Lumines

Since the videogame's world has so much to offer when it comes to puzzle games here's another one.


This time we bring you Lumines, created by Q Entertainment for the PSP, it released in Japan on December 12, 2004. It's one of the most well known PSP titles and recommended for anyone that has the system.
It's somewhat inspired by Tetris since it uses blocks and they too disappear under certain conditions but that's has far as similarities go here.



General view:

Objective: 


The core mode of Lumines is basically to survive as long as you can, there's no time limit nor ending, just like Tetris. Here's how it works, you're given a wide rectangular area and 2x2 blocks fall from the top, they have only 2 colors or just one and a set of patterns. While these blocks fall there's a 3rd element on the works, a vertical line that sweeps the screen. When it finds a square formed by same color blocks, or even several squares as it passes they disappear. There's no limit to the number of squares you can make before it sweeps or after.




Difficulty:


There are several things to take into account, besides the way you get the blocks together, there's the "sweeper's" speed, you see, it varies with the music that's playing in the background, so if its a slower music it will take much longer to "sweep" the formed squares, on the other hand if the music is more lively it will pass through quick. One other thing is the remaining blocks after a sweep will fall when the square is clear which means if you want to last long you'll have to not only think about the current positioning but also future ones.




Variations:


These are not really variations but rather game modes such as puzzle mode, where you must solve the puzzle given just a few turns. Time Attack, against a clock and yet another that you have to "draw" a given shape or drawing with blocks. There are a couple more added in Lumines 2 as well.

Benefits of Lumines:


Well Lumines is pretty much like Tetris only with flashier graphics and music. Its very addicting for its simplicity and fun. It's good for logical thinking development, coordination, be it hand eye and even hear since listening to the music tells you how is the speed going to be.






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Alexander's Star

We can't enough of mechanical puzzles so we bring you yet another one of those, this time it's Alexander's Star.

It seems like a rubik's cube, except for the cube part, but it also looks a little bit more complex due to it's shape.
Invented in 1982 by Adam Alexander, an American mathematician it was comercialized by Ideal Toy Corp.


General view:

Objective:

Simple enough, you have 30 movable pieces that rotate in a star formation, you have to move them by rotating the "stars" until you have a single color star in each side, surrounded by a single other color, which in turn will be in reverse on the opposite side.


Difficulty:

Much like the Rubik's Cube the main difficulty comes from the fact that moving a piece has effects on other sides besides the one we are working on, so you have to take into account other faces of the puzzle when moving it around. And as well as the cube, if you find the right algorithm which to follow to solve the Star your life gets easier.


Variations:
Well, look's like due to its unique shape this puzzle doesn't seem to have variations as the puzzle itself seems like a very odd variation of Rubik's Cube on its own!

Benefits of the Alexander's Star:

Logical thinking and hand eye coordination seem to be the biggest benefits you get out of this one, apart from well having fun of course.





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Soma Cube

Seems like we can't get enough of cubes apparently. This time a different kind of cube, one that needs to be dissected.

Piet Hein is the man that invented it 1933. It's formed by 7 wooden pieces, all uniquely shaped, made of unit cubes that must be assembled in a 3x3x3 cube.

The pieces are not randomly made, instead they represent every possible conbination of 4 or fewer units (no convex shapes).


General view:

Objective:

As said earlier the objective is simple, assemble all the 7 pieces in a perfectly all balanced 3x3x3 cube.


Difficulty:

There's not much to say about the Soma Cube when it comes to difficulty because it's pretty straight forward the only thing that can hinder you is your own ability to solve it.

Variations:

There are none although it is considered to be the 3D equivalent to polyominoes which we talk about in another post.


Benefits of the Soma Cube:

Plain and simple it's good for spatial thinking and awareness as well as entertaining.



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Brainteasing Riddle 1.0

As said in our introductory post its not only puzzles we talk about but also brainteasers such as riddles for instance. Riddles are a fun way to pass time, develop logic thinking and keep the brain active.

As this is a first time thing on the blog we'll start with a special one that supposedly came from the mind of Albert Einstein himself:


There are 5 ships in a port.

1. The Greek ship leaves at six and carries coffee.
2. The ship in the middle has a black chimney.
3. The English ship leaves at nine.
4. The French ship with a blue chimney is to the left of a ship that carries coffee.
5. To the right of the ship carrying cocoa is a ship going to Marseille.
6. The Brazilian ship is heading for Manila.
7. Next to the ship carrying rice is a ship with a green chimney.
8. A ship going to Genoa leaves at five.
9. The Spanish ship leaves at seven and is to the right of the ship going to Marseille.
10. The ship with a red chimney goes to Hamburg.
11. Next to the ship leaving at seven is a ship with a white chimney.
12. The ship on the border carries corn.
13. The ship with a black chimney leaves at eight.
14. The ship carrying corn is anchored next to the ship carrying rice.
15. The ship to Hamburg leaves at six.

Which ship goes to Port Said? Which ship carries tea?



We've put the answer further down, just select the text with your mouse so it gets highlighted.






