomly. So there's a little guessing that must be made.  I only played this 3 or 4 times and did not succeed.  On my last attempt, I got 3 columns and 3 rows to be 8 and 1 column and row to be 7. Which means I played it perfectly, but still could not solve it.


I think there's something more to this puzzle app, but I don't have the patience for it. Nevertheless, the concept has potential.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/less-than-8/id978523680

30 Years Ago Today

30 Years Ago Today, I was part of a group of 14 Peace Corps Volunteers whose flight landed in Matsapha Airport in Swaziland. We came together 4 or 5 days earlier in Philadelphia for orientation and pre-training. We spent the next 11 weeks in training at the base of Sibebe Rock. That was followed by a 27-month contract at our appointed jobs. Most of us were math/science teachers. I was assigned to St. Paul's Secondary School in Manzini.


I admit that I sometimes go weeks and months without ever thinking about Swaziland. And yet, it was a transformative experience for me at 22: my first real job, teaching 200+ students and living abroad.


Some memories.....
My students broke the school record for the most number of A's on the J.C. exam.
Did some hikes with the Prince Makhosini Award Program.
Traveled in Southern Africa, East Africa & West Africa.
Attended the coronation of King Mswati III in 1986.
Finagled my way to become a judge for the Miss Swaziland Beauty Contest in 1987.
At a Peace Corps party, I remember thinking that Reed Hastings would go very far in life. He's now the founder of Netflix.


Miscellaneous......
Nonhlanhla Dlamini, my former student, is now a member of parliament.
In 2008 I saw Without the King at the Film Forum. It's a documentary about Swaziland and its king and the leaders of a rebel group called PUDEMO which wants to overthrow the king and establish democracy. On screen, my old friend Mphandhlana Shongwe said 'I don't want my bombs to blow up buildings. I want them to kill people.' For the record, he & I never discussed politics.
In 2008, my former colleague Dan Mavuso, was visiting America as a representative from a sports organization in Swaziland. When he got to Philadelphia,  I told him to get on a bus, then gave him the fastest 5 hour whirlwind tour of Manhattan.


The Peace Corps Recruitment Motto is The Toughest Job You'll Ever Love. So true.

ODMO

ODMO is a die rolling puzzle app. The objective is to roll the die to match certain numbers on the grid.  I downloaded the Lite version and solved about 18 of the 25 levels. I've done a lot of cube-rolling puzzles in the past. This one is fine - especially if you've never done one before.
https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/odmo-puzzle-game/id963104099?mt=8








Other Cube-Rolling puzzle apps
Cubot - really great
Dice Jockey
Qvoid - one of the best puzzle apps ever
Cubler - fantastic

Cube Escape: The Lake

I'm not a big fan of Escape the Room - type puzzle apps. But I recently played Cube Escape: Seasons and was very impressed with the story: you're in one room at 4 different times. Part of the solution is to go back and forth through time.


Cube Escape: The Lake is similar but a lot shorter. You're in a cabin with 1 open window for fishing. The game took me about 1 hour to play, which I really appreciated.


Did I mention that Cube Escape: The Lake is free? You have no excuse for being bored.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cube-escape-the-lake/id983081008?mt=8

HexAgony: point scoring puzzle app

 

HexAgony is a fine point-scoring puzzle app. The objective is to place the colored card symbols in the grid to score points.  Placing a diamond next to a cluster of diamonds scores one set of points. If your diamond is blue and is next to some other blues, you'll score points for that too.


Each time you place a symbol, a new one will pop up at the bottom, randomly.


The game ends when the grid is complete.


The game has 3 grid sizes. I've played the smallest grid a handful of times. 


