Game: Chess-Maze II Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, September 2000 Object: Turn all black pieces into white pieces while clicking on pieces of alternating value (details see below). 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. The range of the pieces is similar to standard pieces. ADDITIONALLY, you can move one square into each direction. This makes the walk easier than the original CHESS-MAZE game, but: The VALUES of the pieces restrict your walk, because they must alternate. For the VALUES we assume that Pawn < Rook < Knight < Bishop < Queen < King. 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. The game Chess Maze II is what I call a 'HIGH-LOW-MAZE'. HIGH-LOW-MAZES are characterized by the fact that with every step the player has to alternate between higher and lower values of some kind. Hence HIGH-LOW-MAZES are a generalization of A-MAZES or AREA-MAZES, where the player has to alternate the relative size of the area he/she has stepped on. (See the Zillions games A-MAZE and A-MAZE II). A quite popular type of HIGH-LOW-MAZE is a setup of large overlapping cardboard sheets, where the task is to change levels with each step. In this case the value that alternates is the relative 'upper' or 'lower' level height. There seem to be very few games around which are HIGH-LOW-MAZES. As with A-MAZES, I challenge all Zillions-programmers to invent a few more. More freeware as well as real puzzles and games at my home page: karl.kiwi.gen.nz. Download Chess-Maze II Now!
Game: Cleanup Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, July 2002 Object: Recreate the original position. (3 variants) Click an empty square to randomize the position. Then click an arrow to reverse the order in a row or file. You win if you can recreate the original position. Variant 2: 6x6 board Variant 3: 8x8 board Please note that there is an alternative piece set available. More freeware as well as real puzzles and games at my homepage http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz. Updated 03/29/03 improved graphics by Keith Carter, alternative piece added Download Cleanup Now!
Game: Cleanup II Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, July 2002 Object: Recreate the original position. (3 variants) Click an empty square to randomize the position. Then click an arrow to reverse the order in a row, file or diagonal. You win if you can recreate the original position. Variant 2: 6x6 board Variant 3: 8x8 board Please note that there is an alternative piece set available. More freeware as well as real puzzles and games at my homepage http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz. Updated 03/29/03 improved graphics by Keith Carter, alternative piece added Download Cleanup II Now!
Game: Cleanup III Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, July 2002 Object: Recreate the original position. (3 variants) Click an empty square to randomize the position. Then click two arrows to swap two rows or two files. The first row (or file) of such a swapped pair will end up in reversed order. You win if you can recreate the original position. Variant 2: 6x6 board Variant 3: 8x8 board Please note that there is an alternative piece set available. More freeware as well as real puzzles and games at my homepage http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz. Updated 03/29/03 improved graphics by Keith Carter, alternative piece added Download Cleanup III Now!
Game: Clingon Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, November 2000. Object: Eliminate all marbles. (7 variants) Click on the board to start the game. A marble will appear at the center and four marbles at the border. Then click on a marble at the border. The marble will move to the center and cling to the existing marble. When four marbles of the same colour cling together in a 2x2 square, these marbles will disappear. The default variant uses five colours. The other variants use more or less marble types and are therefore more or less difficult. More freeware as well as real puzzles and games at my home page http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz. Updated 03/01/03 Graphics improved by Keith Carter Download Clingon Now!
Game: Clingon II Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, November 2000. Object: Eliminate all marbles. (7 variants) Click on the board to start the game. A marble will appear at the center and many marbles at the border. Then click on a marble at the border. The marble will move to the center and cling to the existing marble or it will come to rest at the opposite wall. WHEN THREE MARBLES OF THE SAME COLOUR CLING TOGETHER IN A DIAGONAL, THESE MARBLES WILL DISAPPEAR. The default variant uses three colours. The other variants use more marble types and are therefore more difficult. More freeware as well as real puzzles and games at my home page http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz. Updated 03/01/03 Graphics improved by Keith Carter Download Clingon II Now!
Game: Clingon III Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, November 2000. Object: Eliminate all marbles. (8 variants) Click on the board to start the game. A marble will appear at the center and one at the border. The marble at the border will have a different colour at each move. Click a square orthogonally adjacent to the center marble to place the border marble. All new marbles must be placed orthogonally adjacent to existing ones. Monochrome groups of three or four marbles will disappear if they are in a certain arrangement. The necessary arangement depends on the colour of the marbles. The arangements are shown on the border. The default variant uses three colours. The other variants use more marble types and are therefore more difficult. More freeware as well as real puzzles and games at my home page http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz. Updated 03/01/03 Graphics improved by Keith Carter Download Clingon III Now!
Game: Coin Hexagon Implemented by Karl Scherer, April 2003. Classic coin puzzle. Object : create a hexagon of 6 coins. Coins can only be moved so that they end up touching at least two other coins. Furthermore, a coin can only be moved when it is not hindered to do so by its neighbors (because when using real coins this would move other coins at the same time); hence to be able to move a coin must have at least two free adjacent places next to it. What is the minimum amount of moves you need to solve this puzzle? More freeware as well as real puzzles and games at my homepage http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz. Download Coin Hexagon Now!
