Tag Archives: Pop culture

ACPT and New Puzzle Sets: A Perfect Crossword Pairing!

Posted on by
Reply

acptlogo

The 40th edition of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament is this weekend!

Puzzlers from all over are sharpening their pencils and their wits as they gear up for what is affectionately known as the Nerd Olympics, and we here at PuzzleNation wish all of the competitors the best of luck!

acpt72016

Here’s hoping Puzzle #5 isn’t as diabolical as it has been in previous years!

And since we’re on the subject of crosswords, we’re happy to announce the latest additions to our lineup of terrific puzzle sets for the Penny Dell Crosswords App!

20value

For prolific puzzlers and savvy solvers alike, we’ve got a puzzle bundle tailor-made for you. Collection 20 offers 150 easy, medium, and hard puzzles designed to challenge and satisfy any crossword enthusiast!

With bundles of puzzles organized by difficulty, no matter what your skill level, there’s something here for you!

20emh

You can’t go wrong with these awesome deals! PuzzleNation brings you the best puzzle-solving experience available, with topnotch puzzles right in your pocket, ready to go at a moment’s notice! That’s the PuzzleNation guarantee.

Happy solving, everyone! And stay tuned! Next week, we’ll have more terrific puzzle sets for your enjoyment! The April Deluxe editions are coming soon!

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date on everything PuzzleNation!

You can also share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and explore the always-expanding library of PuzzleNation apps and games on our website!

Birds have a monopoly on Monopoly!

Posted on by
Reply

monopoly

The folks at Monopoly are constantly trying new things in order to stay relevant in today’s ever-evolving game market.

When they celebrated Monopoly’s 80th anniversary in 2015, some of the games were sent out with real money instead of Monopoly money, which is a fantastic idea to promote the game.

In 2013, though, they tried something different, offering a more permanent change. They replaced the token of the iron with a token of a cat. Hazel the Cat. I was less enthused with this change.

But, hey, it’s just one token. No big loss. You’ve still got Scottie the dog, the thimble, the race car, the boot, the battleship, the wheelbarrow, and the top hat.

zr3dxm4wrz9r0cjlmmpk

[Image courtesy of Gizmodo.]

Well, that’s no longer the case.

Back in January, Hasbro launched an Internet poll to determine a new lineup of tokens for editions of the game going forward. You could vote to keep the current lineup, or you could select nominees from a list of dozens of possible replacements.

Those potential replacements included a goldfish, a trumpet, a telephone, a monster truck, a life preserver, a beach ball, a set of cufflinks, a bulky old cellphone, a bunny slipper, and several emoji faces.

Hasbro announced the results of their poll, and several of the original tokens didn’t make the cut.

bn-sn614_0317th_j_20170317191408

[Image courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.]

That’s right. Not only did Hazel the Cat stick around — ugh! — but the boot, the wheelbarrow, and the thimble are gone.

They’ve been replaced with a rubber duck, a penguin, and a Tyrannosaurus rex.

Now, let’s be fair. A T-rex token is awesome. I can get behind that. But a rubber duck and a penguin? Were all the voters really really into Batman Returns or something? (As they pointed out on Gizmodo, all of the winners are weird birds.)

Granted, I for one am grateful that none of the stupid emoji characters — like the crying-laughing face or the smooch face — made it into the game.

But to see the thimble go hurts. I conducted an informal poll among my fellow game fans and puzzlers, and the thimble and Scottie the dog were far and away the most popular.

Oh well. At least now there’s the option for a rule about a T-rex stomping someone’s house and causing property damage. That would be one heck of a Chance card.

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date on everything PuzzleNation!

You can also share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and explore the always-expanding library of PuzzleNation apps and games on our website!

So Many Puzzle Brands, So Little Timex!

Posted on by
Reply

After a few months off to rest up and recharge our punny brains, on Monday we were happy to announce the return of our monthly Puzzle Hashtag Game!

And today, I’m posting the results of our #PennyDellPuzzlyBrands hashtag game!

You may be familiar with the board game Schmovie, hashtag games on Twitter, or @midnight’s Hashtag Wars segment on Comedy Central.

For over a year now, we’ve been collaborating on puzzle-themed hashtag games with our pals at Penny Dell Puzzles, and this month’s hook was #PennyDellPuzzlyBrands, mashing up Penny Dell puzzles and products, companies, and slogans!

Examples include Pep-say that again, Dorito the Nines, and Campbell’s Alphabet Soup!

So, without further ado, check out what the puzzlers at PuzzleNation and Penny Dell Puzzles came up with!

Puzzly Food Brands!