There's a lot to like about HexAgony: good graphics, a leaderboard, the game cannot go on forever. However, there's something missing: an element of fun. It could be me of course, I've played so many games, I may be hyper critical. If more people play it, as evidenced by the leaderboard, I'd be more interested.
According to the leaderboard today: on the small grid, I'm #5 out of only 24.  The large grid: only 7 people are on the leaderboard. That's kind of shocking. This game definitely deserves more attention.


https://itunes.apple.com/app/hexagony/id993167665


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

Alcazar Puzzle - free puzzle app for iphone, ipad

 

My friend Nicola Salmoria has a strong interest in puzzle apps like this. The object is to create a path that passes through each cell and uses only 1 exit and 1 entrance. There are a handful of free levels at each 'chapter' of difficulty.  I've done most of them. The free ones, that is.




When I reviewed Blogic, a bunch of people commented that it was a ripoff of Alcazar.  Could be. These days, it's almost impossible to keep track.


Check out Rod Kimball's version!






https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/alcazar-puzzle/id931396304?mt=8

Can You Escape - free puzzle app for iphone, ipad

Kaarel Kirsipuu's Can You Escape is another 'Escape the Room' puzzle. I know what you're thinking: why play test this one? The only reason: it's been rated over 32,000 times.  4.5 stars too. Popularity must mean something right?


There are 8 rooms and getting out of each room was kind of easy. No more than 5-10 minutes per room. One of the mini puzzles: find the handle to a jack, then lift the car to retrieve something. Yeah, real simple.

The harder puzzles involved weird mechanical locks like in the second image.


Can You Escape is good for kids who've never done one of these Room puzzle apps. If you're a Loyal Blog Follower, skip this and finish the levels from Go to Gold.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/can-you-escape/id658293394?mt=8

Go to Gold

 

My introduction into the world of Sokoban type puzzles: Box World. I needed a couple of months to solve all 100 puzzles.  That was in 1995.
About 15 years ago sokoban.de was a fantastic site where folks could upload their own puzzles.  Some of the designers were extremely clever. Unfortunately, that site, and all its genius puzzles are gone.
Recently, my puzzle app friend Nicola Salmoria told me about Go to Gold. There are only 64 levels, but they rock. Not a single one is easy. Okay, maybe a few are easy.
The first image shows a standard sokoban puzzle: push the pieces onto the target squares.  The second image shows a different objective: push the mirrors so they direct the laser to the target.


A third objective is to move specific tiles onto specific squares. Sorry, no image.


The fourth objective is to push any single yin/yang tile onto the dark yin/yang square. When a tile lands on the blue dot, the corresponding blue square goes down.


There are 15 puzzles in each category.  PERFECT!  I did them all, but I swore, that some of them were impossible.
Go to Gold easily earns a PAGY Award Nomination.
https://itunes.apple.com/app/go-to-gold/id843836275?mt=8


Loyal Bog Followers: I know it's impossible to play all the puzzles I recommend. My tip: do try the ones I post on Fridays. Because I don't post on the weekend, the Friday puzzle apps get the most time at the top - deservedly.

Harry Nelson: puzzle designer extraordinaire

http://ageofpuzzles.com/Masters/HarryLNelson/HarryLNelson.htm


I know Harry Nelson from our mutual attendance at the annual International Puzzle Party. 


Some of his puzzles:


Gravity Well - I was able to take it apart, but could never put all 3 pieces back together. I still have no idea how I disassembled this. This puzzle was made in China for Bits & Pieces and I can imagine that at their factory, there was only 1 person who put them together.


Lunar Lockout - brilliant design. Another version was called Pike's Peak. A lot of puzzle apps have incorporated some of this game's features.  One that comes to mind is Fling!


Cool Circuits - I have not played this, but want to!


Click on the link at the top to see a chess puzzle that took him 10 years to design. How crazy is that?

Doublo - clone of Duet Game

A friend and colleague showed me Duet Game. It's a dexterity game where the object is to move your red & blue dots in a fixed circle to avoid the rectangles that stream downward.


Duet Game is $2.99, so I did the non-kosher thing and downloaded the clone: Doublo, which is free.


This concept is original, fun and challenging.


