Passion For Puzzles

Aquaria is another so called locked room flash puzzle game. The graphics are great, the music is lovely only sometimes it is very difficult to solve the puzzles, I wonder if this is while they are translated form Japanese?. The plot of Aquaria is fairly straightforward. You have been searching for the ancient ruins of an underground civilization called Aquaria, and one day you find an ancient relic that teleports you down there, and you must unlock the mysteries of the ruins. One downside is that the cursor does not change shape or color to tell you when something is clickable or not. Sometimes I needed to check the walkthrough for Aquaria at JayIsGames to help me out.
And how the game ends? Nobody knows ... to be continued.

You can play Aquaria as well in the English as Japanese version.

Tags: Aquaria | Flash Puzzle | Locked Room

Via Bright And Bold dot com you can buy a Sudoku Puzzle Pendant necklace featuring a replica miniature puzzle with a few handwritten numbers filled in to give you a head start. The Sudoku is mounted in a rectangular silver-tone frame, sealed with clear resin, and strung on a black rubber cord with sterling silver lobster claw clasp.
Also dangling from the cord is a fabulously-detailed pewter pencil charm, poised for solving. The Sudoku Necklace measures 1-3/8" by 1-1/4" with an 18" cord length and will cost you US$ 29.95.

Tags: Sudoku

A few weeks ago I wrote about six wooden puzzles I found. One of them is the famous Soma Cube invented by Piet Hein and consist of seven pieces made out of unit cubes and must be assembled into a 3x3x3 cube [more information Soma Cube can be found at Wikipedia. The pieces can also be used to make a variety of other interesting 3D shapes. More interesting shapes you can make with Soma cube are available at Andreas Gunnarsson website about Soma Cube and some more shapes at Christian Eggermont page about Soma Cube Shapes.

Tags: Soma Cube | Wooden Puzzle

Via Digg I found a link to Pengupop, a networked multi player game in the vein of the puzzle classic Bust a Move and Puzzle Bobble! The object is to beat your friends in this addictive game, or play against a random opponent. Not quite as good as Frozen Bubble, but if you're running Windows, MacOS X or Linux and want a game like this with network play, this is the way to go.

Tags: Pengupop | Puzzle Bobble

Via YouTube I found a video of Rob solving Peter's Blackhole in speedcubing style. It takes him less than 1m36 in the video, but his record is 44 seconds and he can also solve Peter's Blackhole blindfolded.
Peter's Blackhole is a 3D puzzle in which everything revolves around a spatial "Black Hole". Upon purchase, your magical 3D puzzle is in its original state: on every visible surface of every visible cube there is a silver star. In one corner there is a cube missing, in which Peter's Blackhole can be read. You use this free space to slide the other cubes around. When you start moving the cubes, you'll see that Peter's Blackhole disappears, and also that the silver stars turn towards the inside. In their place you now see other brightly colored stars, or cubes with just a black surface. You need skill to get the cube back to its original state, i.e. making all the silver stars visible again.
If you just want to read how to solve Peter's Blackhole please feel free to visit our Puzzle Solution page.

Tags: 3D puzzle

Building houses is a interesting 3D block puzzle. The idea is to build up the solid shape indicated by the views to the left (top, front and right view) but only by using the number of cubes given. There are 10 problems, called figuur1 to figuur10 (Dutch for figure 1 to 10). The first one really got me thinking, but once you got the concept the are easier to solve. If you need some help please visit YouTube where some people posted recording of them solving Building Houses. The truth is that these ten puzzles will keep you puzzled for a while. As well level 1 and level 2 are available (in Dutch) at the website WisWeb [WisWeb is the website of the Freudenthal Institute for secondary education (students of 12 to 18 years old). The main focus of the site are applets, small computer programs that run over the internet]. Happy puzzling

http://mathsnet.net/geometry/solid/houses.html


Tags: 3D Puzzle

Via Digg I found a link to Flickr where a picture is posted of the largest working Rubik's Cube in the world which I think is not suitable for speed cubing. This large Rubik's Cube is probably the first puzzle you will see when you enter the puzzle exhibition in the museum of technology Helsinki, Finland. The exhibition shows the 1300 puzzles [photo's via Flickr] of Finish puzzle collector Matti Linkola who has been collecting puzzles for over 30 years. The exhibition is expected to last for a whole year - till January, 2008.

Tags: Rubik's Cube

What more do you want when solving sudoku's or crossword puzzles? A puzzle pen, so you can solve two puzzles at the same time. ProInnovative offers promotional solution with products that range from stress relievers to toys to writing instruments. Well in this case a puzzle pen which they compare with rotating and sliding tiles like Rubik's Cube. Well I think this puzzle looks more like Smarty Rotator but that will their marketing. ProInnovative offer puzzle pen only with a minimum quantity of 250.

