IQ Stars is here! This is another single player puzzle game from Smart Games. They have a whole series of IQ puzzles and most of them are compact enough to fit in your pocket! Some of the other IQ puzzles include IQ Fit, IQ Puzzler, IQ Blox, and IQ Candy (yum).
I have mentioned these games on my blog before, but it looks like I have never actually reviewed one of them. Shame on me! These are actually some of my MOST FAVORITE puzzle games. There are a few reasons why, which I will get to below while I review IQ Stars.
One of the things that I look for in a new puzzle game is size. I really like the compact ones. This means that I can easily carry it with me in a pocket or a purse/bag. I will admit that I don't always have a puzzle game on me, but I do grab and go sometimes, and this is a property that I very much appreciate.
Another thing that I look for in a puzzle is pack-ability. (That might not be a real word!) What I mean is that I like for all the pieces, rules, and game board etc to be easily stored together. Some puzzles come with a handy storage bag. Some puzzles are designed to be stored in the cardboard box that it came in. And some puzzles are designed such that the playing board also double as a storage case. This last type is my favorite and IQ Stars does this. Once you pull it out of the box it was purchased in, you can throw that grummy old cardboard box away with no worries! All the pieces fit snugly into the game board and the rules/challenge booklet sits on top of that. The clear top hinges over and snaps everything securely closed. The worst part about some puzzles is that it is very easy to misplace pieces or rules if they don't come with some kind of handy storage option. You can't play them again if parts are missing!
Another important thing I look for in a puzzle is a unique solution set. This actually is the MOST IMPORTANT thing of all! The aforementioned attributes are much less important, but usually the first things I notice about a puzzle. You have to play around with the puzzle to get a feel for its solve-ability. And a crucial factor for keeping me engaged in a puzzle is whether or not it has unique solutions. Now this doesn't mean that those types of puzzles are the best, just that those are the types of puzzles that make me happy. There are some puzzles in which you need to find a path, like a sequential movement puzzle. These ones also have unique solutions (the shortest path or least number of moves), but it is hard to keep track of your moves in these cases, so some of the harder challenges become less interesting to me, simply because I lose track of all these moves. But I think I am rambling...
Anyhow, for puzzles like IQ Stars, the challenges usually have unique solutions. There is almost always only one unique placement of the pieces that will solve the challenge. You do stumble occasionally on a solution in which two pieces might fit in in two different ways, but it's not common. I think the designers are fairly careful (and clever) in constructing the challenges in this way
IQ Stars comes with 7 pieces. Each piece has 3, 4, or 5 stars connected together in some shape. The game board has star-shaped nubs that the playing pieces fit onto so they don't slide around.
To begin play, you pick a challenge and place the pieces that are given in their spots. Now you must figure out how to place the rest of the pieces onto the game board such that they all fit in nicely!
This was Junior Challenge #38. It was fairly simple to solve.
IQ Stars comes with 120 challenges in its little booklet. 1- 24 are Starter challenges, 25-48 are Junior, 49-72 are Expert, 73-96 are Master, and the rest are Wizard. The Wizard levels do get a bit challenging as they only show 1 star of each colored piece. You have to figure out which orientation each piece takes and then fill in the rest. Wow! I enjoyed these ones! The challenge booklet also contains all the answers at the end of the booklet and some rules of play at the front. They do claim that there is only 1 possible solution for each challenge!
Some tips for playing IQ Stars:
1) If you get stuck, check the challenge and make sure all your starter pieces are placed correctly.
2) Try placing the pink piece first. It has a crazy cup-like (u) shape and can be tricky to find a spot for.
3) The purple piece is the only straight piece and only has 3 stars. Don't create any straight holes for yourself that are longer than 3 stars! The green piece can also fit into some straight holes of length 3 but it does have an additional star with a bend at the end.
4) The red shape is like a parallelogram so make sure you leave space for that one too!
Basically, every time you crack open a new puzzle, you should really give those pieces a careful look over. Find the ones that will be hardest to fit in and try placing them first. Those ones will usually be confined to only a few possibilities, and they are easy to narrow down. Hope that makes sense!
IQ Stars is recommended for ages 6 to adult. If you have younger puzzle solvers, they would enjoy this too. I don't think there is a choking hazard here, but if you play with your kids, they will be safe! I can't recommend spending an afternoon puzzle solving with your kids highly enough!
I own just about every single IQ puzzle available, and I don't regret purchasing any of them! They are all fantastic!
Thanks for stopping by The Puzzle Den blog today! I hope you enjoyed this review!
