Games are a waste of time, right? No, Twitter is a waste of time. But a good game serves a purpose. Many games help you improve your critical thinking and problem solving abilities. By keeping your mind sharp, you’re better able to come up with creative ideas when you need them.

Lately I’ve been playing a game called Bloxorz, and I’ve found it very addictive. Thomas Edison stimulated his imagination by playing word games, but I’d like to think he would have played Bloxorz had it been around. I heard about it from Catherine Lawson, who heard about it from Britney, so apparently it’s female friendly.

The goal is to get the block to fall through the hole at the end of each level. Because your block can only move in certain ways, and because pressing various switches affects the environment, you have to carefully plan each move.

If you get stuck, I’ve found that it helps to work backwards. Think about where the block would have to be right before it falls in the hole. Then think about where it would have to be right before that. By doing this, you’re breaking down the problem into smaller chunks that are easier to solve.

You get a passcode for completing each level, so you can always pick up right where you left off (you know, in case you have any other responsibilities in your life). I’ve included the passcodes below if you don’t want to have to write them down, or if you want to skip around:

Of all the levels, I found 29 by far the hardest. It was the only one I couldn’t figure out in my head. Here’s how I did it. (Spoiler alert!)

There are 3 X switches and 3 O switches. I labeled them like this:

X1: leftmost X switch
X2: middle X switch
X3: rightmost X switch

O1: leftmost O switch
O2: middle O switch
O3: rightmost O switch

Then I touched them all to see what they do. It took many attempts because touching some switches makes it impossible to reach others, but here’s what I eventually found out:

X1: makes 2 squares appear, closes the path to O3
X2: makes 2 squares appear
X3: makes 1 square appear

O1: opens the path to X2, closes the path to O2
O2: opens the path to X1
O3: closes the paths to O1 and X2, opens the path to X3

I figured that the key was to make those 5 squares appear. To do that, you have to touch the switches in the right order so you don’t close the path to anything you haven’t touched yet.

In the beginning, you can only reach O1, O2, and O3. O2 is the only one that doesn’t close any paths, so let’s touch it first.

Now it’s safe to touch O1. It will close the path to O2, but we’ve already been there.

Now there’s a path to X2, which is perfectly safe, and it makes 2 squares appear.

O3 will close the paths to O1 and X2, but we’ve already been there. Now the path to X3 is open.

Touching X3 make another square appear.

Now it’s OK to touch X1 and close the path to O3. Two more squares appear.

And now there’s a path to the exit.

So the order in which to touch all the switches is O2, O1, X2, O3, X3, X1.

So give Bloxorz a try. It’s not often that you get to justify something this fun as being productive. But be warned–it’s highly addictive.

Note: I’m away on vacation right now. I’ll respond to comments when I return.

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