Game: Banded Cube Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, August 2002 Object: Recreate the original setup of the 3x3x3 cube. (2 variants) The setup shows the 3x3x3 cube from the front and from the back. Click anywhere on the board to allow Zillions to randomize the cube. Then move one of the circular stickers on the cube or click any of the arrows to rotate the colours in a slice of the cube. Only a band of 12 stickers will move, one step at a time. You win if you manage to recreate the original setup. Variants 2 ('Freeplay') allows you to exercise your moves using the original cube setup. More freeware as well as real puzzles and games at my homepage http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz. Download Banded Cube Now!
Game: Bauhaus Created by W. D. Troyka, © 2000 The International Bauhaus Museum has just opened in Waukegan. In keeping with the latest ergonomic fad, visitors are required to alternate between visiting bigger and smaller galleries. You really want to visit the armchair exhibit. Can you find your way there? You cannot move to a gallery of equal size, and you may not enter a courtyard. This is a variation on Karl Scherer's A-maze games, which are also available on Zillions. This version exploits an interesting property of A-mazes: An efficient winning path may pass through the same space twice. A 'loop' arises, for example, when you enter a space from a bigger space, exit as required to a bigger space, and then return to the same space from a smaller space. Your exit from the space will now have to be to a smaller space. With proper planning, an A-maze can be constructed that requires loops for its successful completion. You should extract the game preserving path names. Download Bauhaus Now!
Game: Binette Invented and implemented by Ben Tichy, April 2003. Object: The object of the game is to arrange a pattern of tokens so that every token forms part of at least one unbroken line across the board. Tokens can slide freely along the nw-se diagonal; two diagonally adjacent tokens can merge into an empty square to the upper right and, conversely, one token can divide to fill two empty squares to the lower left. The first board is a tutorial which demonstrates the moves and win-conditions. Binette is adapted from a form of peg-solitaire, probably French in origin, played by the Cajun people of Louisiana. Download Binette Now!
Game: Bowls Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, October 2001 Object: Eliminate all Bowls. (1 randomized variant) Click anywhere on the board to start the random setup. Up to 64 Bowls will appear which are partially designed with an intricate pattern. Move a Bowl to a second Bowl. If the second Bowl has a design complementary to that of the first Bowl, both Bowls will disappear. You lose if the colours are not complementary. You can only move up, down, left or right. You win if all Bowls have disappeared. All setups are solvable! This is another one of these games that look deceptively simple... until you are stuck. More freeware as well as real puzzles and games at my homepage http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz. Download Bowls Now!
Game: Bubbles & Bubbles II Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, May 2000 Bubbles Object: Pop all bubbles in the least amount of moves. This is a new solitaire game with thousands of variations. You can also play it as a two-player game when you both play the same setup. The winner is the player who used the least number of moves to pop all bubbles. Select a piece, queen or rook, from the boarder and move it to the board. From the second move onwards, smart moves can be used. (Just click on the destination square). The pieces can be placed freely, no rules apply. The difference is in the way each piece pops bubbles. The popping power is similar to the attacking power in chess. However: The pieces' popping-power stops at any empty square. In the initial setup, a new bubble pops up at the place where the piece moved from. Click on the small squares to set up your own bubble-creation pattern! The more bubbles you create per move, the bigger the challenge to pop them all. (Try patterns with five bubbles for a good challenge!) Remember that Zillions allows you to compose your own starting positions! (Use the right mouse button). This way the game Bubbles allows thousands of variations!!! Bubbles II Is the same as Bubbles, except it allows for a bishop or knight as the popping piece. More freeware as well as real puzzles and games under http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz. Updated 08/02/03 Bubbles II: minor name change. Download Bubbles Now! Download Bubbles II Now!
Game: Super Bubbles Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, June 2000 Object: Pop all bubbles in the least amount of moves. DARK BUBBLES turn into White Bubbles before they can be popped. WALLS stop any pieces' force field. Select a piece from the border by clicking on it. From the second move onwards, click on the destination square. The pieces can be placed freely, no rules apply. The difference is in the way each piece pops bubbles. The popping power is similar to their attacking power in chess. However: The pieces' popping-power stops at any empty square. In the initial setup, a new bubble pops up at the place where the piece moved from. Click on the small squares to set up your own bubble-creation pattern! Remember that Zillions allows you to compose your own starting positions! (Use the right mouse button). This way the game Bubbles allows thousands of variations!!! To speed the game up, you may want to switch the piece animation off (menu VIEW/OPTIONS). For technical reasons, the features of the game Super Bubbles are slightly different from those in Bubbles 1 and Bubbles 2. More freeware as well as real puzzles and games under http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz. Updated 12/23/00 fixed problem with Zillions v1.2 Download Super Bubbles Now!
