PUZZLE GAMES

Strategy games and visuo-spatial puzzles might just seem an enjoyable way to pass the time, but they can also aid the development of creative problem-solving skills and help build resilience.  Some puzzle games require players to experiment without any knowledge of the outcome, encouraging an explorative 'what happens if...?' mentality. Others require a more careful, strategical analysis of the situation and a 'what do I know, where do I need to get to?' approach.

On this page I list some of my favourite iOS puzzle games (other operating systems are available!) along with a short description of each.  Click on the logos to learn more.

And please do contact me with any suggestions for inclusion.
Monument Valley
Possibly the best puzzle game, in the world, ever.  It combines surreal Escher-esque landscapes, a dreamy, other worldly soundtrack and clever 3D puzzle-play to create a truly magical experience.  Play it. 
​Available on iOS, Android, Kindle and Windows Phone.
£2.99
KAMI
A beautifully simple and utterly elegant puzzle game with a Japanese paper folding theme and gentle, calming soundtrack.  Gorgeous and challenging in equal measure.

Available on iOS, Steam and Android.
​£1.49
Drift: The Puzzle
Imagine a constantly shifting, spinning kaleidoscopic jigsaw puzzle.  That's Drift.  Beautiful, delicate, pulsating patterns which become fiendishly difficult challenges when scrambled. Stunning game.
Available on iOS, Android, or play for free on the web.
£1.49
A Game About Squares
A simple yet challenging puzzle game that involves moving coloured square blocks in the correct sequence to land on their corresponding circular bases and solve the puzzle. Much better than it sounds!
Available on iOS, Android, or play for free on the web.
​Free
Cross Fingers
Looks and sounds like a wooden puzzle game with a tangram-style twist. Move the pieces around the obstacles and correctly position them in the shaped slot.  Cleverly allows multitouch play with two hands which adds to the authentic feel.  
Available on iOS.
​Free
Zengrams
Another tangram-style game, this time with a delicate tissue-paper feel.  Don't let the minimalist layout, subtle colours and dreamy music lull you into a false sense of security: this puzzle gets seriously difficult!  Addictive.  
Available on iOS and Android.
​£1.49
Dwelp
Connect the dots in the least number of moves.  Easy enough?  Not really!  A simple, elegant and incredibly satisfying little game that will require the best of your strategic thinking.
​
​Available on iOS, Android and Windows Phone.
£0.79
Tengami
A visually stunning game set inside an intricate Japanese-style pop-up storybook where you fold, pull and slide sections of the page around to solve the puzzles.  Quite unlike anything else.  Beautiful and charming.
Available on iOS, Steam, Android and Wii.
​£1.49
Ten
Basically a (second iteration) fractal version of Noughts and Crosses (Tic-Tac-Toe).  Each space on the main three-by-three grid is itself another three-by-three grid, so that to win the grid space, you must win its game.  Exponentially raises the level of strategic play required!  
Available on iOS.
​Free
Folt
A simple but tricky puzzle game.  Flip the colour-changing tiles to match up and collect them, while completing the challenge before running out of space.  Knowledge of incoming tile colours allows you to plan three moves ahead.  Still, one that's difficult to master.​
Available on iOS and Android.
Free
Fibo!
For fans of the popular 2048 game, an elegantly-designed version based on the Fibonacci sequence.  The challenge is to make the highest Fibonacci number you can by cumulatively combining previous numbers in the sequence.  Placement and strategy are essential.​
Available on iOS.
Free
Hearts
I love this game!  Such a simple premise: collect the hearts by knocking them out with the dot. However, with a tight limit on the number of moves, strategic thinking becomes essential. Minimalist, pretty, easy to pick up, and very hard to put down.   ​
Available on iOS.  *NB the current version of the app seems to suffer from a freezing issue.
Free
Blenduko
An unusual, aesthetically-pleasing puzzle game based on placing coloured blocks into grids organised by hue and saturation.  Starts off easy enough but soon becomes very challenging. For more information on the mathematics of colour sorting see this article.
Available on iOS and Android.
Free
Watercolours
Another puzzle game with its roots in colour theory.  Primary colours mix to make secondary colours, and complementary colours repel each other.  Can you sweep the colours through the channels to end up with the correct colours in the correct pots?​​
Available on iOS and Android.
Free
Noodles!
A neat little game which makes use of the rotational symmetry and tessellating properties of hexagons.  Twist the segments on the grid to link up the pipes and solve the puzzle.  Very satisfying when you manage to find the most efficient solution!​​
Available on iOS.
£1.49
Hook
Another simple puzzle game idea that seems almost too easy at the start, but soon gets satisfyingly difficult. Can you undo the increasingly complex networks of hooks by retracting them one at a time in the correct order?  Look very closely; not as straightforward as it seems! Available on iOS, Windows Phone, Android and Steam.
£0.79