Puzzle Games

No matter how clever the graphics or playful the imagery, a good, interactive puzzle is an intellectual challenge, requiring observation, experimentation and deductive reasoning. I just thought I'd say that in case you needed to justify the fun you'll be having solving the puzzles on the "Joker-Games website.

There are only a few puzzle games on this site, but they're good ones - unique, surprising, and not as easy as you might be led to believe (like any good puzzle). The two 3-D puzzles are my favorites - I guess because they're so, well, dimensional.

In the Maze of Rah (the game in the illustration), you use your cursor arrows to move a mummy ("Rah") from tile to tile. When the mummy steps off a tile, that tile flips over most deliciously. There's a path on the opposite side, which, of course (or is it "of curse"), goes the wrong direction. There are 100 different levels (though you'll need to pay $2.95 for a 30-day password to get beyond level 31). When you find yourself trapped (which, believe me, you will), you can just reselect that level again, or try any other of the available levels. Each level offers another virtual gizmo (a transporter, a flip-the-whole-board-over-and-walk-upside-down portal, rectangular tiles, impenetrable mini-pyramids...

The puzzles are each designed with care and intelligence. The "pay-to-play" model is fair and reasonable, and one of the best methods I've yet seen for funding an Internet site. Though Rah is my favorite, by far, the other puzzles are different enough to be well worth exploring. All in all, I say "Rah" for the Maze of Rah, and for this whole site.