Puzzle video games make up a broad genre of video games that emphasize puzzle solving. The types of puzzles can test problem-solving skills, including logic, pattern recognition, sequence solving, spatial recognition, and word completion.
Mario Teaches Typing is an educational video game developed and published by Interplay for MS-DOS compatible operating systems, Microsoft Windows, and Macintosh. The game uses the Mario character, licensed from Nintendo, to teach keyboard skills.
Dr. Brain is a series of educational games made by Sierra On-Line in the 1990s. The objective of each game is solving a series of puzzles in order to proceed further into the game. The series was later picked up by Knowledge Adventure who turned it into a more action-oriented game.
Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!, known as Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain? in PAL regions, is an edutainment puzzle video game. It was developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS. Nintendo has stated that it is an entertainment product inspired by Tohoku University professor Ryuta Kawashima's work in the neurosciences.
EcoQuest: The Search for Cetus is an educational adventure game developed by Sierra On-Line. The original concept was developed by Sierra VP of Creative Development, Bill Davis. The game designers are Jane Jensen and Gano Haine. The game was going to be ported to Amiga and Macintosh, but those releases never came out. A sequel, Lost Secret of the Rainforest, was released in 1993.
MindTrap is a series of lateral thinking puzzle games played by two individuals or teams. Invented in Canada, it is the main product of MindTrap Games, Inc., who license the game for manufacture by various companies including Outset Media, Blue Opal, the Great American Puzzle Factory, Pressman Toy Corporation, Spears Games and Winning Moves.
Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day!, known as More Brain Training from Dr Kawashima: How Old Is Your Brain? in PAL regions, is an edutainment puzzle game and the sequel to Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day! (2005). It was developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld game console. Before the game begins, the player must perform a Brain Age Check to determine their brain age, which ranges from 20 to 80, to determine approximately their brain's responsiveness. A brain age of 20, the lowest age that the player can achieve, indicates that the player's brain is as responsive as that of an average 20-year-old. After the player is told their initial brain age, they can complete a series of minigames to help improve their brain's responsiveness, after which they can run Brain Age Check again to determine their updated brain age.
Star Wars: DroidWorks is a 1998 edutainment computer game and the premiere title from LucasArts subsidiary Lucas Learning. It uses the same engine as LucasArts' previous title Star Wars: Jedi Knight. The creators aimed to create a game that would be both appealing and nonviolent. The game's original release date was moved up by months, which resulted in the development team cutting some planned game features.
An educational video game is a video game that provides learning or training value to the player. Edutainment describes an intentional merger of video games and educational software into a single product. In the narrower sense used here, the term describes educational software which is primarily about entertainment, but tends to educate as well and sells itself partly under the educational umbrella. Normally software of this kind is not structured towards school curricula and does not involve educational advisors.
Carmen Sandiego Adventures in Math is a series of five games released in 2011/2012 for the Wii, and is part of the Carmen Sandiego franchise. The style of the games are reminiscent of comic books. The 5-part series were the first English language console games from the Carmen Sandiego franchise since The Secret of the Stolen Drums. These "short, educational detective adventures" are "only available as a download through the Nintendo Wii Shop". The games were developed by Gamelion Studios, and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. They could take up to 6 players, and required 600 Wii points. Maths topics included in the games include: Symmetry, Identifying angles, Graphing coordinates on a grid, Logic puzzles, Working with fractions, Solving equations, and Tangrams. The games are designed for elementary learners across grades 3–5.
Opera Fatal is a 1996 educational graphic adventure puzzle video game developed by Ruske & Pühretmaier Design und Multimedia GmbH and published by Heureka-Klett. The game's plot follows maestro Angelo, the orchestra director, on the night before the premiere of Beethoven's Fidelio. A mysterious thief has stolen the musical scores; to retrieve them, Angelo must solve a series of music-themed riddles that have been scattered throughout the opera house.
Math Blaster Mystery: The Great Brain Robbery, is a product in a line of educational products created by Davidson & Associates that takes place in a different universe from the original Math Blaster one. It has no relation to Davidson's earlier Apple II game "Math Blaster Mystery". The game was released in North America, Sweden and Spain. The game was remade in 1998 with the title "Math Blaster: Pre-Algebra". The game is regarded as a 'Review and Practice' type of software.
Physicus: Save the World with Science! is a 1999 educational adventure video game developed by Ruske & Pühretmaier Edutainment and published by Heureka-Klett-Softwareverlag and Tivola Entertainment. It aims to teach players about physics concepts. It is part of a series that includes the chemistry-themed Chemicus and biology-themed sequel Bioscopia. It was the second learning adventure game by Ruske & Pühretmaier after the music-based Opera Fatal. The game's website had a minigame called "PHYSICO DriveIn" that players could download and complete in to get the highscore, which would win them a free copy of a game by the studio. A sequel entitled Physicus: The Return was later released, and was remade for the iOS.
Chemicus: Journey to the Other Side is a 2001 educational adventure video game by Heureka-Klett as part of Tivola's "Quest for Knowledge" series. A sequel named Chemicus II: Die versunkene Stadt was released in 2002. The game was originally released in Germany.
Geograficus is a 2003 educational adventure video game, developed by Ruske & Pühretmaier and published by Heureka-Klett and BrainGame Publishing. The game was originally released in Germany.
Masters of the Elements is an educational adventure video game developed by IJsfontein Interactive Media, and published by Bombilla (Dutch), Van In (Belgium), VNU Interactive, Tivola, and Gallimard (French). The game was originally released in November, 1997 and ended up on Macintosh and Windows.
The House of Da Vinci is a 2017 puzzle adventure game developed by Slovak indie studio Blue Brain Games. The game is based on fictional events that occurred during the Renaissance. The game is available in English, French, German, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Czech, Slovak, Russian, Turkish, Italian, Polish, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Hindi and Malay.
Ralph Stock is a German game designer. He is best known for his video games Mad TV and Emergency.
Dr Kawashima's Brain Training for Nintendo Switch is an edutainment puzzle video game developed by Nintendo and indieszero and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It is the fifth entry in the Brain Age puzzle video game series, based on the research of neuroscientist Ryuta Kawashima, whose avatar guides the player through the game. It was released on December 27, 2019 in Japan, January 3, 2020 in Europe and Australia, and July 1, 2020 in South Korea. Unusually, it was not released in North America.
