Passion For Puzzles

Jigscale is a new puzzle concept by tallhatDesign. This is a new flash puzzle game where you have to fill a grid of 6x6 with different colored shapes, which you have to rotate and/or to resize to complete the puzzle. Game play is easy but the puzzle can be tricky to solve. Drag the shapes to the grid and click rotate of re-size if you want to perform one of those actions to the selected shape. There are just three Jigscale levels but I really hope the number of levels will increase very soon.

Tags: Jigscale | Flash Puzzle

John Lawrence started a website called The Big Jig to launch and support his World Record attempt to create the world's largest Jigsaw Puzzle, according to the guidelines as laid down by Guinness World Records.

A huge amount of planning and organisation is required for a record attempt like this, therefor this will be a costly event. You can help John to succeed in this record attempt and also help at the same time Charity. You can buy puzzle pieces (bricks) or help to put all 60,000 pieces together. This will be a public event which will probably in London UK. More information including a video can be found at http://www.thebigjig.co.uk

Tags: Jigsaw | Puzzle | World Record

Just a link to the sofotex website where you can download a zip file with 100 printable Sudoku puzzles in pdf format for free. There are sudoku's vary in grid size from 4x4 to 16x16 and in difficulty from very easy to very hard. The sudoku puzzles come from puzzles.li where you can create your own pfd files with Sudoku puzzles. Happy puzzling !

Tags: Sudoku

Today I received an email from the Sam Loyd Company about the update of their Sam Loyd's website which is now completely in flash and offers two puzzles next to Sam Loyd's Get Off the Earth Puzzle Commemorative Edition.
At their new website you can find two new puzzles 'Trick Donkeys' and 'The Pony Puzzle' next to the world famous Get Off the Earth Puzzle. If your really love Samuel Loyd puzzles, you can also download Sam Loyd's Cyclopedia of 5000 puzzles tricks and conundrums with answers. The download is a scanned version of the original Sam Loyd's book with 194 pages [published in 1914] in pdf format [file size 43 MB].

Tags: Sam Loyd | Trick Donkeys | Pony Puzzle

The first thing I do when solving a Jigsaw Puzzle is to find the edge pieces and build the outside of the puzzle. This to get started, but with The Edge Jisgsaw Puzzle this won't work because this puzzle contains edge jigsaw pieces only (each piece has one straight edge). At Amazon you can find four of this kind of jigsaw puzzles with a 1.000 edge pieces each for around US$ 14.

Tags: Jigsaw | Puzzle

Swuffle is another yet simple Flash puzzle game like Tetris. This Flash puzzle game has as a twist a concept where you have to rotate the so called 'swuffles' in order to make create a square of the same colored swuffles. The game offers combo, triple, swuffle and super swuffle bonus scores to make it even more interesting. User interface is very basic: use the mouse to select a group of 4 swuffles, press on the left mouse button to rotate. You can press on the space bar to change the rotation direction.

Tags: Swuffle | Flash Puzzle

After the detail instructions how to "Build your own Magnetic Rubik's Dice Cube", you can now also find a detailed instruction at Instructables dot com on how to Build Your Own 2x2 Magnetic Dice Cube. Next to the detailed instructions and pictures you can also read the story behind creating this 2x2 magnetic dice cube and all problems encountered including the solution to solve these problems. Enjoy reading and if you are a real DIY'er maybe you can try to build a 2x2 magnetic dice cube yourself.

Tags: Magnetic Dice Cube

You can not only view mazes world wide via Google Earth but you can also try to find a maze of a world famous person like Oprah. While looking at the sixteen strangest sights in Google Earth I saw a maze representing the face of Oprah. An Arizona farmer built this 10-acre homage to the talk show host (Google Earth coordinates 33.225488,-111.5955). Visitors can tell their friends, "I got lost inside Oprah's head."

Tags: Maze | Oprah | Google Earth

Audiopuzzles?, Yes we are talking about Audiopuzzles. An Audiopuzzle game is a challenging problem, like a brainteaser or logical puzzle, in audio format.