Tags: Puzzle Pen

Treasure Box is the latest addition to my puzzle collection. Treasure Box is a 3D jigsaw puzzle in the Crystal Puzzle Collection of Kinato.com. There are 46 3D jigsaw puzzle pieces which will form a treasure box. A long time ago I already found a 3D jigsaw puzzle shaped apple in London. The Apple and more shapes are also in the Crystal Puzzle Collection of Kinato.com.

Tags: Treasure Box | 3D Jigsaw puzzle

While looking on the internet for some nice puzzle furniture I found some nice puzzle stuff for kids to play with, to play on and to look at. First there is the Puzzle Play Center Mat (originally for Daycare Centers). A soft 67" x 40" Naugahyde® Blue/Green checkerboard mat surrounded with 6 straight puzzle pieces and 4 curved puzzles pieces. A real joy for all kids to play with.
The second is a 6 feet square or circular Puzzle Play Mat in four bright colors (red, green, yellow and blue). This is 44% larger than their regular activity or crawley mats and excellent for larger activities with more kids.
And last but not least to decorate the room a 72" x 72" Puzzle Soft Wall Mural. Made of vinyl covered with nylon for longevity with also four bright colors and a soft texture which is to clean vinyl covered nylon for longevity.

Tags: Puzzle | Furniture | Play Mat | Wall Mural

Dedicated jigsaw puzzlers know nothing matches the quality (or challenge) of a real hand-cut wooden puzzle. But at about US$ 2.00 or so per piece they are outrageously expensive (a 20" x 24" 1000-piece puzzle can cost $3,000). ELMS Puzzles solves the dilemma by offering a rental program that lets you keep a puzzle for three months, by which time you should either be done or realize you've met your match.
The wooden pieces (unlike cardboard) are very exact in their fitting so you have to be very certain about having the right piece. Also, many are cut with straight lines inside the puzzle (i.e. a piece in the middle won't have interlocking pieces). Those who do puzzles by putting together the border and working their way in will really be challenged; and many of the pieces are cut in shapes appropriate for the puzzle. For example, a Christmas puzzle will have a piece the shape of a Christmas tree, the shape of a sleigh, the shape of an angel, etc., and no picture comes with the puzzle for those who "cheat" by looking at the top of the box.
While still not cheap, at $40 - $225 depending on the number of pieces, renting these puzzles becomes affordable for special occasions like family vacations with other puzzle fanatics. There are other companies that sell puzzles (Stave comes to mind from having seen their advertisements in The New Yorker), but ELMS are the only people I know who rent. I like the idea of renting 15 - 20 puzzles for the price of buying one. More information at Elm's Puzzles.[via kk.org]

Tags: Jigsaw Puzzles

TaMiGoN is a new and unique logic puzzle game for Mac OS X. The puzzle game brings together game elements from the Chinese Tangram puzzles and mixes them with modern Action Puzzle ideas such as color and shape matching. This puzzle game is a follow up to the popular BoXiKoN game but it's more like a 'sister game' than a sequel. TaMiGoN uses a set of shapes based on the Chinese Tangram puzzle. These shapes are made up of triangles and diamonds rather than blocks. TaMiGoN uses a set of 400 different Tangram style shapes!

Tags: Tamigon | Puzzle Game | Tangram | Mac OS

A few weeks ago I was very lucky. A supermarket in The Netherlands had a special puzzle offer. Six different kind of wooden puzzles by IQ Puzzles for Euro 1.99 each (around US$ 2,60). My brother was so kind to get them for me first thing in the morning. One of them is called Serpentex which I have in my collection already (although a little smaller). The other five are new to my puzzle collection. Unfortunately they don't have a name (they are now called wooden puzzle - name unknown 11 to 16), and I don't know their names either, so help is welcome.

Tags: Wooden Puzzle | Serpentex

Puzz-3D is a brand of three-dimensional jigsaw puzzles manufactured by Wrebbit, Inc. The Puzz-3D line spans replicas of several famous monuments, such as the White House, the Chrysler Building, Big Ben, and the skyline of New York City. It has also entered into fantasy creations, like King Arthur's castle and Star Wars spaceships, and time-period pieces, such as a country church and a Victorian mansion. There are even classic cars like the Corvette Sting Ray and the Ford Mustang. To solve a Puzz-3D, you have to first solve small individual puzzles made out of plastic foam. Once you have all of those puzzles put together, they all fit together with square pegs into a large, 3D model. One of the most modern examples is the Burh Al Arab Hotel that will brings the world-famous hotel from Dubai down a few pegs, and you won't need to pay $1,000-$15,000 to stay there either. With 445 puzzle pieces and 7 cardboard supports, this puzzle is over 10-inches tall when completed, and it's loaded with all sorts of detail from the ground up. For globe trotters aged 12 or above, this is a fun building experience for all. Available via Entertainment Earth for US$ 18.99.

