My latest computer game addiction is Gemsweeper. The concept is simple, it is much like the Minesweeper game that comes with Windows. Instead of just looking for bombs though, you are looking for sparkling gemstones and avoiding cursed tiles. If you know a tile is “cursed” you click on it with a hammer. For gemstones, you select them with the hand tool. Once you solve the puzzle you see a picture.
The program starts off very easy. The tutorial walks you through the steps of logic necessary for figuring out which tiles must be cursed and which must be gems. I like that it doesn’t just explain but makes you do the clicking. Hands on learning is better than just reading. The game provides the clues by telling you how many gems in a row are on each row. If you have a five by five tiled puzzle and know there are five gems in the first row then it’s very easy to figure out where to click. If you have a row of five tiles and know there are three gems in a row, then you can deduce the middle one has to be a gem.
A rather silly guide, Professor McGuffog makes goofy jokes about the puzzles. You can also click on the big statue “Topex” and he will make jokes.
My only issue with the game is that occasionally the tiles are a dark maroon that doesn’t show up well on the screen. If you accidentally hit a cursed tile you get time taken away. If you accidentally hammer a gem tile you can use “magic glue” to repair it. You only have a few pots of glue per level though. One rather mean puzzle had black tiles. It was a picture of a black hole. I had to copy the clues onto paper in order to solve it.
The game reminds me of Sudoko with its use of logic. My children are intrigued by the game and caught on quickly. But to be honest, I haven’t given them much of a chance to play. It’s that addictive. I feel like it’s a good mental workout for the logic side of the brain.
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