There are lots of variety from one Audiopuzzle game to another. Sometimes an Audiopuzzle game includes recorded sound effects, sometimes math problems, sometimes verbal play, or even descriptions of graphics or scenarios. In all cases, you have the challenge of listening to the Audiopuzzle game and figuring out the answer. You can try to solve the puzzles your self or with your family and friends.

Audiopuzzles.com publishes a variety of Audiopuzzle products. Their first Audio puzzle CD is called Audacious Audiopuzzles Book #1 and includes 2 CD’s with 40 puzzles written by Karen Richards and edited by Donna Auguste. For each of the puzzles there is also a hint and of course the solution. It’s also possible to put the Audiopuzzles to your MP3-player, iPod or even iPhone.

At Audiopuzzles.com you can listen to four Audiopuzzle samples and you can they offer you to buy the CD’s via Google checkout for less than US$ 15. If you don’t have Google Checkout or don’t live in the US you can also order the Audicious Audiopuzzles CD via Amazon.com.

Tags: Audiopuzzle | Puzzle

Today I received an email about the NUZL PUZL which is a new concept combining the fun of a jigsaw puzzle, the challenge of Sudoku and the educational benefits of understanding magic squares. As a bonus, the NUZL PUZL also contains the rules of a unique game, NUZL DOKU, designed to teach all ages the number placement rules of magic squares while providing a fun family game.
Created in three formats, the original 81 piece NUZL set is manufactured exclusively by Kinlux in China but is the creation of Innuendo Games, a division of Innuendo Design. It can be licensed by territory or branded for corporate use.
Smaller 36 piece sets for younger players are also available, and an EVA
version of 16 pieces for toddlers is in development.
The NUZL is a revolution in Puzzle and Game ideas. The NUZL is the name of the shaped pieces, designed for easy assembly and regular use, unlike a jigsaw puzzle which must clip together once to form a picture.
Each NUZL set contains the NUZL PUZL which can be played as a puzzle and involves assembling nine 3x3 grids of numbers so that none appear more than once in each column, row or nonet. This in­troduces players to logic, number placement and Sudoku.
Every set contains a die and rules for the game of NUZL DOKU which can be played by 2 to 9 players. For younger players NUZL PUZL has a simpler JIMI NUZL set that contains six 3x2 NUZL grids and a D6 die. The NUZL range is available directly from our sole licensed manufacturer - Kinlux Industrial Corporation.
As far as I could find on the Internet the NUZL PUZL is not available yet but from now NUZL is available for licensing in other formats, including mobile phone game, refrigerator magnets, magnetic game and in JIMI NUZL and MINI NUZL formats for toddlers and babies.

Tags: NUZL | Sudoku

Jelly Blocks is a very addictive Flash puzzle game created by Michael Le. The object of the game is simple, just connect all matching colored blocks together (it looks a little bit like the puzzle ReMaze from Jay Is Games Flash Games Design Competition). Game play is easy, simple use the arrow keys to move the blocks, and note that all the blocks move simultaneously in the same direction, except when they are blocked. There are in total 100 levels available and your progress through the game is automatically saved after you complete a level, so you can come back later and continue where you left off. The first levels of Jelly Blocks (around 30) are very easy to complete and this can make it very addictive to continue or you just give up because it's boring ... I continued puzzling ;-)

If you got stucked you can find the Jelly Blocks walkthrough (level 1-50) and Jelly Blocks walkthrough (level 51-100) via YouTube.

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Nick Kouvaris offers you one of his collection of Flash games via Lighthouse. Znax is a Flash puzzle game and the object is simple. Just click four tiles of the same color and form squares as big as you can. You will erase all the tiles inside the square selected square and collect as many points as possible. Get maximum score if you make a square with game edges.

Tags: Znax | Flash Puzzle

Andy (Adam?) left a reply on the item about "Find A Corn Maze in North America". As Skydiver Andy looks nearly every time a look at Google Earth, or any satellite images. While checking out Google Earth for something else he started to think about his skydiving experience. He remembered the corn maze he could see from the edge of the plane, 13,000 feet in the air. That made Andy wonder how many corn mazes he could see on Google Earth. There are tons and Andy listed already 17 corn mazes in Google Earth.

