Puzzled — A Q-bits Solo Review
See a shape, place a shape, but can you do it blind?
Game Attributes Block
Publisher: MindWare
Designer: Peggy Brown
Initial Year: 2012
Expected Play Time: N/A
Age Range: 8+
Number of Players: Solo
Game Type: Puzzle, Pattern Matching
Unboxing
Theme and What Is It?
Compete against yourself to puzzle out the figure using the cubes and taking on various challenges in their construction. Time yourself, make a pattern from memory, or just build the figure. This is a solo version of the competitive version of Q-BItz.
Initial Impressions
I haven’t played the other version of the game and so didn’t know what to expect. This is a very simple and straightforward learning game with quick setup and play time.
Gameplay Mechanics
Goal
The goal of Q-Bitz Solo is to challenge yourself constructing the different patterns drawn.
Setup
Take out the blocks, board, and figure cards. Shuffle cards and make a deck face down.
Turns
Draw a card from the deck and use the blocks to create the figure.
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Draw a card from the deck, roll the cubes and use what you have to complete the figure. Roll cubes and use them until the figure is complete.
Draw a card, look at it for 10 sec, and recreate the figure from memory; see how well you can do with minimal relooks at the card.
Optional Rules
Time yourself creating the figure, keep score to do better each time.
Roll the cubes and see what your best score is by using the cube results given.
Game Build Quality
The game is made up of cubes, a tray, and cards. The cubes are painted wood of good enough quality to hold up for quite a few game plays. The tray is made of wood, nothing special here. The cards are of decent stock but they don’t need to be anymore than that.
Artistic Direction
The art is more graphic design that depicts the different figures on the cards and how the cubes are painted so they can be used to match them.
Fun Factor
Fun in this game is derived from the challenge of being able to recreate the figures using different “win” conditions to be met when doing so.
Age Range & Weight
The age range is 8+ with minimal weight but complexity is more about an individual’s capabilities. This is more of a learning game and so 8 seems a bit arbitrary as I’m sure younger kids could do this, too.
Conclusions
I was at the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting and found this at Oriental Trading. I like this game as an easy distraction or mental warmup for the day like I do with crossword puzzles. Being a learning game, it is quick, easy to understand, and doesn’t take much to do. It can feel repetitive but there are other sets out there I believe along with other versions from which you could get more figures or ideas on how to make it more challenging.
Theme & What Is It — 3
Initial Impressions — 4
Gameplay Mechanics — 5
Game Build Quality — 3
Artistic Direction — 2
Fun Factor — 4
Age Range & Weight — 2
Conclusions — 3.3
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