IQ Puzzler Pro

01Discover the game

IQ Puzzler Pro is an individual puzzle. You have to house twelve rooms in a limited space. The box offers three ways to reflect: two flat trays and a three-dimensional pyramid. The challenge gives a starting position; you have to complete the rest.

02Equipment

Use the SmartGames IQ Puzzler Pro SG 455 box: a box with lid and integrated trays, twelve coloured pieces made of small connected balls, and a booklet of 120 challenges with their solutions. No die or card is used. You need the real pieces: this tutorial explains how they work, but does not replace their shapes or the drawings of challenges.

03The goal

For the chosen challenge, fill all the locations with the twelve pieces. Respects exactly the starting parts. In the pyramid mode, build a complete pyramid of five floors, without hole or ball in excess.

04Choosing and preparing a challenge

Opens the booklet to a challenge of the desired level. Identifies the board represented: the inner rectangle, the diagonal tray on the back, or the base of the pyramid. The drawings do not all use the same view; orient the box as the image before placing a piece.

Place the starting pieces one by one, with the same color, shape and orientation as on the drawing. Compare the neighbouring holes and edges: a piece of the right color but turned differently is not necessarily well placed. Leave the other pieces next door. For a challenge without an indicated part, the tray starts empty.

Do not look at the solution before your first try. In the three-dimensional challenges, also check the height of each ball already given: a view of the top does not mean that all the balls rest on the ground.

05Find the solution

Choose a free room and try to place it in the remaining spaces. In flat mode, all its balls must enter hollows on the tray. You can turn or turn a room if its shape allows, but you can neither twist it nor separate its balls. Two pieces cannot occupy the same hole; no ball must pass from the tray.

The parts provided by the challenge are fixed. You can remove or move your own tests as often as you want. If a part does not fit naturally, do not press strength: its orientation or location is bad.

In pyramid mode, the rooms fit into space. Some go up on several floors. Observe the balls that carry the next floor and the hollows where a ball can be housed. The base contains 25 positions; the following floors contain 16, 9, 4 and 1, i.e. 55 balls in total. A properly placed room must not leave a hole inaccessible under it.

There is no order imposed for the remaining parts. A failed trial is not a penalty: remove the added parts and look for another combination. To avoid turning around in circles, changes a specific choice rather than moving everything for no reason.

06An example of reasoning

There is still a small area in a corner and a long area in the center. Before filling the center, look at which rooms can enter the corner. If only one fits, reserve it for this location. Otherwise, you could use this room in the center and discover that no other one is closing the corner.

Enlarge ↗

This diagram shows the structure of the pyramid, not the solution of a challenge of the booklet. To solve a real challenge, follow its colors and its starting positions. When you think you have finished, count your pieces: the twelve must be in construction.

07Success and Check

You succeed if all the pieces are placed, if all the locations are filled and if the starting data have not changed. Then consult the corresponding solution in the booklet and compare the placements. Challenges are designed with a unique solution, taking into account the given positions.

There is no official score or definitive defeat. You can start again, choose a more accessible challenge or take a break. If you want to measure your time, it's a personal challenge: the game doesn't make you go fast.

08Frequent errors

Do not confuse the two flat trays. Do not move a piece imposed to arrange a trial. Remember that in pyramid a room can cross several floors. An almost filled tray is not a solution if there remains a ball outside or a cavity impossible to reach.

09Start well

Starts with the most accessible challenges of the booklet. Observes the silhouette of the pieces rather than their only color. First check the corners, narrow passages and small isolated areas. When you block, remove only the last added pieces to understand which choice has closed a possibility.