Game: Comacube Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, August 2001 Object: Fill the cube with 25 pentacubes. The selection screen offers you a choice of Comacube games. Select a pentacube picture to start the corresponding game. You have to fill a 5x5x5 cube with pentacubes. In the first six games all pentacubes are identical. (But mirror images are allowed). Each pentacube is represented by 5 monochrome tokens. The system will automatically change the colour of the tokens after you have put down 5 tokens. You win if you manage to fill the cube. For further details please consult the game descriptions and the history texts of the various games. More freeware as well as real puzzles and games at my homepage http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz. Updated 08/18/01 added 6 more variants Download Comacube Now!
Game: Crisscross Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, January 2001. Object: Place all 8 strips on the board. First click on the board to start the randomized setup. A set of eight coloured strips will appear. You have to place them on the board, four of them vertically and four of them horizontally. Where the strips cross each other, the colours must match. Each game is solvable! To remove a strip from the board after you have placed it, click the little hand. Recommended: SWITCH MOVE LIST OFF, so that you cannot cheat. For more freeware as well as real puzzles and games see my home page http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz. Download Crisscross Now!
Game: Crossword Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, October 2000 Object: Fill the crossword with the given letters. Click anywhere on the board to start the game. This will randomly fill the crossword puzzle with letters. Now shuffle the letters to create proper words. All intersecting words must make sense, as in a regular crossword puzzle. Zillions does not check for correctness; you are the judge. You win if you have used up all letters to create proper words. There are some spare places at the right border for intermediate storage of letters. More freeware as well as real puzzles and games at http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz. Updated 11/04/00 Fixed opening dummy move bug. Download Crossword Now!
Game: Cube Tube Maze design and graphics © 1999 Andrea Gilbert. Rules file by W. D. Troyka, September 2001. Navigate your marble through the tubing to the arrow at the bottom. The marble cannot jump the gaps in tubes. This is one of Andrea Gilbert's many extraordinary mazes that can be found at www.clickmazes.com. Download Cube Tube Now!
Game: Cubewalk Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, August 2001 Object: Walk through each square in a 5x5x5 cube. (2 variants) Start by dropping your first token on any empty square. From then on place the next piece on a position orthogonally adjacent to your previous Token in such a way that you change direction in each step. The last 30 Tokens you put down are specially colored. This makes it easier for you to see where you have gone in recent moves. The newest Token is always coloured white, the previous light yellow and so on. You win if you manage to cover all 125 positions. Once you managed to win, start on a different position next time. Variant 2 is much easier: here you walk through a 4x4x4 cube. Cubewalk is based on a real puzzle I designed in 1986, consisting of 125 little cubes all connected by an elastic string which turned 90 degrees inside each cube. I produced only a dozen or so by hand. Long before 1985 I once had analyzed which boxes a x b x c in general allow such a zigzag walk which covers all cubicles of the box. (Note that the 3x3x3 cube does NOT have a solution!) The article covering my results was titled 'Which blocks are snakes?'. I sent it to JORM (Journal of Recreational Mathematics), but I don't know whether it was ever published. Thanks to Dan Troyka for allowing me to derive my board design from his Superstring board. More freeware as well as real puzzles and games at my homepage http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz. Download Cubewalk Now!
Game: Cubewalk II Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, July 2002 Object: Walk through each position in a 5x5x5 cube. (2 variants) Start by dropping your first Token on any empty square. From then on place the next Token on a position diagonally adjacent to your previous Token. (There are 20 such adjacent positions in general; if the Tokence where small cubes, then next cube would touch the previous one at an edge or a corner only). The last 30 Tokens you put down are specially colored. This makes it easier for you to see where you have gone in recent moves. The newest Token is always coloured white, the previous light yellow and so on. You win if you manage to cover all 125 positions. Once you managed to win, start on a different position next time. Variant 2 is much easier: here you walk through a 4x4x4 cube. More freeware as well as real puzzles and games at my homepage http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz. Download Cubewalk II Now!
Game: Decomino Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, November 2001 Object: Tile the square board with copies of the given shapes. (7 variants) The tiles on the right side of the 40x40 board are rotated and/or enlarged versions of a decomino, i.e. a polysquare made from 10 squares. Click one of the images to select a tile. Click the board to place it. The 'sweet spot' of the tile is always located at the end of the 'handle'. You win if you can cover the board with these tiles without gaps or overlaps. Variants 2,3,4,5,6 : cover the given white area without gaps or overlaps. Variants 3 and 4 show the same shape to be filled. However, in variant 3 you must tile the given area using ony ONE size of tiles (either only the large ones or only the small ones). In variant 4 you must tile the given area using BOTH sizes of tiles. The puzzle in variant 1 is taken from my book 'A Puzzling Journey To The Reptiles And Related Animals', 1986, one of three books on geometrical problems and puzzles I have privately published. For details see my web page. Variant 1 demonstrates the 'rectifiability' of this special decomino. It also shows that this decomino is an irregular rep-tile or 'irreptile', which means that it tiles a larger version if itself, if we allow the tiles to have more than one size. Shapes of this type are the central topic of the book. More freeware as well as real puzzles and games at my homepage http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz. Updated 11/17/01 added 6 variants Download Decomino Now!
