Games Magazine Free (Sort of)

From 2006 to 2013 I freelanced for Games Magazine. I wrote about mechanical puzzles and eventually got a business card with the title 'Mechanical Puzzle Correspondent'.   I stopped writing for a variety of reasons. Chiefly:
1. My editor was fired.
2. The two people who reviewed new games: one died and the other quit.

Games Magazine now has an app where you can download old issues. They cost $ though.

Also, the current issue, June, is on the newsstands. And I have an article, co-written with Nancy Ray Taylor.  The article is about Eric Fuller who runs this website.  Eric is offering a 30% discount on some puzzles to celebrate the article and his escalation to being famous.

If you buy any of his puzzles, tell him it's because you read the article! Even if you didn't.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/games-world-of-puzzles/id1175154131?mt=8

Addendum
Simon Broggi who made Cosmic Hare is trying to get on Steam.  Please help out.
We're currently trying to get Greenlight on Steam with Cosmic Hare, Would be great to get your vote and a comment! http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=922879215

O--O ~ Turn the Lights by Lan Ho FREE

  

Recently I blogged about Lan Ho's other game Layer Merge, which I found quite challenging. O--O ~ Turn the Lights is his new game.

  

This game is a laser light version of connecting pipes.

Interesting:
1. Each circle must be illuminated. But there is a requirement for how many should be blue or red etc.
2. The graphics are excellent.
3. There are 100 levels at Easy, Medium & Hard.  The easy ones go pretty fast. I've done about 60 of them.  The hard ones have giant grids. Only did 3 or 4.

I like this game.  It's FREE!
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/o-o-turn-the-lights/id1164752553?mt=8
http://kawasoft.com/

Happy Portions by Scott Barker & His Kids Free!

 

Scott Barker recently contacted me about Happy Portions. It's an abstract strategy game designed by his kids and himself. From their webpage: Twins, Finn and Amelie invented Happy Portions on a restaurant menu while celebrating their 8th birthday. Helped by younger brother Alec, after some later playing about with a whiteboard they perfected gameplay as it now stands. Possibly the youngest game developers in the world.

 

The game is based on Tic Tac Toe.  Each player will place his color, first choosing a circle, then choosing a sector of that circle.  When all the sectors have been filled in, the winner is the one who has the most 3 in-a-rows.

Interesting:
1. The # of sectors seems to keep growing!  I've played the game with 2, 3 and 4 sectors.
2. Each player has the power to rotate 2 circles per game.  Once a circle is rotated, it's locked in place. This action could subtract an opponents 3 in-a-row and add to their own.
3. You can play against the computer or play against a friend sitting next to you.

There's one thing that could be improved.  After I make a move, the computer makes a move very quickly and I would like to see that animated in some way. Because I'm not sure where the computer made his move.

Happy Portions could be the next Dots & Boxes.  Scott, Finn, Amelie and Alec: this is a very good abstract strategy game. Be proud of yourselves!  Everybody else: it's free, so download it.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/happy-portions/id1210974235?mt=8
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.happyportions.game
http://happyportions.com/

Hard Wood Puzzle. Square by Ruslan Goncharenko FREE

 

Hard Wood Puzzle. Square It's hard to keep up with all the puzzles that Ruslan Goncharenko keeps churning out. I counted 100 on the App Store.  Hard Wood Puzzle. Square is the name of this game.

  

The object is to rotate the propellers so that the colored pieces match the objective.  What makes these puzzles so hard is that two different pieces are shifting: the big squares and the thin rods.

There are 3000 levels split into easy, medium & hard modes.

I should also mention that the graphics are great, but you can tell from the images.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hard-wood-puzzle-square/id1229723507?mt=8

TurnClockWise Logic by Alexandr Nichitin FREE

  

TurnClockWise Logic comes from Alexandr Nichitin.  The object is to transfer the colored circles to their matching areas. This is done by rotating the wheels.

  

We've seen this concept done many times in the past.

However, the graphics here are just perfect. In terms of difficulty, I suppose they get harder, but once you've done this before, you know the  algorithms to solve them.

