The Genius Square, what a name for a puzzle game. Intriguing and interesting don’t you think? Does it sound a bit too highbrow and probably difficult to solve? Is it just for the genius in the family? Do you need a genius-level IQ to even take it out of box? The answer to all those questions is no! A big resounding large and bold NO! It is a very interesting, challenging and fun game to play, and one that can happily be played by puzzlers from the age of 6+. A challenging puzzle, and the genius of the game is that there will always be at least one solution to each of its 62,208 puzzle combinations.
The Genius Square, from The Happy Puzzle Company, is a logic puzzle game for 1-2 players, aged 6+. You can play it solo or race against an opponent to see you can fill the grid first.
In the box:
- Genius Square Grid (x2)
- Set of Nine Coloured Shapes (x2)
- Set of Seven Blocker Pieces (x2)
- Seven Dice
- Instructions
The Genius Square is indeed a square, a 6×6 empty grid. The roll of the dice determines where you place blockers, and your goal is to fill the grid entirely around the blockers using different shapes. It has a possible 62,208 puzzles to complete, so you won’t stop playing it anytime soon. If you were to do one different puzzle a day, it would result in taking you over 170 years to complete them all. It must be a game that is definitely value for money. Additionally, there will never be a puzzle that can’t be solved!
Playing The Genius Square is easy, solving the puzzles is more challenging. You take a Genius Square grid, seven cylindrical blockers and a set of nine coloured shapes (made up of square blocks). To begin your challenge, you roll the seven dice that have grid references on them and then place the seven cylindrical blockers on the grid references that you have rolled. Now you race to fill the grid with your nine coloured shapes around the blockers. Apparently it can be completed in as little as 30 seconds!
With over 62,000 puzzle combinations, some are easier to solve than others. But the beauty of the game is that you never know what puzzle combination you will get, it is all down to the roll of the dice.
Overall, The Genius Square is an excellent brain-teasing logic game. An easy game to understand and play. It uses a lot of different skill sets to complete the puzzles: Sequencing, Spatial Awareness, Speed of Thought, Strategic Planning, Visual Perception and Patience. The perfect game to challenge yourself against the clock or even just to take your time. Slow and steady wins the race as they say.
Unlike most of these types of puzzle games for solo play, it comes with a second grid and second set of blockers and shapes. This allows two people to play together, against each other in a race to solve the same puzzle. Or you can just to play two sperate puzzles independently from each other. I think that this is great and adds in a bit of friendly competition as well.
The puzzles are varying degrees of difficultly, depending on how you look at them and the approach you use to solve them. No matter how you play, whether it’s challenging yourself against the clock, challenging another player, or leisurely taking your time just to beat it, each puzzle is lots of fun – sometimes frustrating fun but fun nonetheless.
I think that is a great fun game to challenge yourself and your friends, giving your brain a workout too. Most puzzles don’t take that long to solve, so you can easily play and solve a few puzzles without getting bored.
Rating: 5/5
RRP: £19.99
For more information, visit www.happypuzzle.co.uk. Available to buy from Amazon here.