I"ve said this before: we should all be playing these types of games to ward off Alzheimer's.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/duet-game/id634235735?mt=8
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/doublo/id925777461?mt=8

RGB Express: puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

 

RGB Express is a terrific route-finding puzzle app. The object is for the red truck to pick up the red packages and deliver them to the red houses. Same for the other colors.

     

Some interesting features:
1. A red truck can pick up a blue package, but must drop it off at some chosen intersections for a blue truck to pick up.
2. A white truck can pick up and deliver any color.
3. No truck can carry more than 3 packages at the same time. Along with this, say a white truck picks up first a red package, then a yellow one.  Since the yellow one is on top, the truck must pass a yellow house before a red one.
4. A skateboard is like a white truck, but can travel on the grass.
5. Switches along the roads will open and close the drawbridges.


Right now there are 360 levels. More may be added. A lot of them are very easy. And a bunch are hard. If you are a loyal reader of this blog, you know that I want to solve as many as possible (ideally all of them) to truly evaluate the game.  But 360 is far too many! At the moment I've solved about 240 levels.


Bottom Line: RGB Express is highly polished, has easy levels for kids and very difficult for the pros too. RGB Express is a likely contender for a PAGY Award (Puzzle App Games of the Year).
http://itunes.apple.com/app/id887362336
http://www.rgbexpress.com/

HackBeam: free puzzle app for iphone, ipad

   

HackBeam is another 'laser with mirrors' puzzle app. Or is it?


The object is to hit the purple targets. Duh.


Here's what's different:
1. You get to choose the starting point along any point along the perimeter.
2. On some levels there is a dexterity element, which we've never seen before in a laser puzzle app. Look at the second image. There are 2 targets, but you first must activate them by passing through the red things.  Solution: The start point is somewhere on the left edge.  Then, when the beam gets almost to the right edge - tap the screen. The beam, heading east, will split into 2, one going up, one down.


There are 25 free levels and I've done 24 of them. After that, you can buy more.


I like this puzzle concept. I'm not crazy about the graphics.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hackbeam/id963826266?mt=8

Mr. Rubik speaks

http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/may/26/erno-rubik-how-we-made-rubiks-cube


Erno Rubik created an excellent museum exhibit at the Liberty Science Center in New Jersey.  I saw it back in August/September.  It's now in Cleveland, Ohio.

Galaxy Hopper: puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

 

Boris Brock recently contacted me: 'Hi! You seem to be THE guy when it comes to puzzle apps....'
Thanks Boris.  I'll take that as a compliment. Though it also may indicate that I have NO LIFE.

 

The objective in Galaxy Hopper is to get your lost spaceship to the galaxy. The ship can travel along the grid vertically & horizontally until it hits an obstacle. Very much like Lunar Lockout.


What's different? The asteroids can travel, but the suns are fixed in place.  Also, on some levels, the spaceship must pick up the green gas tank before getting to the galaxy. Some levels have wormholes, naturally.


One of the bad things about being a puzzle app blogger is that one often plays the earliest version 1. I was stuck on level 18 for a while. Sometimes the undo and refresh buttons didn't work. But the exit button did. However, the program would not let me do 18 until I redid 17 again. I ended up doing level 17 about 5 times before I figured out 18.


The same thing happened to me on level 51.  I contacted Boris to check it. He confirmed it to me: it was impossible. Meanwhile I solved level 50 about 10 times.
However, Loyal Blog Follower, Boris has fixed all of that! The new level 51 is solvable. Alas, I asked Boris for a hint. Then I rapidly completed the rest (58 levels altogether). I think I noticed that level 57 is the same as 51.
The graphics are crisp & clear.
If you're a fan of Lunar Lockout, I think you'll enjoy these new challenges. I did.


https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-galaxy-hopper/id969846833?ls=1&mt=8

More About that game Dots Tails......from 2 Loyal Blog Followers. Also, watch this PUZZLE video 3 times!

Loyal Blog Follower Shy Hong Konger wrote probably the lengthiest and best comment in the past 6 months.  It deserves its own blog entry.


