Review: Challenging fun for the mind
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 26, 2012
If you've worked any of the Grabarchuk Puzzlebooks, you already have an idea of what to expect with their puzzles, but they continually make things more interesting with challenging new puzzles. As with the other Puzzlebook collections, puzzles are ranked in the order of difficulty, from one to five stars. I got through the warm-up 1-star puzzle and several of the two-star puzzles pretty easily, but some of the 2-star puzzles were already getting noticeably tougher.What I enjoy most about the Puzzlebook series is the diversity of the puzzles and how they challenge you to take varying approaches to solving the puzzles. Sometimes a straight-ahead logical approach works, but for many puzzles, "sideways" thinking is required, since a direct step-by-step approach won't work. Some puzzles require basic arithmetic, algebra, or geometry, but many puzzles require an understanding of spatial relationships to solve (for example: seeing isometric views of several keys, which key fits the lock?).I take my Kindle with me whenever I'm going to have to wait somewhere (doctor, dentist, car repair, etc.) and I often end up working Puzzlebook brainteasers that I haven't solved already. (Note: I keep a sheet of paper and a pencil handy, since they're helpful for solving some of the puzzles.)I worked the puzzles on both an old Kindle 3 (aka Kindle Keyboard) and a new Kindle Paperwhite, and the game play was fine on both. Playing on the Kindle Keyboard using the 5-way controller was a bit clunky compared to the touchscreen Paperwhite, but after working a few puzzles, I could operate the 5-way almost as quickly as the touchscreen.If you've worked Puzzlebooks before, you pretty much know what to expect with 104 Puzzle Quizzes. If you haven't tried a Puzzlebook, and you enjoy mind challenges, you owe it to yourself to try one.