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Mac Daniel's Advice

Puzzling Mac Games

Evan Kleiman - 2001.07.18

Q. I love logic puzzles and want to be able to get some good educational games that will teach my kids some new logic skills over the summer. What are some good logic puzzle games for the Mac?

A. There are so many different logic puzzle games out there for the Mac that sometimes it's hard to decide which one is the best, but I'll tell you about a few of my favorites.

My very favorite logic game by far is one that's been around for a very long time and is finally gaining success and popularity in both the Macintosh and PC computing worlds. This very cool game is called Snood. Snood is highly addictive game that can be somewhat compared to Bust-a-move and Tetris (remember that?).

In this game you have to shoot the snoods (little characters in the game) at other snoods to form a set of three like snoods - then the snoods disappear. The object of the game is to get rid of all of snoods and clear the screen before the brick wall comes down on all the snoods. Of course, it looks much easier than it really is. If you're easily addicted to simple games, this might not be a good game for you.

Another good, fun game that teaches logic as well as new math skills is Broderbund's "The Logical Journey of the Zoombini's." This game, available at most of your local computer stores as well as Outpost.com, is a game in which you travel through a virtual world that is chock full of different logic games for you or your kids to explore, each one increasing itself in difficulty and teaching you a different skill.

Another oldie but goodie is MacPipes. This game, just like Snood, is highly addictive. In this game you have to complete the maze of pipes before the meter runs out and you're faced with a gooey mess of green goop to deal with. Of course, also like snood, this game sounds much easier than it really is, and it is sure to delay any productive thing you're planning on doing.

No list would be complete without the old standby, minesweeper. Mac Mine Sweeper, one of my favorites, is probably the best out there - and it is only 51k! If you don't already know the objective of this game, it is to clear out all of the mines before you step on a live one and get blown up! Of course, as with most of these addictive (and might I mention very, very frustrating) logic games, it sounds much easier than it really is.

The last game on today's list is Blobs and has a very similar objective to Snood. In Blobs, you must combine four or more blobs together and make them disappear before the time runs out. Once again, this game sounds much easier than it really is.

There are many other games out there than can teach you something while still stopping you from doing what you probably should be doing, but at least you're having fun in the process! So get out there and keep playing!

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