Numbers Labyrinth (Zahlenlabyrinth)

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Logika Spiele is a German company that specializes in original puzzle designs usually created with bright colorful plastic. I have a couple of their puzzles and I really liked to play with them. The first puzzle I played with was the Cuboid in Cuboid (reviewed here), and this time I decided to try the Numbers Labyrinth, which is a rather nice packing puzzle.

The puzzle comes in a nice handy cover very convenient to take it on your travels, sliding into place rather easily and this way protecting the pieces from falling. The frame is black and the pieces are pale green. It may not have been the best choice for colors, but I think the overall design is quite good and practical. It measures about 10.5cm in diameter (4.1"). The packaging is mostly in German, but fortunately you don't need to understand much to know what you're supposed to do.

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In general, packing puzzles require you to place a particular number of pieces inside a frame and leaving no empty spaces. However, that's exactly what you will be doing with the Numbers Labyrinth: In the frame there's a grid with all the numbers in sequential order from 1 through 36. There are 7 pentomino pieces, and when they're packed, all but one of the 36 numbers are covered. The goal is to pick any number and solve the puzzle so that the number you chose is the only one left showing.

The pieces are double-side, so you can flip them over however you prefer. After you pick a number, I must say it, it gets quite challenging to solve it. I was taking an average of 10 minutes per puzzle, which after a while it can get a little frustrating. With the exception of maybe a couple of the puzzles, I always found my solution to be exactly the same as the one provided. That means most puzzles have only one or two solutions at most, and of course, excluding rotations, because that meant another number would be shown. By this logic, you can have different numbers with the same solution, only with a different rotation. This is true for the corner numbers 1, 6, 31 and 36, for example, as the same solution is shared by all four of them.

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Closing Comments:

The Numbers Labyrinth is a really nice puzzle, considering all the different challenges you can solve with it. It's ideal to have as a travel companion and, despite it being a little challenging sometimes, it's quite fun to play with.

Availability: You can find the Numbers Labyrinth at PuzzleMaster for just $8 USD. Quite a bargain for all the puzzling you'll be getting.