Up Left Out by Maciej Targoni $.99

 Up Left Out comes from Maciej Targoni. Any time I see his name, I know the game is going to be artistically and intellectually pleasing.

There are 51 levels. I solved them in about 1.5 hours. Not too hard. One particular element, which I won't mention its nature, is really cool.  Well worth $.99. Keep up the good work Maciej.




https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/up-left-out/id1339172788?mt=8
http://upleftout.com/
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rt.upleftout
https://store.steampowered.com/app/867380/Up_Left_Out/




Other games from Maciej that you must download.
"klocki"
"Hook"
oO
"PUSH"

Path to 9 by Halil Ozdemir FREE

Path to 9 comes from Halil Ozdemir.  It's a point scoring game.  The object is to place the 3 pieces at the bottom to fit on the grid and score points. When the pieces don't fit, the game is over.

When adjacent squares match, the square of the tile being placed disappears and the existing square/s will increase by 1.  When a tile gets to 9, it disappears and you have more room for future pieces to fit.

 

I like the concept of this game. Smaller board sizes make it much harder.


But this game has problems. First, the scoring seems to be cumulative from previous games.  Second, the game has ads which I think interfere with starting the program.


Tomorrow I'll complain about another game.  But Friday: I've got a winner.


https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/path-to-9/id1382235764?mt=8
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.habosoft.pathTo9
https://sites.google.com/view/path-to-9/home

Solitaire Cube, Classic Cards by Tether Studios FREE

When I was a kid, my father mentioned that he had heard it was possible to win money playing the standard Klondike Solitaire game. We were always intrigued by that notion.


Solitaire Cube, Classic Cards is an app that somehow enables you to make money by playing solitaire. Essentially, you play against other people and your score is determined by how many cards you got on top. Your score also increases by ordinary play: placing a black 4 on a red 5. 


You have 5 minutes to play a game.  If you use less time, that's more points for you.


Very intriguing concept.  I've played for a few nights and won no money. The 5 minute time limit definitely helps set up the 'just 1 more game' feeling.


Must delete this.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/solitaire-cube-classic-cards/id1114214294?mt=8

The Futoshiki by Aliaksandr Uvarau FREE

Loyal Blog Followers: I'm back. I wish I could say that I've been swamped with so many great new puzzles. Unfortunately, the hits are harder to find. I've also noticed a significant decline in the number of puzzles being published on the App Store.

The Futoshiki comes from Aliaksandr Uvarau. The object is to create a Latin Square where each row/column has different numbers.  The black triangles are actually 'greater than signs'.

The 4x4 grids are incredibly easy. Perfect if you're listening to a tv show that's all dialog.  The 9x9 grids are really terrific.  I've only done a few and each has taken about 30 minutes. These puzzles reminded me of Sudoku Killer.


Altogether there are 12,000 levels - completely free.  I tried to contact Aliaksandr about how he generated these. I was unsuccessful. Surely he didn't do them by hand!?


Also interesting, the 'greater than' symbols always point down or right and never left or up. Hmmmm.


https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-futoshiki/id1398126397?mt=8
http://coralgames.com.au/app_info?id=com.alexuvarov.android.futoshiki
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.alexuvarov.android.futoshiki


Similar Games & Other Latin Square Puzzles
Sudoku Sweeper
Futoshiki  also known as Hi-Lo Sudoku
LogicCity
Kropk'i Sudoku
Logi5Puzz
TetragonoS
Futoshiki Light
Futoshiki Game
Joint Number Place

Lateral Puzzles : Series #1 by HYBRIONA TECHNOLOGIES LLP FREE

I've been a fan of Lateral Thinking Puzzles since I was about 12.  The coining of the phrase Lateral Thinking was done by Edward de Bono.


This particular game Lateral Puzzles : Series #1 has 100 puzzles with a few ads thrown in.  I've done 50 in about 30 minutes. Many are old. Some have spelling mistakes.


I'm attaching just 1 image. The solution made me laugh.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lateral-puzzles-series-1/id1394753363?mt=8

Hexologic by MYTHICOWL SP Z O O $.99

 Hexologic comes from MYTHICOWL SP Z O O.  It's a math puzzle. The object is to fill each hexagon with either 1, 2 or 3 dots so that the cells, in a row, add to the corresponding numbers. All tiles that have more than 3 dots are already given to you.