Tags: Jigsaw Puzzle | Puzz 3D

As mentioned before I really love design furniture based upon puzzles. Andrew Tye designed a table called the Matrix Table, where you have put together two different lenght of plywood to create the base for a plate of glass. The table is available in black walnut and natural. The top is made from glass and manufactured by E&y. Dimensions (w x d x h ; 110 cm × 80 cm × 26.5 cm. More information (in Japanese) can be found at RaiRai.co.jp.

Tags: Furniture | Table

Lineage is a flash puzzle game in the Japanese language. But basically you do not need to read the Japanese to be able to play this puzzle game. Just walk through the game with the arrow keys and click on items to use them when you get them. It is a simple puzzle game but will keep you busy for hours. Enjoy solving Lineage completely.

Tags: Lineage | Flash Puzzle

Last week more puzzle were added to my puzzle collection. Six new wooden puzzles which I will write later about and one metal puzzle by Eureka Puzzle called Yin and Yang. Well look at the picture and you will know why. As mentioned on the Eureka's website it is easy to take it apart, although you do not want to do this too ofter otherwise you metal puzzle will be scratched and will not look that beautiful any more. If you buy this puzzle please make sure somebody else takes it apart or you will know directly how to put it together. After all a very nice puzzle for a puzzle collector.

Tags: Eureka | Metal Puzzle

Porolith Flash is the latest Flash puzzle game created by Taro Ito of Gamedesign. In this puzzle game is based upon Tetris. The object of the games is to join blocks of the same color to make them disappear from your playfield.
The first main difference between Porolith and Tetris is that you can't rotate the blocks that fall from the top of the screen; the second difference is that once in a while, blocks of a new color are introduced making the game more and more difficult. Via Free Game News

Tags: Flash Puzzle

The New York Times has created a free variation of its popular online crossword puzzle called Classic Crossword Widget, available as a Google home page personalization feature.
The widget will update each Monday with a rotating selection from the Times' Classic Crossword Archive of more than 1,000 puzzles and will introduce some enhanced functionality, including new ways to manipulate the individual puzzle cells to reveal letters.
There is no separate sponsor for the launch product, but a link under the word "advertisement" takes the user back to the banner advertisement/sponsorship that is currently running on the Games page section front of NYtimes.com, according to spokesperson Stacy Green. The NYT Crossword Puzzle widget was designed and powered by LabPixies and is available via Google Website. The widget could also serve as a sampling device encouraging players to trade up to the Web-based New York Times puzzle at http://www.nytimes.com/crosswords. That is a subscription product priced at $39.95/year and $6.95/month and provides access to the same crossword that appears in the day's print newspaper. More information via MediaPost

Tags: NYT | Crossword Puzzle | Google Widget

Chocolate Castle is a sliding block puzzle for Mac OSX. To complete the sliding puzzle, you must clear the room of chocolate with a team of hungry little animals. There are four types of chocolate - dark, fudge, white and strawberry; and four matching types of animals to eat them with - a dog, a bear, a rabbit and a pig. The tricky part is shifting the chocolate into large connected blocks that the animals can devour in one go. As you move through the castle, you'll discover more puzzling trickery made from exploding Turkish delight, snakes, slippery ice cubes, and magic blocks. With a total of 120 rooms, Chocolate Castle is a feast of puzzle munching goodness! You can download this game via MacUpdate.

Tags: Sliding Puzzle | Chocolate | Mac OSX

Do you love puzzles and also like to create your own puzzles? Than please read this article (if not go to the end of the article and directly download two Bugzzle puzzles). At Photoshoproadmap, you can find a very detailed tutorials called Create a colorful Print-and-Play puzzle for your kids with Photoshop. This five page tutorial explains how to create your own Bugzzle (also known as Triazzle and Magic Triangle). It explains how to create glossy looking shapes and text, how to add proper shadows, how to build the puzzle board and it’s pieces and how to add some finishing touches. You can even download two complete puzzles at the end of the tutorial and make your kids happy in no time!. If you want to to buy Triazzle Puzzle please have a look at amazon dot com or just look at the two (Aquarius and Frogs) Magic Triangle puzzles in my puzzle collection. [via Lunacore]

Tags: Bugzzle | Triazzle | Puzzle | Photoshop | Magic Triangle