There are 100 levels and I've done about 25.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/turnclockwise-logic/id1222886265?mt=8

Angry Cube by Cider Software LLC FREE

  

Angry Cube is a pattern puzzle game. The object is to manipulate the bottom square to match the top square.  This can be done by rotating the square and flipping it. Each level must be solved with a time limit.

  

I really like the graphics.

The cube isn't really quite necessary, but it adds a dramatic effect.

The graphics of this game remind me of Monospace from way back in 2007.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/angry-cube/id1217167863?mt=8

loolo by YOPEY YOPEY LLC FREE

  

loolo comes from YOPEY YOPEY LLC. (It's unlikely to be confused with another company.) The object is to tap the sequence of colors that match the border before time runs out.

  

It starts off pretty easy with just two colors.  But as you can see, 3 and 4 colors make things more hectic.

Obviously, this is not very intellectual, but it is challenging. We should all be playing this type of game every so often to hopefully ward off Alzheimer's.

There are 120 levels. I've solved about 60 levels. I haven't gotten up to the ones with 4 colors. Yet.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/loolo/id1227356408?mt=8

Fill the Hole - Roll the cube to the left or right by JUAN MIGUEL DE ROBLES MACEDO

  

Fill the Hole - Roll the cube to the left or right is the name of the game. JUAN MIGUEL DE ROBLES MACEDO is the author.  The object is to roll the cube so that the whole shape will fit through the hole that's approaching.

  

The graphics are really crisp.  Love how the cube rolls around!

At the beginner mode, I got 43, before losing. That version goes nice and slow for me!  At the master mode, I got to 12.

This game is FREE.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fill-the-hole-roll-the-cube-to-the-left-or-right/id1227189298?mt=8

Run Hit Number by Clive Potter. FREE

  

Clive Potter is the author behind Run Hit Number.  It's a point scoring puzzle app game.

  

This is a hard game to explain. In one respect, it's like Threes! and its clones 2048. You slide numbers until they collide.  In this case, the numbers multiply.

This is key: you are always shooting for a Target Number, which is Prime. Look at the last image.  See the 18 in black?  Tap that square and it will subtract 1.

At the moment, my high score is 53,100. My highest Prime #: 349.  I'm guessing that game took 25 minutes.

Download this game & learn/discover Twin Primes, Cousin Primes, Balanced Primes, Safe Primes, and Triplet Primes.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/run-hit-number/id1204448676?mt=8
https://www.runhitnumber.com/

Looks like a good book for your puzzle library.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cubeindex/cube-index-a-visual-guide-to-mechanical-puzzles

Layer Merge by Lan Ho FREE

  

Layer Merge comes from Lan Ho. It's a very sophisticated and well polished stencil puzzle.

  

Each image shows a different problem.  Each one has 6 stencils.  The circle on the top left corresponds to the circle on the top right.  Both circles are controls.

The left control: rotates the stencil.
The right control: shift it up or down relative to the other controls to determine the stacking order.

According to Lan Ho, there are more than 100 puzzles.  That's probably too many by about 50. Why? Because these get really hard very quickly.  I was stuck on #6 before I realized that the right circles could move up and down. #7 is totally different from #6, but still quite hard. And that's where I stopped! At least for now.

Layer Merge requires concentration!

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/layer-merge/id1196171842?mt=8

Other Stencil Puzzles:

Factory Balls Excellent
Art of Perception: Ravioli  Highly polished.
Motif Mask Kaleidoscope Puzzle

Switch It Puzzle by Krzysztof Topolski FREE

  

Switch It Puzzle comes from Krzysztof Topolski. It's a maze game with switches. The blue pieces fires a pulse in 1 direction.  Your task is to turn the other switches on/off in order to direct the beam to the yellow star. Some levels have a green tile. Which means that the pulse must pass through it before it gets to the yellow star.

  

Other levels require combining colors.
There are 51 levels. They go pretty fast. I've done 42 and will definitely finish them later today.  Hey, it's FREE.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/switch-it-puzzle/id1220478017?mt=8
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.uglypixels.switchit

Pipe It by ANDREY NOVIKOV FREE

  

Pipe It comes from Andrey Novikov and Alexey Pajitnov, who is the author of the classic arcade game Tetris. The object is to place the pipe pieces in the grid so that every node gets lit. Also, all the pieces must be utilized.

