Crazy chain

Here is another Lonpos puzzle, again with a small size, so very practical to play with everywhere.
This brainteaser is composed of 7 plastic and colorful pieces.
A booklet is provided (again with no solutions...) with the game and has 2 parts (2 ways of playing).

The first way of playing it to use all the pieces to arrange them into the game plate.
The red obstacle cannot be removed. You need first to choose a level, let's say 1. This level indicates that there are 75 ways of arranging the pieces. The 44th level says that there is ony one solution!
Then you put the pieces. I began with the 1st level and that's not easy at all even if there are many arranging ways of putting the pieces. I struggled quite a lot...!!

1st way of playing

The second way of playing (2nd part of the booklet) is the following: you have to put one piece on the game plate (as shown in the booklet), and then arrange the remaining pieces. And at least, you need to find out the level of the challenge and put the L piece (the level piece) on the  game plate. Again, this is difficult, even for the easiest challenges.

Ok I found that it corresponds to level 2 (which has a total of 64 solutions)

What I like is that, even if the goal remains the same (arranging the pieces), the rules are different as well as the shape of the pieces. There are a lot of challenges.
Again, I personnaly think that, even if it is for everybody, this is pretty difficult. If you like difficulty, go buy one!! :-)

If by chance, any of you guys has enough programming skills to be able to write a program that shows all the combinations for all the level, I think it could be very interesting.

You can buy this puzzle HERE

Roll, roll, roll......

This time I will review a very different game from Lonpos company: rolling games!!!


The goal is to make a small plastic piece roll from the starting point to the finish point without rolling on the 2 obstacles.
There are 48 challenges (not a lot in my opinion...) but as the difficulty increases a lot, don't worry you will have enough to do with those challenges.
So you put the card challenges below the acrylic (notice that you can also put your 2 pieces in the hole under the acrylic) and you take the appropriate plastic piece and then you can start playing!

There are some challenges with the red piece and other with the blue piece. With the red you cannot roll on the obstacles, but you can with the blue piece!
For the most difficult challenges it can take up to 20 moves, which is very huge!! The number of moves required are written. Sometimes you can solve one challenge using 9 moves, but it requires 8 moves, so you have to think more...When I had some difficulties, I started from the finish point and went to the starting point. It can help if you're blocked, but not always :-)

Again no solutions are provided but there is a sheet of paper in which you can write the directions to follow for each challenge. But to remember all the 20 moves in the right order is more than tough...
I really enjoyed this game because it's easy to understand and fun to play. And also I don't see a lot of those kind of games. So here it's an opportunity to try rolling games :-)

The challenge below is the easiest: it requires 2 moves. So as you understand the directions are: one right and one up.

  

The second puzzle looks almost the one above except that it has more plastic pieces (4 vs 2) and so more challenges (around 230). The rules are the same. In the small booklets are written the number of moves required for each piece.

In my opinion, I prefer having the playing card as with the 1st game rather than this paper booklet that you put below the acrylic. But I assume that, as there are more challenges, it would have been too thick.

So which one to choose? Well I recommend the second one because there are more challenges. But if you have already the first one, no doubt that you will also like the second one.

You can buy your rolling puzzle(s) from Lonpos HERE

Cosmic creatures

Don't be afraid no cosmic creatures will invade our planet, that's just the name of a puzzle by the Lonpos company :-)

Lonpos highlights a lot the fact that brainteasers are for everyone because they increase your memory, your attention and patience. So whether you're a child or an adult, you can have fun with them.
I recommend, however, to make some breaks because your nerves can be broken by some very difficult levels. Sometimes, the solution becomes clearer after a small break :-)

Due to its size, this game is perfect for your travel, but of course you can have fun at home too.

The goal is to put all the pieces on the tray. Some pieces are irregular and when turned another side they are different and thus it increases the possibility to put them of the tray. Those pieces are marked with a triangle.
Each piece has a letter, which helps putting them of the tray.
Just note that sometimes the letter shown in the booklet is not exactly the way they are put in the tray, it's not a problem at all, but I would have liked a "perfect match". Look below the C piece (llok at the booklet and the piece):

With all the 111 challenges, I assure you that you will perfectly know these cosmic creatures :)

The starting levels are very easy, but it becomes much more difficult at the end!!
Also sometimes there are many ways to complete a level, so there is not a unique solution for each level. Look below with the A and I pieces (the 2 on the bottom right hand corner):

I really like the design of this puzzle, the colorful pieces and the size of the puzzle: it will not take a lot of space at home and you can bring it easily with you.

What I don't like a lot is the fact that the color of the pieces is not  precisely the same with the colors of the booklet, but well it is the same with some other brainteasers...
I don't like that they did not put a solution booklet (it is the same with all their puzzles!), again I like having the solutions because it can help adding a piece if you hide half of the solution, for example.
Instead of that they put some hints about the puzzle. But first you need to go on the internet to see the hints (after searching the right puzzle you're playing with), then the hint is just only one piece shown, which may not be enough to help you sometimes...And finally there are some errors about some hints (some pieces are wrongly orientated...)

To conclude: a fun puzzle with a funny design for many hours of playing. The hints and booklets can be seen on their internet page in many languages. Good point!

To buy your Cosmic creature brainteaser, go HERE