Puzzle games without levels?

By Jalicos on December 20, 2008 6:50:45 PM from

I'm doing some late Christmas shopping, and I'm trying to find a gift for my father, who is really hard to buy for. I have one good lead, however. He likes to play Freecell and this shareware tile-matching Mahjong game, but he recently mentioned that he's getting a little bored of playing just those two games all the time. I had pointed him towards a couple of flash-based puzzle games that I was sure he'd like, but he came back with an odd complaint: He didn't like them because they have levels.

He doesn't want something that keeps giving him a "next" part to do; he wants to sit down, play for half an hour or so, and finish the game. He can do that with Freecell and Mahjong because there's just the one level. Maybe there's a different tile layout or game mode, but there's no progression. Play it, finish it, load up a new one.

So my question is, are there any good puzzle games out there that don't rely on having hundreds of levels to provide the replayability? I looked around on Impulse but didn't find anything.

+13 Karma | 11 Replies

Bejewled (PC)? Lumines (PSPS, PS2)?

There are many different versions of solitaire (Spider Solitaire, Golf, etc.)

http://www.bigfishgames.com/download-games/genres/5/card-board.html?afcode=af3acbd4f2e8&src=af3acbd4f2e8&gclid=CMOY7qjc0ZcCFYwH3godOy8ADA

They have an interesting version of Golf that sort of plays like golf, and I think you can save after each hole.

Solsuite has over 400 versions of solitaire for $20. www.solsuite.com

I found a bunch of free puzzle games while looking for games for my mobile device.

If doesn't mind something really challenging and doesn't mind exploring (or getting lost in, heh) virtual worlds, there's always the Myst series of games.

It's rather counter to what you are asking . . but World of Goo has been a huge hit with both my kids and my parents. It's very intuitive and a tone of fun. Take a look. YOu can even buy it through Impulse adn choose to give it as a gift and your dad can install it wherever and however he wants.

I recommend the Hoyle games. I just picked up Hoyle Puzzle & Board games from Encore. It use to be a Sierra game but I guess Encore picked them up.

http://www.encoreusa.com/product.aspx?upc=705381165200

I bought mine at Wal-Mart. I already have it wrapped up but seems to me it also included some other big puzzle game in the vein of Hodge Podge. (2 player adventure puzzle game.)

My vote goes to Peggle.

I ended up going with Solsuite, even though I was originally looking for something different. He really likes it, though, so it all worked out well. Thanks, everyone!

Peggle has levels, and some of them are hard to say the least, but the fun is there, and very addictive.

You know there is one game that seems to be loved by a lot of people, even though it has levels, and that is Puzzle Quest. There is a demo available that gives a good taste of teh game. It tops out at level 6 I believe.

Another solitaire collection to try is BVS Solitaire Collection. It looks especially nice on large displays.

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Puzzle games without levels?