Tags: Corn Maze | Google Earth

It's time again for Jay Is Games' Game Design Competition and the Re-Maze is the one I like the most (for now).
ReMaze is a simple but very addictive multi-level puzzle game of increasing complexity with 21 levels (not shown on the screen). The "replay" theme in this piece is visible as a creative interpretation, and is also present in its replay value as you may see. Navigate through each level of the maze using the keyboard cursor keys for control. Object is to move a block through a maze to the end (open square). It starts simple with one maze but soon you will have to move the square through more than one maze but the block moves to the mazes at the same time. Just play this puzzle game and you will understand.
An integrated save feature will continue where you left off when coming back to the game. Or, if you wish to start again from the beginning, use the user interface [UI] console menu reset button. Press spacebar to reset a level. Play ReMaze. For more information please go to Jay Is Games

Tags: Re maze | Flash Puzzle

The Golden Jigsaw competition starts at 12h00 [CET] today. The competition requires you to find in total 1,000 jigsaw puzzle pieces scattered around the web and assemble them (if you can't find them you can also buy puzzle pieces). The first to find and assemble all of the pieces will win US$ 1,000,000.
Most of the pieces are, of course, located on the sites of paying advertisers, as this is how the prize money gets paid. The final ten pieces will be located on charity websites. [via Puzzlinks.com]

Tags: Jigsaw | Puzzle | Competition

Scott Slater and his wife P.J. (along with some help from their two daughters Whitney and Sydney) were the first to solve the world's largest jigsaw puzzle of 24.000 pieces. It took them 34 days in total to complete all four sections. At their website 'the construction of Life: The Great Challenge' you can read some tricks and techniques used to solve a giant jigsaw puzzle. Also you can find there pictures made each day while solving this jigsaw puzzle.
At the official website of the worlds largest jigsaw puzzle there is now also a zoom function available to have a detailed look at the jigsaw puzzle.

Tags: Jigsaw Puzzle | Royce Art | Royce McClure | Educa

Switchball is a ball-rolling puzzle game for PC and X-box 360 and offers an all new challenge to puzzle fans.
Sierra Online has announced that its already available PC puzzle title, Switchball, is to make the transition to X-box LIVE Arcade.
Switchball is an intricate puzzle game set in a 3D world. As player you have to control an ever-changing ball which must be guided along a narrow winding course suspended in midair. Each of the 30 levels is packed with obstacles, traps and mazes.
In addition to the standard Marbleball, three additional ball types can be created: Metalball, a dense and heavy ball ideal for moving objects out of the way; Powerball is highly charged and can be zapped with energy to dash or jump; and Airball, an airy, light-weight sphere which is inflatable and can float over obstacles.
The game features 30 levels in 3D graphics offer panoramic views across five environments: Caveworld, Cloudworld, Iceworld and Lavaworld.
More than 40 interactive objects including wooden blocks, sheets of cloth, spinning fans magnets, cannons and may more
Switchball is already available for PC from switchball.com (where you can download a free trail version) and is scheduled for release on X-box Live Arcade in summer 2007

Tags: Switchball | Puzzle Game

Sudoggle is a Flash Puzzle Game designed by video game designer, freelance writer and web developer John Lee. Object is to mark out trails of ascending numbers, the longer the trails the more points you score. Game controls are easy: Space = Score Trail, R = Reset Puzzle, N = make new Puzzle, S = toggle sound on/off and H = display help. Begin to click on the number you want to start with, then click on an ascending number(s) to make a long trail. Enjoy Sudoggle.

Tags: Sudoggle | Flash Puzzle

For the kids who love puzzles and pictures there is now a Puzzle Style Photo Frame. In each of the four different colored jigsaw puzzle pieces you can put a photo and create several combinations as you put them together. This puzzle styled photo frame is made of plastic and looks robust enough for kids to play with. The puzzle styled photo frame is available via Brando.com.hk and will cost you US$ 14.50.

