Tag Archives: app review

A New Year’s Eve Countdown!

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It’s New Year’s Eve, and we are literally counting down the hours until 2016, so why not celebrate the end of 2015 with a little countdown of our own?

Here are my 10 favorite blog posts from 2015!

#10 Rubik ‘Round the World

One of the most amazing things about the world today is how interconnected we all are. The Internet has made it easily to not only keep in touch with far-flung friends, but to forge new, meaningful friendships and connections with staggering ease.

And I confess, I am a total sucker for those heartwarming clickbait videos that spread the message that we are all the same. (The one of that guy doing the same dance in countries across the world comes to mind.) So seeing people from all over the world solve a Rubik’s Cube one move at a time…what can I say? It got me.

#9 Holiday Puzzly Gift Guide

Every year, one of my favorite activities is putting together our Holiday Puzzly Gift Guide. I get to include the best products sent to me for review by top puzzle and game companies, mix in some of my own favorites, and draw attention to terrific constructors, game designers, and friends of the blog, all in the hopes of introducing solvers (and families of solvers) to quality puzzles and games.

#8 Music and Puzzles

Talking about how puzzles are relevant to daily life is one of my favorite subjects for blog posts. Brain health, stress relief, the long-term benefits of puzzle solving…we’ve discussed all these topics and more during my time as lead blogger.

This year I continued that tradition with this post about how listening to music can make you a more effective solver. It’s always interesting for me to do some research and really delve into a topic — especially scientific ones because they’re often so drastically misreported or misinterpreted by mainstream outlets — and give the PuzzleNation audience the straight story.

#7 The Dress

One of the most bizarre moments of 2015 was when someone shoved their iPhone in my face and asked me what color a dress was. It wasn’t until a few moments later that I found out this was a big thing on the Internet that people were vociferously debating.

The chance to explain exactly what was going on in the photo through one of my favorite puzzly mediums — the optical illusion — was too much fun to resist, and it resulted in one of the year’s most popular, most shared blog posts.

#6 The American Crossword Puzzle Tournament

Although it’s a highlight of the puzzly calendar every year, this year’s ACPT was extra special for me because it was the first I attended in person.

Not only did I get to meet a lot of top names in crosswords — in many cases, finally getting a chance to put names to faces after many emails and tweets exchanged — but I got to enjoy the Big Fight feel of seeing so many friends and puzzlers test their mettle against some great puzzles.

#5 A Puzzly Wedding Proposal

Our friends at Penny Dell Puzzles pulled off one heck of a puzzly coup when an intrepid fellow puzzler asked them for help proposing to his girlfriend with a special Escalators puzzle.

I reached out to the lucky fiancé and got his permission to share the story with the PuzzleNation readership, and as I learned more about who was involved and how they’d managed to make it happen, I just became more and more enamored with the story. I have no doubt that years from now, this will still be one of my favorite blog posts.

#4 Max Reviews the Boston Festival of Indie Games

Guest bloggers are nothing new to PuzzleNation Blog, as Sherri regularly pops in with her app reviews, but Max Galpern pushed things to another level with his appearances throughout the year. Not only did he pioneer our first video review (with assistance from Fred), but he took over the blog for an entire day with his review of the Boston Festival of Indie Games.

Here’s hoping we can get Max back for 2016 a few times, though I suspect he’ll be in high demand.

#3 Will Sudoku

We do a lot of reviews (board game and card game reviews, puzzle reviews, tournament reviews, app reviews, etc.) and I thoroughly enjoy introducing new puzzly products and events to my fellow PuzzleNationers and sharing my thoughts on them.

But it’s rare that we get the first shot at introducing a brand-new never-before-seen puzzle or product, and that’s what separates the Will Sudoku post from many others. Serving as the debut outlet for a new puzzle was great fun and very exciting, one of those rarities that made 2015 such a terrific year.

#2 Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Island Seesaws

Brain teasers were a big part of 2015 for the blog, since several challenging ones went viral this year. But I don’t think any of them taxed my brain — both to solve AND to explain how to solve — like the island seesaw brain teaser from an episode of Fox’s sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine did.

It is an epic-length blog post — one I needed a mathematician friend of mine to help me write — but it broke down a tough puzzle bit-by-bit and explained every step. In a year of brain-melting puzzle posts, it still stands out.

