Shady Puzzles
Written by Heather Leister
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Shady Puzzles is one of those games that makes me realize how tired my poor little brain is. I try this type of puzzle and I know that I should be able to figure them out. I know that the answer is right in front of me. But the logic of it all just escapes me. I was never very good at this sort of thing but since having kids my skill has become just plain sad. That being said, even though it left me well aware of my mental limitations, I enjoyed the Shady Puzzle and even managed to solve a few. Emphasis on the word few.
The idea behind Shady Puzzles is to fill in a grid according to a set of numbers. The numbers run along the top and side of the grid. They tell you how many boxes in each row and column should be shaded in. For example, if there’s a 3 next to a row then it needs to have three shaded boxes. You might also see something like 1,2. This means that one box needs to be shaded in and then twoboxes, but they’ve got to be separated by an empty box. The trick comes when you work in the columns as well. They’ve got numbers above them too and you’ve got to make the column’s shading work with that of the row it intersects with.
The concept of Shady Puzzles is clever and it’s a great game to get your brain working. I like the look and feel of the app’s graphics. It’s like doodling on notepaper instead of doing your homework. The app did have a tendency to sometimes crash when I solved a puzzle. Also, I might be missing something but I couldn’t figure out a way to back out of a puzzle once I’d started it. But all in all it’s a challenging puzzle game, for me anyway. But please, if you try this one out and breeze through it don’t let me know. I’ve already got enough puzzle anxiety as it is.
Update 9/24/10 – Shady Puzzles: Super Awesome Compilation Edition is now available. It bundles in free puzzle packs for download.
Price when Reviewed: $.99 – App Store says this is a promotional price
Seller: Lambdamu Games
Disclosure: I received a free copy of this app for review purposes.