Tags: Puzzle | Photo Frame

Rolling Block Maze is another version of Rolling Block Mazes like Bloxorz. Although this puzzle game is designed to test some 3D and therefor only has three levels it will keep you busy for a while. Object is to get the rolling block standing on the cell marked with a the with X. You control the rolling block with your cursor keys. There is also a link to the concept of Rolling Block Mazes and the different versions of this game. For puzzle lovers this is really worth reading.

Tags: Flash Puzzle | Rolling Block

Finally added last weekend Rubik's Delta Ball to my collection after writing about the Rubik's Delta Ball puzzle some weeks ago. Rubik's Delta Ball is the latest in the Rubik's puzzle Range which started with Rubik's Cube more than 25 years ago. Rubik's Delta Ball is invented by Marc Wittevrongel and his son from Belgium Rubik's Delta Ball has sold under the Jumbo brand. At this moment Rubik's Delta ball is available in parts of Europe but also in the Oakland USA (thanks to Derrick). Retail price is around 13 Euro (approx. US$ 20).

Rubik's Delta ball is a spherical shaped puzzle which consists of 20 colored triangle shaped sliding tiles of which one red tile with a ring has to be removed before you can start puzzling. For each of the four colors (red, yellow, blue, green) there are 5 triangle shaped tiles numbered one to five.
The best way to visualize Rubik's Delta ball is the world famous sliding puzzles / 15 puzzle, only Delta Ball is round and has triangle tiles in stead of squared tiles.

The puzzle comes with seven puzzles of which 6 puzzles can be solved at three levels. For level one it doesn't matter at which position the numbers are, just get the colors at the right place. Level 2: Get the colors and the numbers at the right place. For level three (called the ultimate Delta Ball Challenge) you have to make a 'Sudoku' consisting of 12 overlapping pentagons of which each pentagon consists of the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.

Rubik's Delta ball can be challenging for all puzzle lovers aged 8+. The several objectives and the different levels available to solve Rubik's Delta ball makes it lovely puzzle for all puzzlers and kids. The tiles slide very easy around the sphere (compared to my first Rubik's Cube). All puzzles will be published soon at my Rubik's Delta Ball puzzle web page.

Tags: Rubik's | Delta Ball

Sobics School is yet another online Flash puzzle game. And as many other block games this has also a twist. You have to group four or more blocks of the same color together to get rid of them. Blocks will pile up from the top so you have to group blocks quickly to get them as far away as possible from you (some kind of 'Teletubby' look-a-like character).
Move this 'Teletubby' under the block(s) you want to move (when more than one block of the same color are above each other you can move them in one move). Click the left mouse button to catch the colored block(s). Move the 'Teletubby' under the pile you want the blocks to add to and click the left mouse button again to throw them up. Try to group as many blocks as you can to score combo bonus points. Sobics School has as all block puzzles also some specialties like a dynamite block to blow up any pile of blocks.

Tags: Flash Puzzle

This playfully smart desk and chair set is a perfect fit. The chair and the desk fits together like two puzzle pieces. This set is perfect furniture for as well the parents as the children. With ample working and storage space for the parents and the P'kolino Klick is a lovely place to play for the children. With its ability to cleverly minimize, and thus maximize the home aesthetic, it is perfect for Moms and Dads. More information via KidsModern.

Tags: Furniture

Ingenious is a new puzzle game based on the best-selling and award-winning board game by German board game designer Reiner Knizia. The electronic version of Ingenious which can be played on PC's only is published by Merscom. At their website you can download a free 60 minutes trail version of the Ingenious puzzle game but also download the complete version of Ingenious for US$ 19.99. The game is easy to play, but very difficult to master, Ingenious is a unique combination of strategy and luck! You objective is to conquer the Ingenious board through the careful placement of rows of colors. With every move, you create new possibilities. The more colored pieces are placed next to each other, the more points you can gain. It's a puzzle treat that the whole family can enjoy!