Ships - solutionSpanish ship goes to Port Said and French ship carries tea. However, tea can be carried by the Brazilian ship, too, if you understood position ‘to the right’ as anywhere on the right side from the given point (not only right next to).

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Puzzle Bobble

And we're back into the videogames world once again, this time covering an arcade favorite that every afficcionado knows, the classic Puzzle Bobble.

Puzzle Bobble is a a puzzle game from 1994 owned by Taito Corp. based on another company title Bubble Bobble. It spread widely across the globe and became a timeless classic even after leaving the arcades new versions kept coming out for various systems.


General view:
















Objective:

The game is simple but very addicting because of that, you're given a rectangular area with a pre arranged set of colored bubbles. You control a little mechanism at the bottom that points and shoots bubbles that are randomly given to you by the game. Each 3 or more bubbles that are put together "pop" and besides disappearing all others can were "attached" to them fall leaving you more space to work with. So basically you'll have to clear all the bubbles within a time limit that shows itself by the means of a desceding roof that pushes all bubbles down and upon reaching a determined line on the rectangle you loose the game.


Difficulty:

So besides the fact that the bubbles that you are given are random, there's the roof to take into account and then there's the pattern itself that can be really tricky to solve if you're not careful and have good aim. When you lose a life though, the game gives you a sort of directional beam to guide you until you get to the next level.

Variations:

There are numerous various of this game, like any other popular puzzle game, Puzzle Bobble's variations come in the form of multiplayer battles with power ups and other things to difficult the other player's game, more colors for bubbles as well as more bubble types. There's even a true puzzle mode with many more elements into it than only the regular bubbles, like ropes.


Benefits of Puzzle Bobble:

Well, we can't really say it has some kind of direct benefit apart from the brain training you can get by using it for quick thinking and spatial awareness, besides those there's also an hand eye coordination training because of the control over the pointer.




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Rubik's Cube

Another classic puzzle that we couldn't ignore this time a mechanical one.
in the year 1974 a professor of architecture in Hungary name Emõ Rubik invented the Rubik's Cube, originally called Magic Cube, it licensed by Rubik to be sold by Ideal Toy Corp. Wins the Best Puzzle Game Award in Germany in 1980.

It is to this day the top-selling puzzle game ever made and its considered to be the world's best selling toy as well.

General View:

Objective:

The objective seems pretty straight forward, by means of spining the faces of the cube you must complete each face with a single color. A puvot mechanism inside grants the possibility of such spins to occur and thus the scramble of the colors.


Difficulty:

The difficulty in solving this puzzle is the fact that changing a face's smaller cube, alters other faces as well, meaning that when you think you got a face completed you have to check if you didn't change something you need back on that position. Duo to the nature of the puzzle its possible to follow a solution that works everytime by simply paying attention to corners and other details. Fun thing is you can try out many other "solutions" like crosses in the faces for instance.


Variations:

Variations of the original cube come in the form of bigger and more "sliced" cubes or even a smaller 2x2x2 one. The bigger ones are for example:

• 4x4x4 - Master Cube
• 5x5x5 - Professor Cube
• 6x6x6 - V-Cube 6
• 7x7x7 - V-Cube 7

And even other forms such as tetrahedrons  and octahedron.



Benefits of the Rubik's Cube:

Keeping the brain exercised and improving hand eye coordination and keeping your mind sharp at problem solving.





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Tower of Hanoi

From the virtual world we go into a more physical puzzle, this time we're going to talk about another well known puzzle, the Tower of Hanoi.

The Tower of Hanoi is a mathematical puzzle, meaning, if you use math you win, or at least it's advised to have a sort of logical path to follow or you'll take way more time than you should.

As for the origin of the puzzle it is said to have been invented by a French mathematician, Édouard Lucas in 1883. There seems to be a legend associated with it as well, maybe created by Lucas himself:

There is a legend about an Indian temple which contains a large room with three time-worn posts in it surrounded by 64 golden disks. Brahmin priests, acting out the command of an ancient prophecy, have been moving these disks, in accordance with the rules of the puzzle, since that time. The puzzle is therefore also known as the Tower of Brahma puzzle. According to the legend, when the last move of the puzzle is completed, the world will end.

General view:

Objective:

The objective is very simple using the 3 rods given, it is required to move the disks from the left most to the right most rod. When all the disks are moved and are in the exact order as they started, meaning, from top to bottom in ascending order, you solve the puzzle.

Difficulty:

It would be a pretty simple puzzle if you only had to move them around the rods, well there's a couple of rules to take into account and that's what makes the puzzle challenging to solve, at least until you apply a solving algorithm. Basically you can't place a bigger disk on top of a smaller one but the contrary is allowed, which means you have to take into consideration where to put or not the next disk you want to move. Besides this rule you can only move one disk at a time, meaning there's no mass relocation anytime.

Variations:

Variations of this puzzle are basically an increase of the number of rings to move, the rods stay the same 3.

Benefits from Tower of Hanoi:

It's a good way to exercise one's problem-solving skills as it uses the brain's executive funcions. The area of the brain used is also important for higher cognitive functions and determination of personality.



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