Pipe Dream

Loopz is a puzzle video game originally designed and programmed by Ian Upton for the Atari ST in 1989. He previously worked as head game designer for Audiogenic, who acquired exclusive rights to the game, then in 1990 arranged for Mindscape to publish it for computers in North America and consoles worldwide. The Nintendo Entertainment System version (programmed by Bits Studios) and the Game Boy version (programmed by Argonaut Software) were released in 1990. Audiogenic published versions of the original game for the Acorn Electron, BBC Micro, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, Atari ST, Amiga, and IBM PC in 1990 and 1991.

It once was a peaceful kingdom of friendly, kind people. Unfortunately, this land didn't stay so serene as a wicked wizard king wanted everything for himself. Using his magic powers the wizard quickly overpowered the helpless people, put everybody including Princess Mira, into "dream bags", and turned the entire kingdom into a frozen wasteland. It is your job as Kickle to progress through all of the areas within each of the four lands in the country and eliminate all of the Wizard's henchmen and rescue your friends who are held captive in a dreamless sleep. Kickle Cubicle is a captivating puzzle game much on the lines of the old coin-op game Pengo. More recently though, it contains similar concepts seen in the Lolo series of NES carts where planning and strategy is more important than quick moves. Your main weapon is your 'chilling' ice breath. Breathe on the enemy and they instantly freeze! Give them a kick and they're out of your way! Clear a couple dozen mazes and you come to the end of the land you're in where you must then beat one of the Boss creatures. Throw in springs, hammers, bonus stages and secret traps and the game quickly turns into a puzzle game with levels which start easy but increase in difficulty as you get better!

aa is the "hello world" app for iPhones, iPads & iPods. i.e. aa is like snake on an old brick phone, it's fundamental.

The fourth game featured as a coverdisk on the Japanese magazine Famimaga, Clocks is a Tetris variant in which clock faces must be placed together form larger shapes. Clocks, or Famimaga Disk Vol. 4 Clocks (and occasionally as "Clox"), is a falling blocks puzzle game that is superficially similar to Tetris or Columns. Single clock faces depicting one of four angles fall from the top and the player needs to manipulate and place them so they can form larger objects, such as simple formations like squares, diamonds and hourglass shapes to more object-intensive shapes like octagons and hexagons. The four angles include 180 degree lines ("12:30"), 90 degree lines ("12:15"), 135 degree lines ("~12:22") and 45 degree lines ("~12:07"). Once a clock face is placed, the lines from it extend to connect to any other lines that surround it. Placing lines in such a way that it forms a shape - for example, placing four 90 degree clocks in such a way to form a square - earns the player points and removes the clocks used to form the shape. Larger shapes are more risky but earn more points. The player is given some leeway to recover from mistakes: should the player hold the down button to make a clock fall faster, it'll destroy any clocks underneath. A misplacement, therefore, can be rectified with a correctly positioned clock if it falls quickly enough to crush the offending clock. However, the player can only do this a limited number of times per stage.

FlixMix is a jigsaw puzzle game featuring a variety of animated images to reassemble. But there is a catch: the jigsaw puzzle is an animated picture, so each piece is not a static part of a picture but a small part of a large animation you have to assemble. You can set a number of options such as the number of pieces and whether the animation randomly plays back and forth or just in one direction. There are also four different modes of play for single or multi player, in this case more like party play. The animations vary from optical illusions to simple CG. The object of the game is to place all the rectangular pieces into the correct positions. Puzzle pieces can be varied in size to as few as 2x2 to over 10x10, depending on the puzzle. Additional options to increase difficulty include mirrored or flipped pieces, locking correctly placed pieces, blanking placed pieces after a time delay, and occasionally playing the video clip in reverse. There are four game modes in FlixMix. In Single Mingle, the player has unlimited time to solve a single puzzle. In Scramblecade, the player rotates through all the puzzles in a tileset, with the pieces shrinking in size almost each round. The player has a time limit, which can be extended by placing pieces, placing pieces in bonus spaces worth extra time and points, and solving puzzles. In Joint Venture, up to nine players take turns solving a sequence of puzzles with the winner being the one to solve the most puzzles within a time limit. In Mix'n'Match, up to nine players take turns solving the same puzzle in sequence, with the player with the lowest time declared the winner

Moai-kun is a puzzle video game developed and published by Konami for the Family Computer in Japan in March 1990. The game derives its themes from Easter Island; the player controls a sentient moai statue that must rescue other moai and escape each stage via a door before the timer expires. Although platforming elements are present, the primary challenge is to find a way to manipulate the objects in each stage to reach the distressed moai and rescue them while still leaving an avenue of escape to the exit door.

Players are given an initial set of marbles that are divided evenly into six colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple, with two more colors available to purchase: black and silver (steel). These marbles are picked up and dropped by the players into funnels leading to a series of rails, switches, traps and other devices which grow more complex as the game progresses. The aim is to ensure that each marble arrives in the bin of the same color as the marble. Players must determine how the marble will travel through the puzzle, and how its journey will change the puzzle for the next marble. When a marble runs over certain sections of the puzzle, the paths may be rerouted or cut off, either temporarily or permanently. For example, if the marble runs over a button, it might hop, skip and jump a diversion that sends the next marble down a different road.

Concentration was a popular game show in the mid-to-late 1980s and this game was adapted from that television program. Two players can play against each other, or one person can play against a computer generated opponent. The answer to the puzzle is hidden by tiles. The tiles have words denoting game prizes ("Mexico", "Camera", "Telescope", for example) and your object is to find the two matching worded tiles. Exposing two at a time, your memory is taxed as more prize tiles are revealed and then covered over again. As more tiles are matched, the hidden puzzle is revealed. Solve the puzzle and you win the game.

Polarity features the same type of polished gameplay found in games like Portal, but is made exclusively for experienced gamers. You’ll need clever wits and fast reflexes to beat the system’s security and reach the world-changing prize buried deep inside.

A surreal and very original game by Geoff Crammond The game plays out on a 3D landscape with hills and valleys made up of several levels. At the highest vantage point stands The Sentinel, a statue-like being with an energy draining stare, you begin at the lowest. "Energy" plays an important role, there's a constant amount in the game world and each object is worth a certain number of units - including you. The object of each level is to absorb The Sentinel and Hyperspace to the next from his vantage point. The Sentinel scans further round the landscape every few seconds - if you're caught in his gaze, or rather the square you are standing on can be seen, you'll have about 5 seconds to teleport to another location (or hit a key to teleport to a random location - which will never be higher, and may be lower than your current level) before the Sentinel begins absorbing your energy, when it reaches zero you will be destroyed. To travel a "robot hull" must be created on a visible square then teleported to, making sure you absorb your old hull to avoid losing energy. Boulders and trees can also be created, trees to block The Sentinels view and boulders can be stacked to gain higher ground. There are a few other elements to the game - on later levels there will be other Sentries positioned around the landscape. If only part of you can be seen i.e. not the square you are standing on, a nearby tree can be changed into a "Meanie" which will ultimately force you to teleport. There are 9999 levels in the game but the next level number is based on the current level + how much energy you have remaining.