Beta games
Checking who you are…
A jelly packing puzzle. Tap to pour; the jelly spreads to the nearest empty cells. Fill the tin exactly or it spills.
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A rainy pond puzzle. Tap the water and the splash pushes every leaf near it away. Get the critters home before the rain runs out.
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A stained-glass puzzle. Turn whole rings of a rose window so the light reaches every lamp in the right colour. Glass takes colour away; meeting lights add it back.
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A paper-folding puzzle. Tap a crease: the sheet folds in half, the wet ink prints on what it touches, and the sheet opens again. Print the crest exactly. Wax resists, blotter drinks.
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A rolling-die puzzle. Roll a stone die across the vault floor one tile at a time. Every door opens only for the number on top, so plan the tumble. Bolts, sand, slick obsidian and gears.
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A cotton-field puzzle. Dive under the field, eat the root, and the stalk above falls. Crows and moles watch straight lines, and loam caves in behind you.
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A balance puzzle. Drop river stones into the hollows of birch twigs until every twig sits level: a light stone far out balances a heavy one close in. Forks, pine rings, rolling acorns and moss.
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A pocket-watch puzzle with no reflexes. A marble rides turning brass tracks, and the watch stops at every crossing: hop or ride on. Tracks of different sizes only line up every few laps, so pick the right lap to reach the jewel before the mainspring runs down.
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A deduction party game for 3 to 8 households on up to 20 phones (friends can share a persona), about half an hour, or stretched over an evening or a day. London, 1888: every house at the table took in a lodger tonight, and one of the eight is the killer. Nobody knows which, not even the house he is sleeping in. Hunt true clues (tags about the room, or dealt), file one sealed statement an hour, true or a lie, call the Inspector on the ones you doubt, and name the man and the door before midnight.
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A pass-the-phone companion for a White Elephant gift swap, 3 or more players. Add the guests, shuffle the turn order, and spin the wheel before each turn for a twist: padlocks, forced trades, an avalanche, a carol to sing. Family or cutthroat, a gift tracker with the steal limit, and the finale revenge turn for player one.
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A daily headline puzzle, about five minutes. London, 1872: the police blotter hands you three dull little incidents (a goose in a hat shop, a lost umbrella) and you set each one as a screaming front page from a case of word tiles. Bigger type sells more but holds fewer letters, so it must fit the column; words in a row with the same first letter sell; naming a duke is libel unless you hedge. Everyone gets the same three blotters on the same date, so compare circulations.
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A hex wave puzzle. Lay wires so the colours cancel and the goal goes dark. Two colours to start, six by the end.
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Plinko with a twist: every peg is pinned and free to spin. Drop 25 balls down nine rows of triangles, pentagons and bar spinners. A peg that turns far enough pays spin points; a peg still spinning fast glows, and each glowing peg a ball brushes adds to that ball's multiplier before it lands in a bin. A narrow 1,000 jackpot sits dead centre. Four balls: Standard, Super Bounce, Blue Magnet (pulled to the centre lane) and Heavy Wrecker, the specials rationed per round. Aim with the slider, or fire a volley of three.
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A calm real-time game for one thumb, two minutes a walk. Barnaby is off the leash: throw his ball before he gets bored, somewhere he has not just sniffed and away from the flower beds, bins and picnics. When he starts to sniff, whistle. Drag yourself to walk: he never goes for trouble near you. Seven parks, from the back yard to Park Day with two dogs, and Today's walk, the same for everyone.
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