IQ - Perplex

In a game with puzzle pieces that are based on identical segments, you would expect that all pieces behave in a similar way. Normally they do, in this game they won’t. Some pieces can be placed in 6 different orientations (3 on each side). Some pieces (that are identical on top or bottom side) only have 3 possible orientations. And some pieces which have also a rotation symmetry, only have 1 possible orientation on the game board!

Puzzle pieces that look identical at first sight are not identical, because the cubes are angled differently.  These pieces, like for example the pink and dark green behave similar, but both fit correctly on different places on the grid. Sometimes if a puzzle piece has the right shape (in top view) but the cubes don’t align with the other puzzle pieces on the grid, you can align them, by rotating the piece 180°. But a piece like the purple one needs to be flipped instead of rotated to make it fit. And for other pieces, like the ones that have only 1 possible orientation, it doesn’t matter how many times you rotate it or flip it. If they don’t fit, they simply don’t fit.

This all sounds complicated, but there is no need to memorize the options for each puzzle piece. As long as you realize that some pieces have many options and others don’t, you will be fine. After that, this game is not much more difficult than any other IQ-game I designed the last 15 years. So the only obstacle is the learning curve at the very start. Once you are used to the puzzle pieces and their irregular behavior, the challenges and difficulty of the levels is similar to other games.