The Cast Cricket is Hanayama’s own version of a puzzle, which first appeared back in 1898. This new version released ten years ago, in April 2002, by the hand of puzzle collector James Dalgety, hopefully stays true to its origins. James also designed another puzzle for Hanayama, the Cast Medal.

The puzzle is an homage to the game of the same name, played since the 16th century. It depicts two of most known elements in the game, the bat and the wicket, which are entangled. Your task is to separate them and then, put them back to [Read More...]

Connect! is a topology type puzzle app. The object is to connect a path from A to the furthest level. Your path may go horizontally, vertically, diagonally. You will probably have to zigzag.

The first 40 levels are free. And they’re easy. But the next 120 levels are harder and cost $1.99.

Right now I’ve solved all 160 levels.  The puzzles are not very difficuly. But they’re fun and perfect to play when ‘watching’ tv news shows.

Look for more puzzle apps to consume your life: http://gottasolveit.blogspot.com/

P and A is yet another brilliant design by German craftsman Jean Claude Constantin – I’m yet to find one of his puzzles that I don’t like. P and A is a simple name for a puzzle, but I guarantee you that solving it is anything but simple.

One thing that immediately captures your attention is the shape of the pieces, which are based on the letters p and a, and it’s nothing like I’ve ever seen before in a puzzle. This is one of the reasons I like Constantin’s puzzles so much. He has this genius ability [Read More...]

Magnets Puzzle Free is the name of this free puzzle app game from Wiseguy Sharp LLC.

The object is to place magnets into the slots and orient them correctly. A + can never be next to a +. Also, the numbers on the sides indicate how many +’s and -’s exist in that row or column.

Tricky: some rectangular tiles will have no magnets at all.

I’ve played this game only on the easy level to get the hang of it. It’s interesting.

I’m not sure, but this type of puzzle may have been originally published in Japan.

Hey, it’s [Read More...]

The Blue Knight is made in Canada by PuzzleMaster, which offers a wide range of wire puzzles from easy to extremely hard. The puzzle has the shape of the letter K and attached is a handle with a golden ring. Your task is to “simply” remove the ring.

As always, PuzzleMaster’s wire puzzles are made with a beautiful nickel-plated finish, giving a very pleasant appearance and smoother manipulation, not to mention that it doesn’t leave any metal smells in your hands, which is a big plus.

The Blue Knight is rated as a 9/10 puzzle (Gruelling), [Read More...]

Swisch is a series of 80 tilt maze puzzles. You are the red circle and your object is to get inside the green U.  I have done so many Tilt-maze puzzle apps, that I’ve completely lost track.

Swisch has lots of extra features, most of which I’ve seen before: wormholes, arrows that force your direction, unlocking doors, etc. Interesting feature: the wooden blocks need to be hammered twice before disintegrating. I don’t think I’ve seen that feature before. This is quite interesting.

The 80 levels: 11 training levels. Puzzle Pack #1 has 25 levels – kind of easy. Puzzle pack [Read More...]

The Cyclone, by The Lagoon Group, is a fantastic puzzle and one of the most stunning in my collection. The mesmerizing swirling shapes create a wonderful pattern to look at, however, quite intimidating to solve. Holger Strøm, a Danish designer, created the puzzle in 1973.

The Cyclone is comprised of 30 identical pieces that interlock to form a spherical shape. The material is a highly bendable plastic, so there’s no risk of damaging it during assembly. It comes already assembled and the idea is to take it apart and then reassemble it back to its original shape. It’s [Read More...]