Countdown Chocula

Lucky Star Charms

Observation Post Raisin Bran

Alpha-Bits and Reese’s Pieces

Cadburied Treasure

Zigzag nut candy bar

KenKen mints

HubbaBubbacaps

Crypto-Teddy-Grahams

Teddy-Graham-less Crostic

Keebler Anagram Crackers

Slide-O-Gram Crackers

PhasaGram Crackers

Nabisco Ana-graham Crackers

Nabiscrosswords

Missing Domino Sugar

Swiss Miss-ing Trios / Swiss Missing Vowels

Coca-Bowl-a Game

Discocacola

Tropicancellations

Letter Powerade

Capri Sunrays

Red Bulls-Eye Spiral

CryptoSeagrams

Orville Redenblockbuilders

Pop Secret Words

Common Combos

Wise Potato Chips

Ritz Crackers

Fancy Five Guys

Chick-fil-A to Z Maze

Trade-Off Joe’s

Missing Dominoes Pizza

Domino Theory Pizza

Extra Cheesy Domino Theory Breadsticks

Goo Goo Crozzle

Kibbles ‘n Bits ‘n Pieces

Fancy Fives Feast

Flower Power Bars

King Arthur Flour Power

Treasure Hunt’s Tomato Sauce

Double Up Oreos

Funyunscramblers

Triscuit Figures

Starkist Words

Blue Diamond Ring Almonds

Hormel Word Spiral Ham

Spammers

PollyO Pulling Strings Cheese

Maze-ola corn oil

Mrs. Dash-It

Vlasic Variety Pickles Plus Crosswords

Eggland’s Best Logic Problems

Puzzly Brands!

Build-A-Pyramid Workshop

Nikeywords

FedHexagams

Missing Chevroletters / Chevrolet Word Trailsblazer

Dixon Pencil Pusher / Ticonderoga Pencil Pusher

Pop-O-Matic Double Trouble

Dell Crazy Glue Clues

Stay-free Maxi-Points (with wings!)

Ty-D-Bol Game

New York Stock Exchange Boards

Kiss My Face to Face

VOSS Arithmetic

Pur-In A Word

Silly-Putty-bility

Anderson Window Boxes

InstaQuotagrams

Hot Wheels

SpellBounty

Right of Way-Gard

Double Uptree

Around the Blockbuster

Bob the Blockbuilders

Bubbles Wrap

FrisBe-fore and After

Photoshop Finish

All Four One-sies

Matchbox-Up / Mathbox cars

Zip-lock It

Tylenol for One

Missing Listerine

Ginsudoku

Anagram Magic Bullet

Calvin Klein ‘Em Up

Tidy Categories

Rolex the Dice

Armor All Fours

Lorealpha Quotes

Aquaphor-Fit

Whirlpool Words

Thom McAnagrams

Pinecone-sol

Quick & Febreze-y Crosswords

Take-a-Breakstone’s Word Seeks

Puzzly Brands and Slogans!

HeinekenKen – You can finish the beer or the puzzle, but not both.

Just SuDoKu It. – Pennikey (after the merger, obviously)

A Diamond Rings is Forever…or until you finish the puzzle – DeBeers

Imagination at Framework – General Electric

Because you’re Wordsworth it. – L’oreal

All the News That’s Four-Fit to Print – NY Times

Good to the Last Letterdrop – Maxwell House

Connecting Poetic People – Nokia

A DeBeer’s Diamond Mine…Where A Penny Puzzle is Forever.

Bounty paper towels jingle: “When puzzle spills are at their worst, Bounty is at it’s best – Bounty the quicker Picker-Upper!”

Target’s Bull Terrier puzzle mascot “Bull’s-Eye Spiral”

Have you come up with any Penny Dell Puzzly Brands entries of your own? Let us know! We’d love to see them!

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date on everything PuzzleNation!

You can also share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and explore the always-expanding library of PuzzleNation apps and games on our website!

PuzzleNation Product Review: Slapzi

Posted on by
12

slapzi

[Note: I received a free copy of this game in exchange for a fair, unbiased review. Due diligence, full disclosure, and all that.]

One of my favorite games that we featured in our New York Toy Fair posts was the dice game Tenzi. The mix of strategy, luck, and quick reaction times made for a perfect storm of chaotic fun.

So, when I found out that the team behind Tenzi also had a card game, Slapzi, I figured it was worth a look.

slapzi1

Slapzi’s concept is simple. There are two kinds of cards: picture cards and clue cards.

You are dealt five picture cards, each one bearing a picture of an object on the front and a picture of a different object on the back. Your goal is get rid of the five cards in your hand.

Each turn, a clue card is flipped over, revealing a quality of certain objects (“Not sold in a hardware store”) or a quality of certain objects’ names (“Two of the same letter together”).

You need to quickly look at your picture cards and determine which one fits the clue card. The first player to slap a picture card down over the clue card successfully gets rid of that card.

slapzi3

The sheer variety of objects on the picture cards — ranging from “hammock” and “teddy bear” to “eagle” and “sandwich” — means that there are plenty of chances to match the clue cards as they come up, but only if your reflexes are fast enough.