The game starts very easy and continues to be very easy until about level 45.


Cells that have a red border must have the same number of dots. I like this feature. Makes things more challenging.
Hexologic was featured in the New Games We Love section of the App Store. I'm not going to rate it quite so high. But it's very good. Think of it as a hexagonal version of Kakuro. Definitely worth $.99. I solved all the levels and was a bit sad when it all ended. Looking forward to more levels.






https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hexologic/id1343246862?mt=8
http://www.mythicowl.com/






Other Math Puzzles
Pluszle
Math Puzzles If, then
Cotrio
Golden Sum
PuzzleNum
Factors Game
Tap the 3s
Nonplussed
Social Sessions
Chinese-Puzzle
Tower Locked
Tchisla
Nomics
Chisla
Tilemetry
Solvego
Number Chef
Sumaze!
LogicCity
Divide By Sheep
Zeroed Out
Quick Route

9 Maker by Cho KwangHyeon FREE

 9 Maker comes from Cho KwangHyeon. It's a point scoring puzzle game. The object is to place the random numbers into the grid to make sums of 9 or to make 3 of the same number in a row/column/diagonal.

Look at the 2nd image.  Just under the grid are 4 buttons: +, -, ?, *.  Those are power-ups.  Power-ups can be earned by getting, say three 2's within the next 10 moves.  Power-ups can also be earned by watching a 15 or 30 second ad.


9 Maker is a fast game. Unless you end up watching all those ads.  At the moment, my score is over 1000 and I'm first on the Leaderboard. Fewer than 100 people are currently on the Leaderboard.


I really like the graphics.  But the ad watching skews the playing field.  When the game starts, the random #s are just 1, 2 & 3.  So earning a power-up is not too hard.  Once the 5's, 6's & 7's appear, earning a powerup is almost impossible.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/9-maker/id1381477539?mt=8




Other Point Scoring Games Worthy of Your Time (Some are no longer available.)
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!

Omino!

Super Swipes

Make Square

Colorzam
Color 6
Sticks.

21 Black

Chessumo
Fues5

Exiled Digits by Jordan Goulet

 Exiled Digits comes from Jordan Goulet.  It's a point scoring game.  How fast can you tap the number that is NOT exiled. Look at the first image.  That means that the number to tap in the next image must be 8.

8 is now the Exiled Digit that cannot be tapped in the next screen. That leaves 749 to be tapped.  The next screen: the number to be tapped cannot have 7, 4 or 9.


I played Exiled Digits once yesterday and was proud that I was #2 on the Leaderboard. At the same time, I felt a bit inadequate because I was also last.


https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/exiled-digits/id1387370988?mt=8


Other Point Scoring Games Worthy of Your Time (Some are no longer available.)
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!

Omino!

Super Swipes

Make Square

Colorzam
Color 6
Sticks.

21 Black

Chessumo
Fues5

Scalak by Michal Pawlowski $1.99

 When Michal Pawlowski publishes a puzzle app game, you know it's going to be great.  His other games include Zenge and Blue Box X and "Push".

 Scalak starts off very simple: fit the shapes into the slots.

 Gradually, things get more complicated and rectangular shapes have to be rotated & flipped in order to find the empty spaces to place the edge pieces and face pieces.

There are 90 levels and I solved them all. The last 10 took a while.


One minor issue: sometimes the cubes didn't rotate quite right. The only thing to do was restart.  This was an issue for level 10 (or so) but then I downloaded an updated version. The problem mostly went away, but not completely. 


Scalak is not hard, but the graphics are really excellent.


Maciej Targoni and Michal Pawlowski have teamed up for other great puzzles including klocki.


https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/scalak/id1335784091?mt=8

Slash Pong! by Cane.asia inc FREE

 Slash Pong! comes Cane.asia inc. It's a physics puzzle where the object is to slice the various objects/shapes in order to make the red and blue balls collide.

