Pentomino tiling puzzles and games are popular in recreational mathematics. Usually, video games such as Tetris imitations and Rampart consider mirror reflections to be distinct, and thus use the full set of 18 one-sided pentominoes.
Puzzle video games make up a unique genre of video games that emphasize puzzle solving. The types of puzzles can test many problem-solving skills including logic, pattern recognition, sequence solving, and word completion. The player may have unlimited time or infinite attempts to solve a puzzle, or there may be a time limit, or simpler puzzles may be made difficult by having to complete them in real time, as in Tetris.
Tetris Attack is a 1995 puzzle video game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Game Boy. It is the first game in the Puzzle League series. While it was originally known in Japan as Panel de Pon for the Super Famicom and featured different art assets and characters, its English localization was replaced with characters from Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. It was released on the Game Boy under the same name. The Game Boy release of the Yoshi version was also later released in Japan. On November 3, 1996, a version was released for the Super Famicom's Satellaview satellite modem service as BS Yoshi's Panepon. This game is similar to Baku Baku Animal, developed by Sega and released in 1995.
A mechanical puzzle is a puzzle presented as a set of mechanically interlinked pieces in which the solution is to manipulate the whole object or parts of it. One of the most well-known mechanical puzzles is Ernő Rubik’s Cube that he invented in 1974. The puzzles are mostly designed for a single player where the goal is for the player to see through the principle of the object, not so much that they accidentally come up with the right solution through trial and error. With this in mind, they are often used as an intelligence test or in problem solving training.
Nonograms, also known as Picross or Griddlers, are picture logic puzzles in which cells in a grid must be colored or left blank according to numbers at the side of the grid to reveal a hidden picture. In this puzzle type, the numbers are a form of discrete tomography that measures how many unbroken lines of filled-in squares there are in any given row or column. For example, a clue of "4 8 3" would mean there are sets of four, eight, and three filled squares, in that order, with at least one blank square between successive groups.
Blockout is a puzzle video game, published in 1989 by California Dreams, developed in Poland by Aleksander Ustaszewski and Mirosław Zabłocki.
Private Garden is an eroge released for the PC only in Japan by Tetratech. The first game was released in 1997, and its two sequels in 1998 and 2003, respectively. They are puzzle games. The player is awarded with hentai pictures after completing puzzles.
Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, released in Japan as Super Puzzle Fighter II X, is a one or two player tile-matching puzzle video game first released in 1996 by the Capcom Coin-Op division of Capcom on the CPS II arcade system. The game's title is a parody of Super Street Fighter II Turbo, as there were no other Puzzle Fighter games at the time, and the game includes music and interface elements spoofing the Street Fighter Alpha and Darkstalkers games. It was a response to Sega's Puyo Puyo 2 that had been sweeping the Japanese arcade scene.
Klotski is a sliding block puzzle thought to have originated in the early 20th century. The name may refer to a specific layout of ten blocks, or in a more global sense to refer to a whole group of similar sliding-block puzzles where the aim is to move a specific block to some predefined location.
A sliding puzzle, sliding block puzzle, or sliding tile puzzle is a combination puzzle that challenges a player to slide pieces along certain routes to establish a certain end-configuration. The pieces to be moved may consist of simple shapes, or they may be imprinted with colors, patterns, sections of a larger picture, numbers, or letters.
Puzzle De Pon! is a puzzle video game made by the Taito Corporation in 1995. It was initially released for the Neo Geo arcade platform. The game plays similarly to Taito's own Puzzle Bobble series. There are some gameplay differences however. Although the player clears the colored balls on the screen by firing balls against other balls of the same colour, the objective of the game is not to clear the screen of balls. It is instead to clear all the balls from around the level shape, referred to as the "drop token". Once this shape is freed, it explodes and the player travels onto the next level. There are 39 levels in the game, divided in groups of three levels. In the first two levels, the shape is something generic; in the third level the shape is a Zodiac sign, up to level 36. Level 39's shape is the Solar Symbol. Once you beat the game, it is stated that you became the Sun God, and the ending shows your character riding the Sun Chariot in the sky.
Puzzle Pirates is a massively multiplayer online game developed by Three Rings Design, a company acquired by Sega Sammy Holdings in 2011. The player takes the role of a pirate, adventuring on the high seas and pillaging money from roaming enemy ships. The mechanics of Puzzle Pirates are driven by puzzles. For example, to effectively sail a ship, players must play puzzle games representing work at the sails for speed, pumping bilge water to remove it from the ship, and carpentry to fix any damage the ship may take.
Trioncube, fully titled Kimochiyosa Rensa Puzzle Trioncube in Japan, is a puzzle video game developed by Namco and released for the Nintendo DS.
MaBoShi: The Three Shape Arcade is a WiiWare puzzle video game developed by Mindware Corp. Its Japanese title, マインドウェア: まるぼうしかく or Katachi no Game: Maru Bou Shikaku translates to Game of Shapes: Circle, Bar, Square. It was released in Europe on August 29, 2008, in Japan on October 7, 2008, and in North America on December 29, 2008.
Backflip Studios is a mobile game developer and publisher based in Boulder, Colorado, United States. It was founded by Julian Farrior, Dale Thoms and Tom Blind in April 2009. In August 2009, it was announced that the company had raised US$145,000 in funding to continue developing for the iPhone OS. Backflip Studios is best known for their free iOS game Paper Toss, which has been downloaded over 50 million times. They are also widely known for Dragonvale, with over 10 million downloads. In 2013, Backflip Studios sold a 70% stake in the company to Hasbro for $112 million in cash.
Chime is a 2010 music and puzzle video game developed by Zoë Mode, released initially on the Xbox Live Arcade service, and later for Windows. An extended version of the game, called Chime Super Deluxe, was released on the PlayStation Network in March 29, 2011. Chime is the first title released by the non-profit video game publisher OneBigGame.
Tactic is a video game, originally released for the Acorn Archimedes in 1990 by Eterna. It takes the form of a falling block puzzle.
Dream of Pixels is a mobile game developed by Slovenian studio Dawn of Play and released on November 15, 2012. Its available for iOS and Android.
Tetris 2 is a video game published in 1993 and 1994 by Nintendo for the Game Boy, Nintendo Entertainment System and Super Nintendo Entertainment System.
Denki Blocks! is a puzzle video game developed by Denki and originally released in 2001 by Rage Games for Sky Gamestar and the Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance. In the game, players manoeuvre different coloured blocks around a grid to join those of the same colour together. The game features versus modes for multiple players. Denki Blocks! was ported to the PlayStation Portable in 2011 by Tiger Games, and to Android the same year and iOS in 2010.