#1 Announcing Free Daily Puzzles for the Penny Dell Crosswords App

I almost put announcing the Android release for the App here instead — because so many people had been asking about it for so long — but in the end, the free daily puzzle announcement won out, and not simply because it was a terrific new feature for the App, one that I feel would draw a lot of new eyes to the product.

Getting to interview Fred and talk about not just what we’ve been working on for years, but where we were headed in the future, made it feel like a special event for the PuzzleNation Team as a whole. Plus it was a chance to introduce all of you to another member of the team, something I hope to do more of in 2016.

It may sound self-serving or schlocky to talk about our flagship product as #1 in the countdown, but it’s something that we’re all extremely proud of, something that we’re constantly working to improve, because we want to make it the absolute best it can be for the PuzzleNation audience. That’s what you deserve.

Thanks for spending 2015 with us, through logic problems and love stories, through dresses and debuts, through Rubik’s Cubes and revelations. We’ll see you in 2016.

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You can also share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and explore the always-expanding library of PuzzleNation apps and games on our website!

PuzzleNation App Review: Can You Escape?

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Welcome to the another edition of PuzzleNation App Reviews! Today we continue our quest to explore the world of puzzly games and apps for your tablet or smartphone!

Our resident app player and puzzle fiend Sherri has a new game for us today, so let’s get down to business and dive into her review of Can You Escape? for iPhone and iPad!

You’re trapped! You are faced with a closed elevator and no way to open it. What do you do? Well, you search the floor for the way to open the elevator! You need to solve puzzles and find hidden objects in order to unlock the elevator, proceed to the next floor, and begin the hunt anew.

Can You Escape? is a very interesting iOS game. Your goal is break out of each room, but since you don’t know why you are trapped on each floor, I think this also counts as a choose-your-adventure game.

This is a variation on an escape-the-room game, and it was a lot of fun. I had never played that type of game before. In order to open the elevator, you have have to search each floor for the key. Some floors have more than one room to search. There isn’t a story to this game, so you need to use your imagination to figure out why you need to break out of each room.

Throughout the many levels, there are mini-games and hidden objects you have to find. For example, in the first room on the first level, there is a chest featuring a scrambled picture. You must rotate the pieces of the puzzle to complete the picture and to open the chest.

[One of the many puzzles you’ll encounter along the way.]

You also have to search each room thoroughly in order to find the objects hidden in each level. The items aren’t labeled, so there is a bit of guesswork on what to do with each object. However, it is fairly easy to figure out what to do on each level.

This is a game that requires patience. You need to explore every nook and cranny. And use your imagination.

Ratings for Can You Escape?:

  • Enjoyability: 3/5 — This is rather dependent upon the player. Because there isn’t a back story, you are limited only by your imagination. Why are you escaping these floors? The possibilities are endless.
  • Puzzles incorporation: 4/5 — This game is chock full of puzzles, as you have to solve various mini-games and search for hidden objects on each floor.
  • Graphics: 3/5 — The rooms on each floor are nicely detailed but are static for the most part.
  • Gameplay: 4/5 — I had never played an escape-the-room type puzzle before, and I found it to be quite fun. The story I chose is that I lost the key to each floor’s elevator, and I had to search the rooms in order to leave the building for work!

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date on everything PuzzleNation!

You can also share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and explore the always-expanding library of PuzzleNation apps and games on our website!

PuzzleNation App Review: Shuttle Shuffle

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Welcome to the another edition of PuzzleNation App Reviews! Today we continue our quest to explore the world of puzzly games and apps for your tablet or smartphone!

Our resident app player and puzzle fiend Sherri has a new game for us today, so let’s get down to business and dive into her review of Shuttle Shuffle for iPhone and Android!

Shuttle Shuffle is a game where the goal is to return stranded aliens to their spaceships, so they can go home.

Hello, humans, your goal is to help the aliens get back to their ships! They need to leave the planet at once. Won’t you please guide them?

This is really cute twist on a clear-the-board type game. Your goal is to clear the aliens from the board by matching them to spaceships of the same color as the aliens. To move them, simply touch an alien and move up, down, left, or right.