There are 100 levels.  I've done 18. There are numerous ads.


https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/slash-pong/id1382525758?mt=8

0 -zero- by Simple Numerical Puzzles FREE

I like math puzzles a lot.  0 -zero- comes from Simple Numerical Puzzles.  The object is to slide the row right/left and the column up/down as fast as possible to get a Zero Value in the center.  How many Zeros can you get in the time limit.


This is a good game.  But there should be 3 specific times: 1 minute, 2 minutes & 5 minutes. There should be a Leaderboard feature too.


https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/0-zero/id1375419670?mt=8

Bloki by Maksymilian Michalski $.99

 Bloki comes from Maksymilian Michalski.  Yes it is a cube rolling puzzle. But it is much more.  The object is to roll Your Man so that the colors match the target/s on the board.

 There are 100 levels with many features.  Level 15 took more than 1 hour. I'm somewhere around level 20.

Your Man will have to grow & change shape in very careful strategic ways. Then it must dance all around the grid to align itself flat onto the target.


Hard, hard hard.  Elegant, cool & sophisticated.


Bravo Maksymilian!


https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bloki/id1366957963?mt=8




Other Cube-Rolling puzzle apps
Cubot - really great
Dice Jockey
Qvoid - one of the best puzzle apps ever
Cubler - fantastic
ODMO - okay
Bloxie
Amtalee
Bloxorz - one of the originals
Duck Roll
Roll the Dices
Blork








Block N Roll 3D
IQube Lite
Bloxorz 2 Path Finder
Incredible Box Brainstorm

Fuse5 by Selin Caliskan FREE

Fuse5 comes from Selin Caliskan.  He mad Omino! about a year ago. I liked that game a lot.


The object of the new game is to score points and collect stars by combining tiles of the same number.  1's become a single 2.  2's become a single 3 etc.  5's become a single star.  Stars can only be collected in a group.


As point scoring games go, Fuse5 is very solid. Unfortunately, a single game can last more than 1 hour.  Omino! is better.


Both have good graphics and are well executed overall.


I've collected 375 stars and 19,000 points which puts me in the top 50 out of 16,000.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fuse5/id1356495807?mt=8




Other Point Scoring Games Worthy of Your Time (Some are no longer available.)
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!

Omino!

Super Swipes

Make Square

Colorzam
Color 6
Sticks.

21 Black

Chessumo

Find The Way by Kexin Jin FREE

 Find The Way comes from Kexin Jin. The object is to move Your Men, the ghosts, to the portals.  Both ghosts travel in tandem.  Along the way: pick up the stars while avoiding the deadly bats.

We've seen this type of game numerous times. See list below.  I've solved about 20 levels.  According to the leaderboard, not many are playing this game.


https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/find-the-way/id1351228844?mt=8


Similar games (this list is incomplete):

Movez  Pretty much the same as Block Mania but it has 1680 levels. I've solved 592 of them. That's probably enough.
Frozen Ice Cubes  What's different: there's a point of 'no return'
Escapology, reviewed by Nicola Salmoria. He told me about this game ages ago. I played it and enjoyed it, but never blogged about it.
Block Mania Similar to Movez
Move Puzzle - A Funny Strategy Game, Matching Tiles Within Finite Moves 
Zink
Vubu What's different: the vubu men have different powers. Very sophisticated, very intelligent. Possibly the very best in this genre.
Move: A Brain Shifting GameUnmind
Puzzle Dots Game
Box Home Love to play Hexagonal grid

Degboard by Hieu Nguyen FREE

 Degboard come from Hieu Nguyen.  The object is to create loops  so that all the tiles on the board are covered and each numbered square has that many paths emerging from it.

It's very straight forward.  Except for 2 things: Numbered tiles that happen to be next to each other cannot be connected.  Also, it's possible to fulfill the given parameters and not get a star because a loop is not connected to the other loops/tentacles.


I've done about 100 levels, which places me 3rd on the Leaderboard.  Out of just 28.


https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/degboard/id1287194211?mt=8
https://www.facebook.com/puzzliongames/

Laurie Brokenshire: puzzler

I first met Laurie Brokenshire when he attended a NY Puzzle Party and gave a presentation about puzzle vessels. He displayed a very impressive collection of those types of puzzles too.  The article below shows his collection.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1165389/Britains-biggest-puzzle-addict-built-30-000-extension-house-brainteasers--does-poor-wife-cope.html


I got to know Laurie better over the years. Nancy & I stayed at his and Ethel's house in 2014.