Tom,

I tried out your game based on your recommendation. I found 2 solutions for Level 98 (the level you are stuck on). Here is a screenshot showing one of the solutions (the other solution is just a trivial variant):

http://postimg.org/image/m31q0qlk7/

I agree with you that the game itself is not very engaging. The puzzles seem derivative, lack cleverness, and require excessive trial and error. A reason for the derivativeness is that it is trivial to generate extremely complicated puzzles because both the values of all of the numbered tiles and the starting values of all of the chains are entirely arbitrary. Consequently, you can simply start with an arbitrary layout of numbered tiles, draw out arbitrary paths for an arbitrary number of chains, sum up the values of the numbered tiles each chain crosses, and then set the starting value for each chain to each sum. The design of this game mirrors many design properties of Sokoban. It is trivial to work "backward" to derive the initial layout of the puzzle once you have a solution in mind, but it is not trivial to work from the initial layout to discover the solution.


Andrew Juell  also chimed in via email: Thought I should let you know this appears to be a blatant clone of 'Sum Tracks' which I first saw on kongregate some months ago.


__________________________________________________________________________________


Watch this puzzle video 3 times!  Michael Karas made it. He's a serious juggler. About 3 years ago I saw him in a juggling show with Jen Slaw, another fine juggler. The show was called Perfect Catch.


One more thing about the video: it didn't work on my ipad, but did work on my laptop.

Cube Escape: Seasons - free puzzle game for iphone, ipad

Loyal Blog follower William H. recently contacted me about this Escape the Room puzzle: Cube Escape: Seasons.
I've never been a big fan of this genre. Too often there's a clue/object that's tucked in a corner or under a table and I don't want to tap every square inch of every slide to find it.


This particular game is quite good.  In fact, it's kind of creepy. There is a walkthrough. I confess that I needed it to find one of the picture pieces. In my opinion, it was unfairly hidden. Nevertheless, this is one very cool game.


My favorite clue/puzzle piece was the wire hanger because it's particularly harder for younger puzzlers.




Here are the reviews from two other people on the App Store:
♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️

     

by EscapeGameLover691913212225

Undoubtedly the best escape game I've ever played (and I've played a lot of escape games)!! I cannot get over just how beautifully designed this series is! I've never even written a review until this game, it is that good! If I was you I would get both in the series then give yourself adequate time (I don't remember how long it took to play them I found them in the middle of the night started playing instantly lost track of time and didn't stop playing until I was done) get comfy start playing and enjoy!!! Oh and they've also got a creepy side which you really don't expect at first uhh they are so good I won't say any more!! Have fun!!!

by iam.icelandic.ish

Again, one of the best horror/escape games I've played! I played the previous one "Cube Escape: The Lake", and I thought that one was fantastic! But this one is even better and even more creepy! It is so suspenseful because you never know what's lurking in the room when you click on objects! And has a physiological, horror aspect to it that is so unique compared to other escape games out there. And be warned, there are a lot of jump scares and sudden, loud music! But that just adds to the fun and beauty of it! Its beautiful and disturbing, with challenges, and constant scare!        

     

https://itunes.apple.com/app/id979777165?mt=8

Unite RGB: free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

 

Robert Schlyter recently contacted me about his company's new puzzle app game: Unite RGB.
It's a game that tests your reflexes.  The idea is to swipe colored squares rapidly so that the red, blue & green squares hit the bottom simultaneously.
I did not get very far in this game.


https://itunes.apple.com/se/app/id978034201

Dots Tails: free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

 

Andrew Kyznetsov is the author of Dots Tails. His description: 'Dots Tails - is a puzzle game, an intergalactic time accelerator, with the goal of helping Captain Square gather his tails!

