Puzzle Games

Part 1 of 2

This Puzzle Games lesson, part 1 includes an introduction and lists the various puzzle types.
There are 2 lists at the end of this lesson for the 5 most popular puzzle games and 5 most popular word games.
Part 2 identifies and describes the popular puzzle games online and off. These lessons are part of the Learn Skill Games Program.

Introduction
Puzzle games are games involving some type of complex problem that requires a skillful solution.  Solutions to these games are derived from the skill of the individual attempting to solve the challenge set before him or her. 
They come in a variety of forms, shapes, and sizes, and many individuals like them because they are so challenging and require skill.  These games demand the use of skills to include logic and inductive reasoning.  They appeal to people that appreciate the need to find innovative ways for solving a problem, and they also appeal to people that appreciate the use of reasoning abilities. 
Puzzles offer hours of entertainment, and people have been playing them for centuries.

John Spilsbury made one of the very first jigsaw puzzles in the early 1760s that was made of a map placed onto a piece of wood. 
This map was then cut up into small individual pieces so that it could be taken apart and put back together. This particular puzzle was originally created as an educational device, but later caught on as an entertaining pastime.  Today jigsaw puzzles are enjoyed worldwide and there are now three-dimensional puzzles as well.
Puzzles are all over the place if one merely looks around.  Crossword puzzles are available in TV guides, newspapers, magazines and teachers use crossword puzzles as educational devices in schools. 
Word games have become intensely popular and serve to enhance a players’ vocabulary. 
Thanks to the Internet, many popular puzzles, commonly enjoyed at home are now available online. More about your online choices can be found in part 2.

Puzzle Variety
There are many different puzzles that people can enjoy.  In addition to jigsaw puzzles and Crosswords, players appreciate a range of hand-on puzzles as well as ones that challenge the mind.

Combination Puzzles: These types are also commonly referred to as sequential puzzles and contain a number of different pieces that can be moved about so that they can be grouped in specific groups.  Generally, the goal of the solver is to formulate specified combos with the movable pieces offered.  One example is the ever-popular Rubik’s cube.

Construction Puzzles: These types allow the solver to take particular pieces in order to build or construct a specified outcome.  Mechanical, tiling, and stick puzzles all fall under the umbrella category of construction puzzles.

Disentanglement Puzzles: The idea behind disentanglement puzzles is for a solver to take two or more entangled pieces of the puzzle and separate them.  These also offer hours of entertainment, in some instances, when it comes to reassembling the puzzles in question.

Folding Puzzles: Folding puzzles involve the act of the solver taking a piece of paper and folding it a specific way so that a specific image appears in a predefined place.

Lock Puzzles: Lock puzzles are challenges that involve the discovery of secret, unlocking maneuvers in order to appropriately solve it.

Logic Puzzles: One could argue that, in some sense, all puzzles are logic games.  Nevertheless, the term refers to puzzles that require some type of mathematical deduction in order to be solved.

Mechanical Puzzles: Since the 20th century, these have become popular and consist of pieces that are interlinked and movable. 
They require a solution that is delivered through the act of discovering a specific pattern. 

Gambling Teachers, Learn Skill Games Program created their own lists of the 5 most popular puzzle games along with the 5 more popular word games.

Popular Puzzle Games
1. Chuzzles (online)
2. Bejeweled (online)
3. Sudoku (online and off)
4. Rubik's Cube
5. Deal or No Deal

Popular Word Games
1. Crosswords
2. Wheel of Fortune (online)
3. Scrabble
4. Chicktionary (online)
5. Boggle

Puzzle Games is followed by Part 2 – Popular Puzzles online and off
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