Game: Digirot Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, February 2001 Object: Recreate the original setup. (four randomized variants) At the start you see the numbers 1 to 16. Click the board to allow Zillions to randomize the image. Only the four centre squares are sensitive for input. When you click one of them , the eight surrounding numbers will be cycled clockwise by 90 degrees at a time. (Each puzzle piece always stays with the correct side pointing up, though). In variant 2 this cycling is 45 degrees at a time. Variants 3 and 4 are like variants 1 and 2, but they display four coloured stripes instead of a numbers. and are therefore somewhat easier to play. More freeware as well as real puzzles and games at my homepage http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz. Download Digirot Now!
Game: Domina II Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, September 2001 Object: Cover all target squares. (30 variants) First click anywhere on the board to start a random setup. Zillions will drop eight Dominoes. Click a Domino to rotate it ninety degrees clockwise. If this is not possible because the target square is not empty, then the Domino will rotate 180 degrees. If this is not possible because the target square is not empty, then the Domino will rotate 270 degrees. After the rotation the Domino will slide as far as empty squares are available. You win if you have covered all target squares. The target squares are marked with orange dots. The other variants have other target squares and/or a different number of dominoes. Invent your own variants! I am sure the game allows several hundred more challenges... More freeware as well as real puzzles and games at my homepage http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz. Updated 09/15/01 corrected code. Download Domina II Now!
Game: Domina III Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, September 2001 Object: Cover all target squares. (18 variants) First click anywhere on the board to start a random setup. Zillions will drop eight Dominoes. Click a Domino to rotate it ninety degrees clockwise. If this is not possible because the target square is not empty, then the Domino will rotate 180 degrees. If this is not possible because the target square is not empty, then the Domino will rotate 270 degrees. After the rotation the Domino will slide as far as empty squares are available. If after its rotation and sliding the clicked Domino has another Domino 'ahead' of him, then this second Domino also will (this time automatically) be rotated and slid. After this it's your turn again. Note that this rule does not exist in the games 'Domina' and 'Domina II'. You win if you have covered all target squares. The target squares are marked with orange dots. The other variants have other target squares. Of course you can also invent your own variants by rearranging the orange target dots! More freeware as well as real puzzles and games at my homepage http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz. Updated 07/13/02 3 variants added Download Domina III Now!
Game: Domina 4 Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, September 2001 Object: Eliminate all Dominoes (except one). (20 fixed variants, 7 randomized variants) You may only click Dominoes that can 'capture' another Domino (see below)! Click a Domino to rotate it ninety degrees clockwise. If this is not possible because the target square is not empty, then the Domino will rotate 180 degrees. If this is not possible because the target square is not empty, then the Domino will rotate 270 degrees. After the rotation the Domino will slide as far as empty squares are available. If after its rotation and sliding the clicked Domino has another Domino 'ahead' of him, then this second Domino will be captured. The tricky bit is that you can only click a Domino if such a capture of a second Domino is possible! You win when only one Domino is left on the board. The other variants 2, ..., 20 have other starting positions. Each variant needs only seven moves to solve it, but each is surprisingly difficult! Variant 21 - 27 : Click the board to create a random setup. Depending on the variant, there will be 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, or 20 Dominoes. Eliminate as many Dominoes as possible. (To check how many can be deleted you may let the computer do the task once as a control run). Thus you can create hundreds more problems of this type. (All 20 fixed variants in this game have been created this way). More freeware as well as real puzzles and games at my homepage http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz. Download Domina 4 Now!
Game: Domina 5 Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, July 2002 Object: Cover all target squares. (19 variants) First click anywhere on the board to start a random setup. Zillions will drop eight Dominoes. Click a Domino to rotate it ninety degrees clockwise. If this is not possible because the target square is not empty, then the Domino will rotate 180 degrees. If this is not possible because the target square is not empty, then the Domino will rotate 270 degrees. After the rotation the Domino will slide as far as empty squares are available. If at the end of this slide it 'hits' another domino, then this domino will also turn and slide, and so on until no domino is hit after a slide. Note that such chain reactions make this game different from the very similar game 'Domina 3'. You win if you have covered all target squares. The target squares are marked with orange dots. The other variants have other target squares and/or a different number of dominoes. Note: Variants 16, 17, 18, 19 have not been solved by the author. Can you do it? Invent your own variants! I am sure the game allows several hundred more challenges... More freeware as well as real puzzles and games at my homepage http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz. Download Domina 5 Now!