Game: Bump Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, September 2001 Object: Eliminate all Bumper Cars (except one). (11 fixed variants, 1 randomized variant) You may only click a Car that can bump into another Car (see below)! The Car will rotate 90, 180 or 270 degrees then drive as far as empty space is available. If after a rotation of 90 degrees there is no empty space in front of the Car, then the Car will rotate 180 degrees. If after a rotation of 180 degrees there is no empty space in front of the Car, then the Car will rotate 270 degrees. If after a rotation of 270 degrees there is no empty space in front of the Car, then the Car cannot move. If after its rotation and driving the clicked Car 'bumps' into another Car, then this second Car will be disappear. The tricky bit is that in this game you can only click a Car that will bump into another Car. You win when only one Car is left on the road. The colour of the cars have no effect on the rules. The other variants 2, ..., 10 have other starting positions (9x9 board). Variant 11 uses the smaller 7x7 board. Variant 12 : Click the board to create a random setup of 20 Cars on a 7x7 board. Eliminate as many Cars as possible. Here the smaller board is used with lots of cars in order to make it more likely that the random setup has a solution. The game 'Bump' is closely related to and has been derived from my game 'Domina 4'. More freeware as well as real puzzles and games at my homepage http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz. Download Bump Now!
Game: Butterflies Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, June 2001 Object: Catch all Butterflies. (8 randomized variants) First click anywhere on the board. Four Butterflies will appear. You are a biologist in the Amazon collecting Butterflies. You have to anticipate three times in a row where a butterfly will go in the next step in order to catch one. Yellow indicators on the left border count your successful predictions. Everytime you guess wrong, the trial-counter is reset to zero. The trial-counter is also reset when you caught a butterfly. Indicators on the right border count the caught butterflies. After a few clicks you will begin to understand the butterflies' flight pattern. If a Butterfly is aiming for an occupied square, it will miss a turn. You win when you have caught all butterflies. Variants: The flight patterns get progressively more difficult to predict. But they are never random; they always follow a simple fixed pattern that you have to find out. Good luck! I was once an avid Lepidopterist (butterfly collector). When I emigrated to New Zealand in 1986, I donated my collection of 500 different species to the Auckland Museum, where it still is their only European collection. More freeware as well as real puzzles and games at http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz. Download Butterflies Now!
Game: Calculator Implemented by Karl Scherer, April 2002 Simulation of a simple pocket calculator. MC : clear memory MR : recall number stored in memory MS : store number in memory M+ : add number to memory Clear : erase number CE : abandon operation and erase number +/- : change sign of number + : add second number to first number (e.g. 5 + 4 = 9) - : subtract second number from first number (e.g. 5 - 4 = 1) * : multiplication % : calculate percentage (e.g. 50 * 20% = 10) / : divides 1 by the given number x^2 : square: multiplies a given number with itself = : get result Shortcuts and hints: x^n : for exponentiation, keep hitting '*', e.g., to calculate 5^7 key in : 5***** To add the same number, keep hitting '+' : 3+2++++... = 2+3+3+3+3+3... To multiply with the same number, keep hitting '*' : 3*2****... = 2*3*3*3*3 (Note that is the FIRST number which is repeated!) Limitations: avoid number overflow! only two decimal places available! there is no rounding in the multiplication result To my knowledge this is the first Zillions game that handles very large numbers. This has been achieved by using positions-flags as temporary storage for the information (one position per digit). Feel free to copy this technique. More freeware as well as real puzzles and games at my homepage http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz. Updated 05/11/02 bug in percentage calculation corrected Download Calculator Now!