About 3 years ago the boys choir at my school chose this song to sing: http://chickenonaraft.com/  I wondered about the lyrics and asked Laurie for some analysis. I forwarded it to the chorus teacher who was a bit shocked.




Sadly, Laurie passed away last summer and this is his obituary in the Telegram.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2017/08/27/commodore-laurie-brokenshire-royal-navy-officer-puzzlist-obituary/

Unblock lights by Evgenii Polomarchuk FREE

 Unblock lights comes from Evgenii Polomarchuk.  The object is to slide the red tiles right/left and the blue tiles up/down in order to clear a path for the lights.

This is a very solid game. The solutions are not obvious.  Trying to collect stars by minimizing the moves requires me to do them twice. First to get the solution path of the lights. Second to then minimize the block moves.


There are 900 levels, which is far too many.  But I definitely like this game.  Good job Evgenii!


https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/unblock-lights/id1373843690?mt=8

Rotated by Antonis Panoris FREE

Rotated! looks like a lot of other point scoring puzzle apps. Merged comes to mind.


The number 1 drops down after every rotation (move) that you make.  1's merge into a 2, 2's get merged into a 3 etc. 




This is a decent game, not great; a Leaderboard feature would make things more interesting. I've played it 5 or 6 times and the highest tile I got was an 8. By mistake, I rotated right instead of left.  And that totally made me lose.


I'm curious about how this game would play with a 4x4 grid and if random #s dropped down instead of just 1's.
I like the graphics. 1 tweak to improve: tapping on the right/left sides of the screen as opposed to just tapping on the curved arrows.




https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/rotated/id1375259129?mt=8

Fire Up! by Voodoo FREE

Fire Up! comes from the good people at Voodoo. It's a dexterity/speed game where the object is to move your bucket in front of the smallest tile and fire at it until it disappears or Your Man crashes into it.


I saw somebody playing this on the subway. Looked like fun.  And it is. But the key thing is to quickly see which block is lowest and then shift.  I would prefer that there be a zoom out feature in order to plan ahead.


Also, I don't think this game runs well on older devices. Am deleting this now.


https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fire-up/id1308209088?mt=8

SiNKR: A minimalist puzzle by Wahler Digital LLC $.99

When I saw SiNKR: A minimalist puzzle from Wahler Digital, I thought to myself: looks like a clone of Maciej Targoni's Hook from 2015.



Unquestionably this game has been influenced by Hook. However, SiNKR has added the feature of snagging the balls to the holes.


My favorite feature: hooks connecting to each other in a tug of war, which is necessary for retrieving the wayward balls.


There are 60 levels and I've done 26.





https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sinkr-a-minimalist-puzzle/id1339700349?mt=8

Miscellaneous Puzzle Stuff

http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/2125302/how-rubiks-cube-craze-spawned-rivals-hong-kong-puzzle-career-and-why-78  Uwe Meffert

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=share&v=GIAMogstbWU&app=desktop  Classic Chocolate squares

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRCzPiQCaFY&feature=youtu.be&app=desktop  Rubik's Cube coffee table

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhuaPhahHbU&t=0s&index=1&list=PLt5AfwLFPxWL_GidO6CTTlBeBLoaJeMtl  Henry Segerman gave an excellent talk at last year's New York Puzzle Party

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=y7X5H1-hHkg


https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1668831552/paradox-a-cube-escape-game-and-rusty-lake-short-fi  Rusty Lake is making a real film

Qroon by Yuuma Sakata FREE

 Qroon comes from Yuuma Sakata. I believe he's from Japan.  The object is to use the blue balls to align them to trap the red balls in between them to destroy the red balls.

This is a fun little game!
Some features:
1. The blue balls cannot get trapped in between the red balls.
2. The blue balls always travel together, making it a kind of double maze.
3. The red balls sometimes travel back and forth which adds a timing/dexterity element.
4. The yellow blocks with squares: they can be pushed a la sokoban.
5. The yellow blocks with cracks: the force of the magnetic balls will go through them and crush them into oblivion.
6. Starting on level 21, there is a reverse button which trades all red & blue dots.

