Five perfect puzzle games for the iPhone
Puzzle games and the iPhone and iPod Touch go together like peas and carrots (and they're nearly as good for you). They fit beautifully on the small screen, they have no awkward controls to master, and they're ideal when you have 5 minutes or 10 minutes to kill (and don't feel like killing things).
Here's a list of my five favorite puzzle games (so far):
- Hanoi A beautiful rendition of the classic Towers of Hanoi game. The object is simple: move a stack of disks from one side of the board to the other. There's not much replay value once you master it, but it's fantastic until you do. And, hey, it's free.
- Nintaii I had no idea what to expect from this game when I won it from AppGiveaway, but it took all of 30 seconds for me to fall in love. Like any good puzzler, this block-rolling, switch-activating brainteaser is easy to learn, challenging to play, and thoroughly rewarding to beat. The full version's on sale for 99 cents, but there's also a Lite freebie.
- Myst The puzzle game to end all puzzle games, Myst is a lush graphic adventure based on the eponymous PC classic. Well worth the $5.99 given the amount of gameplay you'll get from it--and if you can beat it, you're a smarter player than I.
- Unblock Me One of countless iPhone versions of the beloved Traffic Jam board game, Unblock Me challenges you to remove a red block by sliding other blocks out of the way. The free version gives you 400 puzzles to solve before going on to the 1,600-puzzle full version (which costs of all 99 cents).
- Twisty Text Lite I love Boggle-style games like TextTwist, which challenge you to build as many words as you can from a set of scrambled letters. Until I can get the real deal, Twisty Text easily satisfies my word-building cravings. It's similar to Free Word Warp, but I like the presentation and input method better.
Nintaii is just about the perfect puzzle game: clever, challenging, and fun.
OK, your turn: What puzzle games have earned a permanent home on your iPhone or Touch? I know I've left out some classics, like Bejeweled and Wurdle, but for me those are just played out.
Update: I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that classic puzzler Jumble was announced for the iPhone just yesterday. Jumble Classic is $3.99 and available now.
Rick Broida, a technology writer for nearly 20 years, is the author of more than a dozen books. In addition to writing CNET's The Cheapskate blog, he oversees BNET's Business Hacks. Rick is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CBS Interactive. Disclosure. Deals found on The Cheapskate are subject to availability, expiration, and other terms determined by sellers. Follow Rick on Twitter at cheapskateblog.
Gaia - Touch groups of 3 or more same textured shapes until you are done or can't make another move. When like shapes touch they "join" to make a bigger shape. You get more points for getting rid of a bigger shape. More shapes drop in as you go until the level is over. As you progress obstacles are added that make it harder to move the existing shapes around. Gorgeous graphics and music. You can have ipod on while you play. Makes great use of gravity.
Gem Spinner - Double click and drag "containers" of gems to form 3 or more which then drop out. When you get rid of all the gems in a container - which are squares and short to longer zig zags - the container disappears. Get rid of a minimum amount of gems to proceed. Difference comes in ability to drag the containers around and/or rotate them to match gems in surrounding containers. Simple and addictive. Can play ipod at same time.
Glyph - Touch 3 or more like gems to get rid of them and reveal the "glyph" beneath. When glyph is fully revealed you can move to next level. Special stones like bombs and color changers help in the higher levels. "Simon" like mini game after certain levels - touch the glyphs in the order that they pulse - to get to the next level. Gorgeous graphics. Don't remember if ipod plays.
Jewel Quest II - Classic. I just find this much more interesting than Bejeweledl because you have to turn the background to gold (or silver then gold). Gameplay is much more fun and rewarding.
The Treasures of Montezuma - Another classic gem swapper with better gameplay than Bejeweled. You have to beat your previous amount to move on to the next level. Good graphics. Good music.
And if you like Hidden Object Games:
Yard Sale and The Stone of Destiny are both good. Yard Sale was my favorite because in between the searching you actually created furniture by spray painting and gluing etc. what you found at the sales. Very cool! Stone of Destiny has some little mini games you can play in between as well.
I remember beating Myst back in the Windows 95 days, and I wonder how certain aspects were ported to the iPhone., as a few of them require near-mouse precision.
Joey
Good color matching block game where the object is to erase all the blocks on the screen. you erase the blocks by touching clusters of 2 or more of the same color. There is an Easy,Medium,and Hard mode. I have yet to beat it on Hard. The Best part...$.99!
Enjoy!
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by Freecloud
September 29, 2009 6:58 AM PDT
- Another great puzzle game is Block Drop. It has 999 dynamically generated levels that have beautiful 3D graphics. The music of the game is created "on the fly" so it matches the game perfectly.
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by zappa1710
September 30, 2009 3:55 AM PDT
- If you like "traffic Jam"-like problems combined with numbers try "Numbers to 1".
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(14 Comments)Block Drop Lite has just been released so you can download it for free!
http://BlockDrop.com/c/BlockDropiPhone/
http://BlockDrop.com/c/BlockDropLiteiPhone/
The higher levels are really addictive!