Here’s a new puzzle. Enjoy!
ARGNet is reporting a new alternate reality game called Alice is Lost. The game is created as a side project by Eric Harshbarger, who is a puzzle designer at Mind Candy Design, and will be starting this fall. As the article reports, the game will be heavily puzzle based.
Here’s a puzzle that I’ve had kicking around for a while. It’s a sudoku variation that I’m calling Circle Sum Sudoku. It’s basically a cross between kakuro and sudoku. The idea was to have a sudoku grid where the clues are unknown to start. This gave me the idea of having a kakuro like puzzle to determine the clues. The result is this puzzle.
You’ll notice that there are circles in the grid, and numbers along the top and left sides. The numbers above the columns indicate the sum of the digits in the circles in that column. The numbers beside the rows indicate the sum of the digits in the circles in that row. The numbers in the grid to the right indicate the sum of the digits in the circles for the internal squares.
I’ve got some ideas for some additional puzzles, where you not only have to find out what the internal clues are, but also where they are. More on that later. For now, enjoy!
A couple years ago (before I started this blog), I came across a game called Professor Fizzwizzle. It’s a fun little platform puzzle game where you lead the Professor himself–having him push crates, ride barrels, and zap the bad guys–to a transporter that will take you to the next level. As a bonus, the game runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Recently, a sequel called Professor Fizzwizzle and the Molten Mystery came out. It’svery similar to the original, and that’s a good thing. You can download the demo game for free and this allows you to play the first 10 levels or so. To play all of the levels, you have to buy the game. It’s worth a look at the demo for both games. They’re really quite well done.
Maarten Steurbaut has a page dedicated to his lego constructions, some of which are puzzle reconstructions using legos. In addition to functioning Rubik’s cubes, Maarten has also created a number of 3D jigsaw puzzles. He uses standard lego bricks and plates in combination so that all of the puzzle surfaces are smooth. It’s a method he calls SNOT (Studs Not On Top.) His site is worth a look.
The 2007 Google US Puzzle Championship is coming up this month. The competition will be held at 1PM EDT on June 16th and, as always, puzzlers compete from their own homes (or wherever they choose.) To compete, you need to register by June 14th. Winners will represent the US in the World Puzzle Championship held in Brazil this year. As always, it will be fun just competing in the competition as the puzzles are sure to be great. The puzzles from past competitions can be found here.
Here’s a quick update on Volvo’s treasure hunt. Apparently, the final puzzle was so hard that none of the finalists were able to solve it and the treasure remains unfound. There will be a rematch today with a new puzzle to see if a winner can be found. The final puzzles will be posted The Hunt web site, when the treasure is found.
Here’s a quick diversion from the news. We all know that President Clinton is an avid cruciverbalist. Well, President George W. Bush loves jigsaw puzzles.
There’s an interesting type of “crossword” that doesn’t use a grid, but instead only has a single line of squares to be filled in. In these puzzles, answers don’t go across and down, but rather left-to-right and right-to left. So that in one direction, the solution provides the answers to one set of clues. And in the other direction, you find the answers to another set of clues.
I recently found a good example of this kind of puzzle on a site dedicated to Shakespeare (and so, it has a Shakespeare theme.) There’s also a puzzle of this kind on Trip Payne’s site. There, it’s called Spiral #1. It’s laid out in the form of a spiral, but the puzzle is the same concept.
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