Somewhere in the far far galaxy, Captain Square was waging war against the triangle invaders. In one of the heavy battles his ship was seriously damaged, but the captain’s own spirit was not broken; he understood that he had to retreat, or he would be captured by the hated triangles. An intergalactic jump ship was launched. But something went wrong. The computer set a route right through a giant quasar. When the captain found himself in it, he noticed that he had turned into a huge string of dots, and his intellect had ceased to be a single whole, the whole world consisted of his past, present, and future woven together. In order to escape from this trap, he must gather himself together piece by piece. With his last smidgen of strength he calls on you for help!'

Each squared number must travel over the circled numbers to get to zero.  Look at the 2nd image.  See the 6? It's going down, then to the right. The 5 is going to the right and then snake up & to the left. The 3 at the bottom is going straight up.
As you pass over a circle, that circle will disappear, unless the circle has a dot or 2 dots underneath. Each dot represents an extra life for that circle.
There are approximately 200 levels & I'm stuck on 98. 
Dots Tails is a good puzzle app. But I'm moving on to other puzzle apps.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dots-tails/id975308362?mt=8

Zeroed Out

 

Seema Datar recently contacted me about her new puzzle app game Zeroed Out. Her description:
'Zeroed out is a challenging math and logic game where the "red tile" needs to be navigated from the "Start" position to the "End" position to complete a puzzle. On moving the tile in horizontal or vertical directions, it gets swapped with its neighboring tile. After the red tile is moved into a new position, the value of all tiles adjacent to it is reduced by 1. If any of the adjacent tiles' value is reduced to 0, the player loses and is "Zeroed Out!". Each move needs to be made within a time limit, which is configurable. Minimize the number of moves and the time consumed in a puzzle to achieve a better score.'




My observations:
When you land on a cluster of large numbers, then it's quite easy.
The grid sizes are 5x5 and 6x6.
The games take about 15 seconds to solve.
If you are just to the left of a 1, go ahead and land on it! When you come off it, it will be a random number.
I'm not sure how points are computed and then transferred to the Leaderboard.  At the moment there are 38 players and I'm #4.


https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/zeroed-out/id989629091?ls=1&mt=8

Zobrist Cube: mechanical puzzle of the month

A story: almost 20 years ago I bought a Burr Set of puzzles from Interlocking Puzzles.  The set consisted of 30 to 40 pieces and made 314 6-piece different burr puzzles. It cost $150. I was hesitant because I didn't really understand what a burr puzzle was.  When I got it, I worked my way through all 314 puzzles.  Took about a month.

The Zobrist Cube comes from Al Zobrist. I saw an advertisement for it in Discover Magazine.


Al Zobrist is the brain behind this monster set. At first glance, the Zobrist Cube looks like an ordinary Soma Cube: assemble the pieces to form a 3x3 cube.  However, The Zobrist Cube should be renamed as The Zobrist Cube Set because it comes with 33 pieces - most are unique, some are duplicates.


Each pieces has an embossed letter on it.  The Zobrist Cube Set comes with a manual that describes over 20 THOUSAND  cube combinations.  Fortunately, these are grouped into easy & hard levels.


At the top of the hard levels is a great quote from Stewart Coffin who describes these harder puzzles as '30-minute' puzzles.


Having done a bunch of Soma Cube variations over the years, I instantly headed to the hard ones.  The first one I did in 10 minutes.  The next one - I gave up after 30 minutes.  I skipped to somewhere in the middle and solved the next 3 in about 5 minutes each. I may have been lucky.


Al has turned this puzzle set into a game: 2 people square off, and select 2 random puzzles (with different pieces of course) and see who solves their first.

Somebody, somewhere in this great land, is going to take the time to solve them all. It won't be me.


$35: perfect gift for a kid, adult, a graduation present and for yourself.


http://www.zobristcube.com/

Pepe Porcupine: free puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

Pepe Porcupine is another Sokoban puzzle.  There are approximately 300 levels. Fortunately, you can skip around.  I've done about 10 levels at the easy/and hard levels. 


I'm not sure if these levels are original or copied. It's a good set of puzzles, especially for anybody who's never done a sokoban puzzle.


