I install this on everything. It is really really good, and IMO the way more games should be made: make a fast simple windowmanager friendly interface presenting puzzles and games in a very pure and unencumbered form. Another example: I love SimCity 2000 for Win95, but not SimCity 3000 or SimCity 4. Why? Wright did 2000 right, the post-EA SimCities were all full screen flashy playskool interface monstrosities. 3000 brought some cool features in, but I wish they had kept to a 2000-like interface.<p>My ideal games look something like Siemens PLM NX or something, and less like a one-armed bandit in Vegas.
Shameless plug: if you enjoy logic puzzles, check out my new puzzle website: <a href="https://www.zebrapuzzles.com" rel="nofollow">https://www.zebrapuzzles.com</a> which was recently posted on Show HN [1].
It's playable without JavaScript.<p>[1]: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39765519">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39765519</a>
Bridges (aka "Hashi") is one of my all-time favorite logic puzzles. I recently discovered Galaxies, and I enjoy this one a lot too; I also like Slitherlink (called "Loopy" here) a lot. However this site is missing two that I like quite a bit more, which are Paint by Numbers & Battleships, both of which I originally started doing in Games Magazine and later found on Conceptis Puzzles [0] (they call PbN "Pic-A-Pix") where I bought $25 worth of credits maybe 20 years ago that have still kept me going to this day, every couple years I'll buy a week's puzzle bundle and then slowly go through them.<p>The other one I used to play a lot is Mamono Sweeper [1] One summer in undergrad when I was supposed to be doing graph theory research, instead I got really, really, really good at basic arithmetic by playing this game for 5+ hours a day. This is how I learned that I had no interest in math grad school and I now work as a developer in a video game-adjacent space.<p>Recently I made an online Pentominoes puzzle [2] and I've played it a lot also.<p>If anyone knows a good source of free Paint by Numbers puzzles I would love to hear about it!<p>[0] <a href="https://www.conceptispuzzles.com/" rel="nofollow">https://www.conceptispuzzles.com/</a><p>[1] <a href="https://hojamaka.com/games/mamono_sweeper" rel="nofollow">https://hojamaka.com/games/mamono_sweeper</a><p>[2] <a href="https://pentominoes.river.me" rel="nofollow">https://pentominoes.river.me</a>
I really like loopy. It has a very stat mech or discrete math feel. I think it could be used to introduce deeper concepts in mathematics to novices, such as proofs, and the question of whether mathematics is constructed or discovered.<p>A lot of the time solving loopy involves noticing re-usable patterns. But how do you know a possible pattern is re-usable? Well, you can prove it, such as with notions from graph theory.<p>The construction vs discovery aspect could be approached in a couple of ways. On the one hand, the loop that you are "discovering" is really only induced by the underlying solutions which the computer has already "constructed." On the other hand, the computer only created the hidden solution using mathematics which was discovered.<p>And on the <i>other</i> other hand, the mathematics which we "discover" is arguably induced by the ZFC etc axioms which we have <i>constructed</i> because of their ability to model consistent reasoning. Other sets of axioms, lacking the flexibility or consistency which we expect from our mathematical models, were discarded, yet would induce different mathematical systems capable of discovery.<p>And the nesting of construction and discovery into each other could continue even deeper ...
The Android version worked very well when I installed it year ago. It was a great choice for someone who does not want to have addictive games installed in the phone, while at the same time enjoy the occasional brain teaser.
I have a sweet tooth for 'Light Up'. It's my "go to" while listening to podcasts or audiobooks, when I am not walking the dog or got other things to do. Just gotta be careful to not let the Tetris effect kick in.<p>This is an excellent collection, that should come with every and any OS as a standard installation.<p>Thank you, Simon!
Here is a nice version of those puzzles, but more responsive: <a href="http://medmunds.github.io/puzzles/" rel="nofollow">http://medmunds.github.io/puzzles/</a>
These are pretty basic to advanced brain puzzles, but there's a few gems in there. Magnets is a lot of fun. Net, Signposts and Tracks are clever puzzles. There was one other one in there I used to enjoy but I can't recall which one it was (maybe Pattern?).<p>They're all about on-par with the level of exciting-ness of Minesweeper and Sudoku. Take that as you wish.
Previous discussions 2 years ago [1] and 7 years ago [2]<p>[1] <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32170592">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32170592</a><p>[2] <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14232692">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14232692</a>
SGT's puzzles has gotten me through so many waiting rooms, from the Nokia E61, onwards.<p>Today, with reliable Internet on my phone, I could instead scroll Fediverse or something, but I figure blazing through puzzles using rules I've learned is more meditative.
I have played a <i>lot</i> of Pearl, and almost as much Unruly and and Keen.<p>I find a custom-sized Pearl board so that it fills as much of my phone screen as possible without getting teeny is just the right length to fill a minute or two. I wanted to play even bigger boards on my tablet, but it seems the puzzle generation algorithm is exponential and asking for a too-big board will crash the app.
I play 'light up' a lot, sometimes before sleeping, it's a kind-of-minesweeper game that doesn't need me to think too hard (unless you go to the most difficult boards) so it doesn't wake me up.
In a similar vein PUZ-PRE is a pencil puzzle JS library supporting loads of Nikoli puzzle types. Loads of puzzle makers make stuff with it.<p>Puzz.link also includes a database of links to puzzles people are playing.<p>For people looking to feel old fashioned, printing out some random puzzles on puzz.link and doing them on pen and paper is sometimes satisfying<p>[0]: <a href="http://pzv.jp/" rel="nofollow">http://pzv.jp/</a> PUZ-PRE
[1]: <a href="https://puzz.link/" rel="nofollow">https://puzz.link/</a> puzz.link
At least on Android some games are flawed. Never played them on another system.
For example Flood can be solved in less turns than the 'calculated' minimum.
This was one of the first games I installed on my very first Android phone, the Motorola Milestone. 15 years later, I'm still playing it nearly every day.<p>I'm a bit disappointed though that the original desktop version doesn't really play nicely on touchscreens.