The creators also included plenty of variant rules, including ones where you match two clue cards at the same time, ones where you avoid matching the clue cards, and even one where every clue card is in play at the same time, with all players racing to empty their hands first.

Naturally, we couldn’t resist putting a slightly puzzlier spin on the game by playing with only one side of each picture card available to players. This added a level of strategy to the game, since you had to decide which objects might prove most beneficial.

After all, if you don’t have a living creature in your hand, you could find yourself out of luck with many of the clue cards. This restrictive gameplay introduced a more tactical element than some of the other rule variants.

slapzi2

That being said, every version of the game that we tried was a lot of fun. The rush to slap cards down, the excitement as your hand dwindles, and even the occasional pause where someone tries to justify an odd choice (like “teddy bear” for “thinner than a pizza box” by arguing about teddies who have lost their stuffing) made for great moments and plenty of laughs.

If you’re looking for a quick-reaction card game for all ages with loads of variation for more strategic solvers, Slapzi is an excellent choice.

Slapzi is available on Amazon, at various online retailers like The Good Toy Group, and in stores now.

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date on everything PuzzleNation!

You can also share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and explore the always-expanding library of PuzzleNation apps and games on our website!

Pi Day and Puzzly Foods!

Posted on by
4

pi_statue_in_seattle_perhaps-10272508_std

It’s Pi Day — March 14th, a.k.a. 3.14 — and as one of the nerdiest days of the year, we happily celebrate it here at PuzzleNation.

A friend of the blog asked if we’d be celebrating Pi Day with some apple pi pie, and sent me this video from YouTuber Rosanna Pansino:

That gave me an idea. Why not dedicate an entire blog post to puzzly foods?

Naturally, I have to start with some Rubik’s-inspired foods. It’s blocky style lends itself to foodly imitations, and in previous blog posts, we’ve shown off both Rubik’s fruit salads (like the one above) and Rubik’s cakes.

rubiks-cube-cake

And while we’re talking about cakes, that brings me to another puzzly product that is easily replicated in food form: Tetris.

412tetristruffles_by_anafuji

These cupcakes adorned with Tetris pieces are a perfect puzzly dessert, and a simple way to marry puzzling and food.

bentobox

But if you’re looking for something a bit more challenging and involved, check out this Tetris bento box, crafting Tetrominoes into blocky veggies on a bed of rice for lunchtime enjoyment!

And puzzly foods only get more creative and complicated from here. Let’s talk about bagels.

mobius-bagel-20091210-122319

Yes, there is a way to cut a bagel to leave two interconnected pieces. In fact, there are several ways to cut a bagel allowing for a more mathematical eating experience! It’s the mobius bagel!

geometric-churros-1

But if you’re looking for the puzzliest food I can find, look no further than the Churroduo: two interlocked churro pyramids.

I think this excerpt from a write-up on Geekologie sums up the appeal of the Churroduo nicely:

Still, the best thing about the Churroduo is that you don’t have to feel bad about eating the whole thing, because you only ordered ONE of something, you can’t help that it’s actually like twelve churros stuck together.

geometric-churros-2

Do you have any examples of puzzly foods that I missed? Are you celebrating Pi Day in a puzzly way? Let us know in the comments section below! We’d love to hear from you!

Happy Pi Day, fellow puzzlers and PuzzleNationers!

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date on everything PuzzleNation!

You can also share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and explore the always-expanding library of PuzzleNation apps and games on our website!

“World’s Greatest Billiards Shot” is actually a feat of puzzly engineering!

Posted on by
Reply

I stumbled upon this video recently, and the bombastic headline caught my eye: “World’s greatest billiard shot spanned two floors and nine tables.”

As someone who enjoys pool and trick shots, I clicked on it. But, as it turns out, this isn’t the world’s greatest billiard shot.

It is, however, one heck of a Rube Goldberg machine made out of billiards gear.

A Rube Goldberg machine, for the uninitiated, is a device designed to accomplish a simple task in as many unnecessary, ludicrous steps as possible. The name comes, appropriately enough, from Rube Goldberg, a cartoonist and inventor most famous for his cartoons featuring singularly silly and elaborate machines like the one pictured below.

rubenvent

We’ve posted videos of Rube Goldberg machines in the past, because they’re a perfect example of a mechanical puzzle in action. Only when things happen in a precise order does the machine complete its task.

And they’ve been around long enough that we’re starting to see fun variations on the concept. Beyond simply accomplishing a task, many Rube Goldberg devices tell stories or center around a given theme. (We even featured one that was designed to take weeks to complete!)

This video fits nicely into that grand tradition of overly complicated mechanical devices that accomplish something simple.

So, without further ado, I give you the Allstars Sports Bar Rube Goldberg device:

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date on everything PuzzleNation!

You can also share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and explore the always-expanding library of PuzzleNation apps and games on our website!