  

There's a lot to like about Pipe It. First, when all the pieces are place the entire grid is not used. The graphics are good. I particularly like the levels that make you think there will be a symmetric diagram. Deceptive!

What could be better? Once you're stuck, it's impossible to see the outline of the individual pieces. So in effect, you have to move them all off the board.

There are 600 levels - way too many.  Also, in order to do the Normal levels, you have to first complete most of the 150 Easy levels.

There is something very relaxing about this puzzle. I did complete all the easy levels and moved on to the normal, hard and challenging levels.   At the moment I've solved 60 of the 150 challenging levels.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pipe-it/id1198940085?mt=8

Omino! by Seth Caliskan Free

  

Omino! is a point scoring puzzle app game by Seth Caliskan. The object is to place the circles on the grid - carefully! - in order to get 3 of the same color in a row (horizontally or vertically). Key Point: some of the circles have an inner color. Look at the first image.  When that green circle is place, all 5 will disappear, but then that red inner circle will take over that cell.

 

Very Interesting: creating combos yield extra points. My largest combo was 4 strings. At the time, I thought: okay, there cannot be a combo bigger than 4.  But that's definitely wrong. I'm wondering what the longest combo was and who achieved it  That should be a Leaderboard category all by itself.

On the Leaderboard is the highest score.  Out of 1300 players, I'm #2.

One more thing: every 24 moves you make, you are given a gift. You can't always use the gifts right away.

Omino! is definitely a fun game. Graphics are perfect.  Give it a try. And if you beat my score, let me know.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/omino/id1196834851?mt=8

Other Point Scoring Games Worthy of Your Time
NumberMania
Four Straight Lines
Pushopolous
Stickets
Folt
Nineout
Nineout II
BeeCells Lite
Kindly Colors
HexAgony
Domino Drop
Put Number
Tripevo
Triple Town
Kindly  Colors
COLORswipe
SubaraCity
Virus Pop Smash
+1 Number
4 Way Puzzle
Merged!
Enso

Politaire

Treple

numDance

Black Boxes

o:anquan
Levels

Buckets

Hit N Run

Puppo!

Chinese-Puzzle by Yufeng Long FREE

  

Yufeng Long has produced a very mathematical puzzle game app called Chinese-Puzzle.  The object is to change the color of groups of circles so that all the circles will be the same.

  

There are 99 Yin levels and 99 Yang levels.
Without a doubt, they get pretty tough.  I did about 25 levels altogether.
I really like Yufeng's own description:
A CHINESE PUZZLE, A WORLD PROBLEM.
Last week, More than 130,000 Chinese testers, no one can solve the all levels.
Finalist of GMGC2016 Indie Pitch Arena.
.

I am a Chinese independent game developer, six months ago I designed a puzzle game "bdpq", fortunately it was featured by Apple in "Challenge Your Brain". This six months I have been thinking about how to design a new game that can go beyond it, more able to challenge the limits of human intelligence. After dozens of program attempts, I seem to find the way.

The source of Chinese civilization wisdom is Tai Chi of I Cing, it uses the most simple yin and yang conversion to explain the secret of all things change, thus affecting the Chinese civilization development for thousands of years. I have been thinking about how to make such a thought can be understood throughout the world as a simple game, so that everyone can experience this ancient wisdom, infinitely changing from simple changes

HOW TO PLAY

Swipe to select some dots.
Click the Tai Chi to change the color of the dots.
Change all dots to into the same color.

In the testing process we found that the Yang levels of the game is relatively simple, but the difficulty began to rise sharply in Yin leves, I even suspect that no one can solve the last level. Last week, More than 130,000 Chinese testers, no one can solve the all levels. So I made a "most expensive purchase" to remind you that it may be the world's most difficult puzzle, I hope you can solve it with your own brain.

Forgive my poor English :)

Sleeeeepfly Studios
Yufeng Long
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/chinese-puzzle/id1157805434?mt=8

If you like Chinese-Puzzle, then you will certainly like the mechanical version known as Writer's Block from Oskar van Deventer. The object is to push the buttons using a certain key. The key pushes the buttons for 2 different groups of numbers.  Challenging.

  

http://www.passionforpuzzles.com/2013/11/writers-block.php