Tags: Ingenious | Puzzle

Thanks to Leigh Anne for sending a link along to the website of the Sudoku 2007 2nd World Sudoku Championship in Prague (Czech Republic). Here you can find a lot of information about the World Sudoku Championship, but the best thing is that there is a 34 page pdf document [750kb] which you can download for free with a lot of Sudoku variations (Jigsaw Roundoku, Futoshiki, IsoSudoku and much more) and also examples you can expect at a World Sudoku Championship. Enjoy all Sudoku puzzle variants or just practice your skills for the 2nd World Sudoku Championship. Thanks again to Leigh Anne for sending along.

Tags: Sudoku

One of the best Sudoku makers is Nikoli as they design the Sudoku's they publish by hand. Now there is also an electronic Sudoku Game available with 99 different Sudoku's. If you want to be the first to own this neat little device you can buy its at Made4Man for £ 9.95. Settings for beginners, intermediate and advanced enthusiasts. Details: operated by two AA batteries, supplied; 14.5 x 9 x 2.5 cm (5 3/4" x 3 1/2" x 1").

Tags: Sudoku

After my previous post 'Maze in Maize Theme is Space' I looked for more mazes. Via about.com I found two pages with Corn Mazes, one with a list of Corn Mazes in the USA and one listing Corn Mazes in Canada. On both pages you can find per state with Mazes. Another page I found about mazes is called MazePlay but this one is not updated yet for 2007 so you can only find aerial photos of previous years.

Tags: Maze

Also this year for the third time in Whaplode (UK) there is a Maze in Maize and this years theme is Space.
The maze is open from Saturday 21st July 2007 till Sunday 30th September 2007. Open daily 10.00am until 6.00pm (last entry 5.00pm) from Saturday 21st July till Sunday 9th September. After Sunday 9th September they will be open at weekends only until Sunday 30th September.
The field is measured and marked out by hand, this means lots of walking for farmer Lance Whittington (brainchild of maze in maize) up and down the field, counting every row. Once the field is measured then comes the taxing bit of drawing the maze design onto the field. Careful planning is used, this means careful planning! Because if he makes one mistake then the whole design will look wrong and they don’t want that!
This year there is also a Straw Bale Pyramid, Children’s Trim Trail and Adventure Play Area and much more. This will keep you and your kids busy for hours in the middle of nature on a working farm. For more information please visit www.mazeinmaize.co.uk.

Tags: Puzzle | Maze

The objective of Cucaracha is to stop the Cucarachas (smiley look-a-likes that doesn't look very happy) from expanding to both sides of the board. To remove them from the board you need to create groups of three or more connected Cucaracha's. Use the special miner and magic Cucaracha wisely because every minute this creatures do a super-attack, that adds 10 extra Cucarachas to the board! Game play is easy, just use the mouse to aim and fire the Cucaracha creatures. The miner-Cucaracha will remove the whole row, a magic Cucaracha will remove all of the same color. Happy Puzzling!

Tags: Cucaracha | Flash Puzzle

If you are interested behind the story of solving Sudoku puzzles with math then you must read the article "Sudoku Squares and Chromatic Polynomials", by Agnes M. Herzberg and M. Ram Murty, which appears in the June/July 2007 issue of the Notices of the AMS. The article [in pdf 224 kb] "Sudoku Squares and Chromatic Polynomials" is also available on the web site of the Notices of the AMS. The authors use tools from the branch of mathematics called graph theory to systematically analyze Sudoku puzzles. They also find that analyzing Sudoku's leads to some unsolved problems in graph theory.
Well this is a bit too much much math for a puzzle website but they also found/proved some thinks which I think is nice knowing about Sudoku's. For example they proved that, in order for any Sudoku puzzle to have only one solution, at least 8 of the 9 numbers must appear as given entries in the puzzle; if only 7 numbers are given, then the puzzle has at least two solutions.
More information can be found in a news release called Solving Sudoku's - Coloring by Numbers from AMS

Tags: Sudoku

Warbears Puzzle mission is yet another block puzzle with a twist.
The Warbears are on their way to the location of Mission 3, but something has diverted their attention. Object is to get rid of the blocks. Click on a chunk of three or more consecutive blocks of the same color to eliminate them. The more blocks your eliminate at once the more point you will get.
Depending on their color, eliminated blocks will increment an agent action bar at the bottom of the screen. When the action bar is full you will be able to use the agent special power. Using agent's special power will also arise their level-up bar. When it's full they will level up, and their special power will become powerful.
More information about special power can be found at the help function, and for much more information you have to play the game until it's unlocked.