However, it isn’t quite that simple, as a column of aliens will move up or down together, and a row of aliens will move left or right together. This can make earning the medals and stars tricky.

There is also a social aspect to the game. When you earn medals, you have a choice of earning a tickets to challenge another player or a ticket to make your own board with which to challenge another player. This adds a nice twist to the game.

This is a really enjoyable game. For fans of this type of game, it is highly recommended. This will keep you puzzling for ages.

Ratings for Shuttle Shuffle:

  • Enjoyability: 3/5 — This is really fun and quite challenging! Trying to earn the medals and stars really takes thought.
  • Puzzle incorporation: 3/5 — In each level, you have to puzzle out how to get the aliens to their ships, each level with its own layout of aliens, which often provides a chain-solving challenge.
  • Graphics: 4/5 — Except for the blinking eyeball, the graphics are static, but they are very bright and colorful. You move the aliens along a standard grid, and the background of the first world, Terra, features clouds and spaceships launching.
  • Gameplay: 4/5 — This is a really cute twist on a clear-the-board game. The aliens are adorable, and the levels get increasingly more difficult, so you really have to think to earn the medals and stars. Plus, the social aspect of designing your own levels adds an extra dimension to the game.

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! You can share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and be sure to check out the growing library of PuzzleNation apps and games!

PuzzleNation App Review: TRUpuzzlE

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Welcome to the another edition of PuzzleNation App Reviews! Today we continue our quest to explore the world of puzzly games and apps for your tablet or smartphone!

Our resident app player and puzzle fiend Sherri has a new game for us today, so let’s get down to business and dive into her review of TRUpuzzlE for iPad and iPhone!

TRUpuzzlE is an iOS app where you’re tasked with moving the group of green pieces to a specific location.

If you like straight puzzles, then this is the game for you. Your goal is to shift the green group of pieces to the green squares. Easy, right? Well, guess again. Blocking your way are other groups of colored pieces that you have to move around in order to get the green pieces to their proper squares.

This is a real corker of a game, as the levels get progressively harder. Much harder. You have set paths to move the pieces through; in order to get the full three stars for each level, you have to move the green pieces to their squares in a certain number of steps. Of course, you can take as many steps as you need and earn one star, which is good, as completing one level opens up the next.

The graphics are pretty good. Each level’s puzzle board is superimposed on machinery, with moving gears in the background. It has a steampunk flavor that I really enjoy. To reset a level, you simply flick a switch.

Since you’re pretty much solving the same type of puzzle for each level, if you aren’t a lover of this type of puzzle, the game can get a bit tedious. The graphics keep levels interesting, though, and the increasing difficulty really works your brain. This is one game that keeps your puzzle-solving abilities sharp!

Ratings for TRUpuzzlE:

  • Enjoyability: 2/5 — It’s a very straightforward game that really depends on if you like solving that particular type of puzzle. Since each level is essentially the same, just increasing in difficulty, it can get a bit tedious.
  • Puzzle incorporation: 4/5 — This game is all about the puzzle. Each level gets progressively harder with the same type of puzzle.
  • Graphics: 3/5 — They’re minimalist but have a good steampunk flavor. The moving gears really add atmosphere to the game.
  • Gameplay: 3/5 — It’s a fairly easy game to play. Good luck trying to get three stars on each level. Those levels get very tricky!

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! You can share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and be sure to check out the growing library of PuzzleNation apps and games!

PuzzleNation App Review: Hedgehog Gardens

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Welcome to the another edition of PuzzleNation App Reviews! Today we continue our quest to explore the world of puzzly games and apps for your tablet or smartphone!

Our resident app player and puzzle fiend Sherri has another intriguing game for us today, so let’s get down to business and dive into her review of Hedgehog Gardens for iPad and iPhone!

Hedgehog Gardens is an iOS game that offers a cute twist on a simple counting game. But in this case, it isn’t so simple at all!

A pretty efficient hedgehog has taken up residence in the Back Garden. His goal, and yours, is to clear out all of the vegetables. To do this, you must number the tiles from 1 to 36, while following specific rules. In much higher puzzles, you must count even higher!

[Where would you place a 3 to continue the
hedgehog’s clockwise path around the garden?]