The all-time greatest set of sokoban puzzles: Box World, which has 100 levels.  In the mid-90's, I paid $5 for it and got many many hours of entertainment.
https://itunes.apple.com/de/app/pepe-porcupine/id992904601?mt=12

Puzzle Number 9: free puzzle app for iphone, ipad

   

Puzzle Number 9 has the potential to be a good point scoring puzzle app. The object is to combine numbers randomly placed on the 3x3 grid to form 9's. Then, two 18's become a single 36, etc. You can swipe in any direction, including zigzag.


What's the problem? Suppose you've got a 144, a 72, a 36 and an 18 - that's already 4 spaces occupied and the remaining 5 numbers may not have a combination that adds up to 1.


There are 25 undos, but to get more you have to watch horrible ads or pay $.99.


I want to like this game, but cannot.


The best 9-themed point scoring puzzle app: NineOut, which I reviewed about 3 years ago. That's one of my favorite point scoring puzzle apps.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/puzzle-number-9/id933098520?mt=8

Pictograffix: picture puzzles for ipad and kindle

Laurie Andriot contacted me 6 months ago about her iBook: Pictograffix Puzzles. 'Pictograffix Puzzles contains brain teasers that  will exercise your mind in a fun way. Pictograffix Puzzles have appeared in Games magazine. Now with Volume 1, you'll have 50 word games - either picture puns or traditional rebus puzzles to decipher. The object is to guess a name, place, title, or phrase by the pictures presented. Be careful, these puzzles are addictive!'


These puzzles are divided into easy, medium & hard puzzles. Some of them are very hard, and I had to look at the solution. Here's what's really good: you can tap on a single image to get that word. For example, if the picture is showing an arrow pointing at the top of a bed. Is the word: bed, blanket, cover?


Pictograffix is perfect to do with somebody else.  Really fun!


This book is only $.99 at iTunes.


https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/pictograffix-puzzles/id931276287?ls=1&mt=11


$1.99 at Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Pictograffix-Puzzles-Laurie-Andriot-ebook/dp/B00ONWS2Y2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1432037650&sr=8-1&keywords=laurie+andriot


This Friday: I'm blogging about a very cool mechanical puzzle.

Routy - Puzzle with Infinite Levels: free puzzle app for iphone, ipad

 

Gabor Eifert recently contacted me about his puzzle app game Routy - Puzzle with Infinite Levels. The object is to get the smiley face to the bananas by using the formulae at the top.

 

It's a bit difficult to describe.  Look at the very top of the first image.  The smiley face  will travel in a certain direction - with respect to the orientation of the mouth - and then come to a stop. Then tap on the next formula and see if he lands on the banana.


I did the first 20 levels or so without much thinking: I just tapped out the 6 possible permutations when there are 3 formulae.  As you can see from the last image, the harder levels have 4 formulae.


Routy - Puzzle with Infinite Levels is okay. If you play this game, and get to level 162, do leave a comment below!
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pac-puzzle/id982541364?ls=1&mt=8

Hook: puzzle app game for iphone, ipad

Hook has been on my radar for a while.  A student of mine showed this to me a while ago. The object is to tap on the black dot various times to withdraw the crossed swords without the swords getting hooked.

As you can see from the diagrams, they look like circuit boards.

The big black dot sends the energy either directly to the swords/hooks or to antennae which will then relay the signals. Along the way you will have to turn switches to direct the energy.


What could be better: The lines could be thicker and easier to read.  How about giving color to some lines?


There are 50 levels and I did them all. (I'm so glad that there are 'only' 50 levels. Too many puzzle games have too many levels. You may recall the puzzle app that has 10,000 levels.) I like this game. Bravo Maciej Targoni for coming up with an original concept. Hook is definitely a candidate for a PAGY award.


(There's a clone version called Solve The Knot which is a complete rip-off. Yes it's free, but you'll pay for it by having to watch the same ads over and over.)


https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/oo/id956794130
http://playthehook.com/