Tags: Warbears | Flash Puzzle

A new board game that will offer one winner a £1 million prize is tipped to be a Christmas sensation of this year.
Players of Eternity II, as the puzzle game is called, must correctly arrange 256 puzzle pieces into a square. There are also two clue puzzles available to give you some extra help of solving the puzzle, once completed, each puzzle will give you the location on another piece on the main board and edge you closer to the $2 million prize.
You can sent your solution to the manufacturer Tomy. Bosses of Tomy will open the entries in date order on December 31, 2008. The first entry opened with the correct solution will win two million US dollars, around £1 million / Euro 1.5 million. Tomy will be launching Eternity II in toy store Hamleys, London UK on Friday 27th July and the puzzle will go on sale on Saturday 28th July. For more info visit www.eternityii.com

Tags: Puzzle | Eternity II

Sudoku, Match Three and Collapsing Blocks (also known as SameGame) are the first three puzzle games to be released for the iPhone from MacMost. The games can be played for free by iPhone users by simply using their iPhone to browse to MacMost.com.
MacMost.com is a Apple enthusiast site with news, tutorials and a weekly video podcast. It is produced by CleverMedia, an Internet content company that has created more than 300 Web-based games since 1995.
Gary Rosenzweig, founder of CleverMedia and executive producer of MacMost, created the games in anticipation of the iPhone launch, without being able to test the games until the phone was released on June 29.
"I was able to draw on our library of game code and create the games using my best guesses about the iPhone's capabilities," said Rosenzweig. "Then I waited in line all day on Friday so I could be one of the first to get one and to test the games."
While the iPhone does not include any game applications at launch, it does allow for third-party developers to make games using the Safari Web browser built into the phone.
The Match Three game challenges players to swap objects to line up three matching pieces in a row. It is the same basic concept as most popular casual games. MacMost's game uses apples as playing pieces.
The Collapsing Blocks game is another classic casual game type, adapted for the iPhone's screen.
The Sudoku game uses the iPhone's touch screen to allow the player to enter numbers on a standard Sudoku board. It features a nearly unlimited supply of puzzle boards, with three levels of difficulty.
The games can be played by going to MacMost.com and clicking on the "iPhone Games" link at the right top of the page. [via PRWeb]

Tags: iPhone | Puzzle | Sodoku

At Lego.com you can find a puzzle based driving game for kids. Lego City Game features a city made from Lego. Object is to drive your emergency car through Lego City and help to solve the problem (robbery, fire etc.). Simple but lovely puzzle games for kids where they have to find the route to the place where the emergency happens. You can also call Lego City Game a Lego maze build with Lego City.

Tags: Lego | Puzzle

If you liked Flash Puzzle Game Bloxorz you will probably also like Cube-It. Just like Bloxorz, Cube-It (aka Red Square) is a simple but very addictive puzzle game. The aim of Flash Puzzle Game Cube-It is to move the green cube around each level by clicking on any cube next to it. There are different colors of cubes which do different things. The Red cubes will fall down after you have moved of them. Keep your green cube moving around the level until you have made all red cubes fall down. Cube-It has 20 levels to solve.
Cube-it is available in several languages and you can also create you own level.

Tags: Cube-It | Flash Puzzle | | Red Square

This collection of puzzles by a bestselling author consists of more than 560 puzzles from around the world and throughout history. Only a familiarity with elementary algebra and geometry is needed, and complete answers appear at the end.

This lovely puzzle book of 400 pages and 382 illustrations is published by Dover Publications and available via Amazon.

Tags: Puzzle Book