Game: Capetown Invented (in 1996) and implemented by Karl Scherer, January 2001. Object: Write CAPETOWN with letters framed blue, then in yellow etc. (13 variants) Eight cubes are positioned on a 3x3 board. Click a cube to roll it into the free board position. This will cause another side of this cube to be visible. The cross-shaped diagram to the right shows a fold-out of this cube. You can also click a cube that cannot be rolled. This will show a fold-out diagram of the clicked cube. Beginners level: Rearrange the cubes so that all letters are framed blue. Then rearrange the cubes so that all letters are framed orange. Do so for all colours. Expert level: Rearrange the cubes so that the blue-framed letters spell out 'CAPETOWN'. Then rearrange the cubes so that the orange-framed letters spell out 'CAPETOWN'. Of course all letters have to be the right way up. Do so for all colours. In the default variant you may play freely. The other variants give you a WIN - message for the various tasks of the beginners level and expert level. More freeware as well as real puzzles and games at my home page http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz. Updated 04/19/03 improved graphics Download Capetown Now!
Game: Capture-Nineteen Solitaire Designed by Charles Camburn in 1897. Implemented by Bob Kraus, November 2000. Object: capture 19 black disks. To start: drop one White Disk on any empty square. Then jump orthogonally over any Black Disk to an empty square beyond, removing the Black Disk. Continue jumping until you capture any 19 of the 20 Black Disks, leaving just one. It is impossible to capture all 20. The pair of starting square, ending square is unique, as is the one remaining Black Disk. The jump-path is not unique. Download Capture-Nineteen Now!
Game: Cat & Mouse Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, October 2000 Object: The mouse has to eat the cheeses in the three corners and return to the start square at the lower left. Sounds easy? Wait until the cats appear! A number of cats will appear at random places and then roam randomly. If a cat moves to the square occupied by the mouse, the mouse will be killed. Variant by variant the challenge gets harder because more cats appear on the scene, and they become more active... (24 variants!). In some variants you can kill cats. To kill a cat, the mouse has to give away one life. The number of lives is indicated at the left border. In the more difficult variants, you start off with more than one life and accumulate more lives by eating cheese. Note that the four corners are no-go zones for the cat. More freeware as well as real puzzles and games at http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz. Updated 08/02/03 minor name change Download Cat & Mouse Now!
Game: Cat & Mouse II Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, October 2000 Object: The cat has to eat all the mice. In this game you play the role of the cat. Start the game by moving the cat. The mice will appear at random places and then roam randomly. The number of mice varies with the variants. There are 36 variants with different numbers of mice, different numers of bites per mice and different mouse activity levels. With each move the cat loses strength. Without strength the cat dies. The strength is indicated at the left border in bites. The cat accumulates strength by eating mice. However, its stomach is limited to 60 bites. When it is full, the cat can still kill mice, but it will not accumulate more strength. There are also a few pieces of cheese lying around. The mice may eat the cheese, but the cat may not. More freeware as well as real puzzles and games at http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz. Updated 08/02/03 minor name change Download Cat & Mouse II Now!
Game: Cat & Mouse III Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, October 2000 Object: The cat has to eat all the mice. Start the game by moving the cat. What's different compared to 'Cat & Mouse II'? You now have two cats. They can operate separately or cooperate. At the beginning of the game you may drop the two cats where you want The cats are more clever: A cat can now jump over a wall, but it costs 2 bites per jump. The mice have become more clever: they do not stray next to the cat anymore. there are less mice around, and they are more agile. In this game a few additional pieces of cheese will drop. These may block some parts of the track so that the cat may be forced to jump over some walls. You lose when you run out of bites. There are also a few pieces of cheese lying around. The mice may eat the cheese, but the cat may not. More freeware as well as real puzzles and games at http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz. Updated 08/02/03 minor name change Download Cat & Mouse III Now!
Game: Cat & Mouse IV Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, February 2001 Object: The Mouse has to eat all the cheeses. (15 variants). Click anywhere on the board. A random set of mouseholes as well as a few pieces of cheese will appear. A Mouse will be visible peeking out of one of the holes. You can move the mouse to any adjacent square. If you move the Mouse to a mousehole, it will race through the tunnel and reappear at the other exit. Each burrow has exactly two exits. While playing you will learn which tunnel connects which exits. A Cat will appear somewhere on the board. The Cat moves two steps at a time and will try to chase and eat the Mouse. The Cat cannot move onto an empty mouse hole or onto a square with cheese. Use this fact to gain valuable tempos! If you are killed by the Cat, take a few moves back and try a different approach. Unsolvable board setups are rare (I have never come across one). And why is the Mouse red? It has been genetically engineered so that the Cat can see it better. The other variants have more cheeses and/or less tunnels. Recommended: SWITCH MOVE ANIMATION OFF! More freeware as well as real puzzles and games at http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz. Updated 08/02/03 minor name change Download Cat & Mouse IV Now!
