Matthew BaileyToday I’m going to talk about a really quick game called Puzzle Quick from HABA. This is one of HABA’s small box games, which are generally really quick and simple – and this one isn’t really any different. But Henry particularly liked this one, and as Henry doesn’t often get a mention on here, I thought we’d review it.
The idea of the game is simple. Inside the box are a number of different decks, each with a different puzzle on it. These are really simple puzzles where you have to line up seven cards in a row to complete the scene – all of which are water-based. There’s also a “super puzzle” where you line up all of the cards in one row.
Literally, the whole point of the game is to shuffle the pack of cards and see who can do their puzzle quickest. That’s literally it. It’s quick – but actually, for the sort of game this is (the kind of thing you’d shove in a handbag and take to a restaurant), it works really well. The game itself takes just a few minutes. You can do all four puzzles if you want, which can stretch it out a little bit, and the puzzles are the perfect level of “not memorable” – by which I mean, if you go back to this in a month or two, you’re not going to easily remember where everything goes. There’s a lot going on in the puzzles, but they’re not quite memorable – and that’s a good thing. Just trust me and go with it.
Is this going to shatter any expectations? Well, no. Is it going to win awards? Also no. But is it a great game that you can normally pick up for a few pounds (we got it on sale in TK Maxx for about three quid), and something decent to quickly do with the family while sitting in a restaurant? Yeah – it does pretty well at that.
*Yes, if specifically wanting to use it as a quick game while waiting somewhere.
