Anaconda

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2D Packing Puzzles come in all shapes and sizes and the design possibilities for these flat brainteasers are almost endless. SmartGames, a Belgium company, makes great puzzle games, and quite colorful I might game. One their best Packing Puzzles comes from the mind of Raf Peeters, who's behind most of their new ideas. From the depths of the Amazon, meet Anaconda, the logic game that offers you 100 fun and challenging puzzles to solve, from beginner to expert.

The design of the puzzle matches very well with its theme with a pale lime-green color. The black used for contrast highlights the color even more so that the contours of the Anaconda can be well distinguished. There are eight pieces, seven of them featuring parts of the Anaconda. All tiles are double sided, but only a few of them have parts of the snake on both sides. The eighth tile is more like a reference, showing a different letter depending on where it's placed, and you use it on all challenges but you may never change its position.

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To start playing, simply select a challenge from one of the five different difficulty levels and place the first pieces on the board as shown. Your task is to make a complete snake with a head and a tail, no matter its size, with the remaining tiles. You must use all pieces even if they aren't used to make the body of the snake. Just place them with their black-only sides facing up.

The first challenges are quite easy with up to four starting pieces plus the single tile, but good to make you acquainted with the puzzle's mechanics. As you progress to harder levels the number of starting pieces diminishes until you get to the 'Wizard' level, where only the single tile is used as a starting point. In this level there are no more references as to how the snake should look like. The goal is just to make a snake with all the remaining seven pieces without moving the starter tile.

The good thing is that all challenges in the final level have multiple solutions, whereas on the other ones only one solution is possible. Still, having no visual references is what makes these last challenges so difficult. A lot of patience and persistence are needed to complete all 100 challenges, which is something I'm still working on...

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Closing Comments:

Anaconda is one of my favorite puzzles from SmartGames. The idea and concept behind it is so original and refreshing that it makes you keep coming back for more. Also, its 100 challenges ensure that you'll have plenty of fun for a while. It's highly addictive and a must-have for Packing Puzzle enthusiasts.

Availability: You can get a copy of the Anaconda puzzle at PuzzlesdeIngenio.com, in Spain. For more SmartGames click here.