Game: Catch Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, July 2001 Object: Catch all Pacmen. (3 variants) First click anywhere on the board to place your Queen. A few Pacmen will appear. Move the Queen to catch them all. The Queen can move orthogonally or diagonally. All Pacmen in her path will be deleted. The other variants the Pacmen appear close to similar existing Pacmen. Background design: Fractal T990920x by Karl Scherer Queen piece design: Fractal R981202m by Karl Scherer More freeware as well as real puzzles and games at http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz. Download Catch Now!
Game: Cave Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, November 2000. Object: Find the way to the cave exit at the top right corner. You fell and became unconscious while you were exploring a cave. You have just woken up. You realize you have lost your memory. You see your torch next to you shining dimly. Grab it and have a look around. From now on, click where you want to go. In some variants, the cave has two levels. In these caves you will find ladders in some places . Click the ladder to enter or exit the upper level of the cave. If the cave has two levels, the number of the level you are at is displayed in the top right corner. The game 'Cave' is based on some of my personal caving adventures into an abandoned 12-level gold mine in New Zealand. Some of the ladders had a vertical drop of 30 to 40 meters. Not recommended for claustrophobic people. For more freeware as well as real puzzles and games see my home page http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz. Updated 12/09/00 one variant added. Download Cave Now!
Game: Cave II Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, April 2002 Object: Find the way to the cave exit. (5 variants) You fell and became unconscious while you were exploring a cave. You have just woken up. You realize you have lost your memory. You see your headlamp next to you shining dimly. You put on your safety helmet and have a look around. Simply click the board where you want to go. In some variants, the cave has two levels. In these caves you will find ladders in some places . Click a ladder to enter or exit the upper level of the cave. If the cave has two levels, the number of the level you are at will be displayed. Good luck! Note that this game uses the sound file of the game 'Cave'. Hence you either use the audio file when Cave is installed or you may copy the Cave audio directory in the directory of Cave II. Graphics: from the clipart collection 'ClickArt' by Broderbund. The game is based on some of my personal caving adventures into an abandoned 12 levels deep gold mine in New Zealand. Some of the ladders had a vertical drop of 30 to 40 meters. Not recommended for claustrophobic people. More freeware as well as real puzzles and games at my homepage http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz. Download Cave II Now!
Game: Cave Critters Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, May 2002 Object: Find all creepy-crawlies. (5 randomized variants) You are an ethymologist (insect expert). You have find ten bugs in this cave. When you see one, just click it to collect in in your specimen box. You win if your collecting box is full. In some variants, the cave has two levels. In these caves you will find ladders in some places . Click a ladder to enter or exit the upper level of the cave. If the cave has two levels, the number of the level you are at will be displayed. Note that this game used the sound file of the game 'Cave'. Hence you either the audio file of Cave installed or you may copy the Cave audio directory in the directory of Cave Critters. Recommended: Switch the move-list off so you cannot cheat! Graphics: from the clipart collection 'ClickArt' by Broderbund. More freeware as well as real puzzles and games at my homepage http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz. Download Cave Critters Now!
Game: Chess-Maze Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, September 2000 Object: Turn all black pieces into white pieces. Click anywhere on the board to start the game. This will automatically create a randomized starting position. Now click any piece. It will turn to white piece. The white pieces are your pieces. The type of piece you clicked determines where you can go next. You cannot step on a white piece. You win if there are no black pieces left. There are ten variants with a randomized board (and hence virtually unlimited numbers of variations) as well as four 'problems', i.e. given boards that you have to solve. (Of course you can also design your own board with right mouse-clicks). When you have solved a maze, try the same maze starting from another square. Recommended: Turn Move-Animation off. More freeware as well as real puzzles and games at my home page: karl.kiwi.gen.nz. Download Chess-Maze Now!