I don't know how many levels there are.  The graphics are okay, they could be better.  What's important are the actual puzzles; some are quite clever.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/qroon/id1354363903?mt=8
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=tmy.jack.Qroon

Rusty Lake: Roots $2.99

 Last week was Rusty Lake's 3rd birthday and they offered Roots for $.99.  Oh yeah. But the price is back to $2.99.

 I've played almost all of their games.  Roots follows the Vanderboom family through generations - all living in the same house.  Of course, there are supernatural & horror elements and nobody lives happily ever after.

 There are 33 levels and each is a mini room-escape. Sort of.  The Rusty Lake people are still using the same elements in all of their games: the drawers that have a knife or scissors or a key.  The pieces of a puzzle that are hidden behind portraits. Yawn.


However, the story of the family is never dull. It's similar in intensity to the last half of Rosemary's Baby.

The puzzles are not too hard. I consulted a walkthrough for 3 of the rooms.


https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/rusty-lake-roots/id1142016085?mt=8


Other Rusty Lake Games I've played/reviewed:

Cube Escape: Birthday
Cube Escape: Case 23
Cube Escape: The Mill
Cube Escape: Harvey's Room
Cube Escape: The Lake
Cube Escape: Arles
Cube Escape: Seasons
Cube Escape: Theater
Cube Escape: The Cave
Rusty Lake: Hotel

Dragonwood by Gamewright $14.99

  

Dragonwood comes from the good people at Gamewright.  Like a lot of games produced these days, the instructions are complicated and require very careful reading.

I was reluctant to 'get into it.' However, this is a game of probability and is essentially a gambling game.  It's fun and fantastic.  I've played it twice in a group of 3 players and have thought hard about good strategy.

It'll take 20-30 min to go through the directions.  Then 30 min to play 1 game.

https://gamewright.com/product/Dragonwood
https://www.amazon.com/Dragonwood-Game-Dice-Daring-Board/dp/B00UB7OV7K/ref=pd_sim_21_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00UB7OV7K&pd_rd_r=3SAP9MWHDCJY0PKYW0AC&pd_rd_w=tUKk3&pd_rd_wg=ocDIS&psc=1&refRID=3SAP9MWHDCJY0PKYW0AC

Hexx: Merge by Danny Birch FREE

Hexx: Merge comes from Danny Birch.  It's a lot like Kami 2 (see link below).  The object is to tap regions to change colors and eventually get everything to just 1 color.


There are 102 levels.  The first 30 are free.  I did them in about 15 minutes.  After that, the rest cost $.99.


I really like the graphics!


https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hexx-merge/id1363773600?mt=8




Similar Games
Coloruid
Colbox
Globs
Color Zen
Super Flood
Shapzzle
Color Contagious
Puralax
Kami 2

Save Planet Cube by Marcelo Pars FREE

 Last year I reviewed Marcelo Pars' game Cube Loop. His new game Save Planet Cube is not just another version with different puzzles.  Oh no.  The new game is so much more.

There are 38 levels and each one is entirely different. Something bizarre happens on almost every level. I won't spoil it.

 But I must say that I particularly liked level 20 (see the 6th image) where the perspective is from inside the cube.

Furthermore, there is a science fiction story being told, bit by bit, after each level.


Marcelo - you hit a home run! Excellent programming & graphics.




Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/app/id1369132417

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.marcelopars.saveplanetcube




http://www.cubicks.com/


Announcement: It's Rusty Lake's birthday today. They are offering discounts up to 50%

CONNECTION By WebAvenue Unipessoal Lda FREE

 How many times have we seen a puzzle app game where the object is to trace a path that covers all the squares?  So many times. CONNECTION is another one with some nice features.

1. Some grids need to covered with 2 or 3 different lines.
2. Some spots can only be traversed with one color.
3. Some spots must be covered twice. It can be the same color, twice.
4. Wormholes

I started this game on my phone (iphone 4 small screen). Way too small a screen.  I did about 50 levels in 30 minutes, which included ad time.  And there are too many ads. So turn off your data & wifi and the ads seem to disappear.


Overall, the graphics are good, but the puzzles are not that hard.


https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/connection/id1361313065?mt=8