Each Back Garden puzzle is divided into four different sections, each of which is filled with a different vegetable. There are three rules to follow in order to clear the vegetables and number the tiles: you must move clockwise around the board, you must move in a straight line from section to section, and you can’t revisit a tile.

Now don’t panic about where to start because when you start a puzzle, some of the tiles have already been numbered. Your goal is to complete the puzzle by guessing the remaining numbers and having the hedgehog follow a path from 1 to 2 to 3 and so on.

Once you complete enough Back Garden puzzles, you open up the Orchard, which has its own set of rules. There are other sections you can open once you complete enough puzzles.

If you enjoy counting and Sudoku-type games, this is a great game to play. You get over 1,000 puzzles spread over several sections. However, all of the puzzles are not immediately available. The more you play, the more you open. The sheer volume of puzzles will keep a player busy.

Counting and Sudoku-type games aren’t really my thing, but I find myself playing a puzzle here and there because they are puzzling and almost soothing. They are a pleasant way to work the mind. And I have to admit, the rolling hedgehog is very cute.

Ratings for Hedgehog Gardens:

  • Enjoyability: 3/5 — If you enjoy Sudoku-type numbering games, this one is for you. The sheer number of puzzles, over 1,000, should keep you occupied for a quite a while.
  • How well puzzles are incorporated: 4/5 — The puzzles get progressively harder and bigger the later you go into each section. Since each puzzle has a unique solve, you really need to think and puzzle out how to complete each one, especially with the rule changes in other sections.
  • Graphics: 2/5 — They’re pretty basic, just static pictures related to each particular section. For example, pictures of vegetables in the Back Garden. The rolling hedgehog is rather cute.
  • Gameplay: 2/5 — It’s pretty much the same thing through all of the puzzles. There are different rules for each section, but you’re really just counting. There isn’t much variety.

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! You can share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and be sure to check out the growing library of PuzzleNation apps and games!

PuzzleNation App Review: G.O.A.T. – Mow it up!

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Welcome to the another edition of PuzzleNation App Reviews! Today we continue our quest to explore the world of puzzly games and apps for your tablet or smartphone!

Our resident App player and puzzle fiend Sherri has another intriguing game for us today, so let’s get down to business and dive into her review of G.O.A.T – Mow it up! for iPad, iPhone, and Android devices!

Oh no! Farmer Jason’s mower is broken! How is he doing to mow his fields? Well, Mr. Goat is here to the rescue. After all, he is a farmer’s best friend.

G.O.A.T – Mow it up! is a cute twist on a clear-the-grid game. It’s an iOS game in which your goal is to guide the goat through the unmowed grass. All of the grass needs to be cleared, and you can’t mow a space twice.

The game is divided into worlds and chapters. Summertime is the easy world, and it’s divided into 40 levels. Using your finger, you draw your path, dropping carrots along the grassy patches. There are also items of litter that the goat eats. You have to clear all of the litter and the grassy patches, and each path needs to end with a yummy piece of litter.

This is a great game. With the increasing level of difficulty, even in the easy world, I had a blast clearing the levels. They are colorful and bright, and I just love the goat. Once you complete the path, the goat really takes off, and it is a wonderful sight to see. Figuring out the best path to mow all of the grass provides such a good feeling of accomplishment.

Graphically, this game is great. The levels are colorful, with various obstacles to get around, and there’s a variety of litter items like sandals and tires. Mr. Goat just gobbles them all up. And carrots. He loves carrots. If you enjoy games where you have to clear a grid, this is a good one to play.

Ratings for G.O.A.T – Mow it up!:

  • Enjoyability: 3/5 — This is a really cute and colorful game but each level is essentially the same gameplay-wise, which can grow tedious over time.
  • Puzzle incorporation: 4/5 — The levels increase in difficulty, and you need to think logically to clear all of the grass. Plotting your route really works your brain, and that was just in easy mode!
  • Graphics: 4/5 — The graphics are bright and colorful, and the goat is great. It’s awesome seeing him zip through your path once you’ve cleared the board, although one big drawback is the continue screen that obscures the fast mowing.
  • Gameplay: 3/5 — It can get a bit monotonous, but the increasing difficulty and the need to puzzle out your path keeps you on your toes.

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! You can share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and be sure to check out the growing library of PuzzleNation apps and games!