Great but one issue
Mon Dec 19 2022 BrethraeusLook I highly enjoy this game. As a disabled combat veteran it helps me to focus on something other than the pain and the PTSD from combat. I even paid to remove the ads it was so good. However, recently they added this one feature that has started to make me not want to come back as often, and I’m assuming it’s a bandwagon thing but it’s one of those “let me show you a percentage of people who only made it passed this puzzle cause they are better than you are” sort of thing at the beginning of each puzzle, even when you have to restart the puzzle. This function…. And this function alone…. drives my anger scale up and over the boiling point beyond reason and I hate being compared to others. Especially when it comes to my intelligence. So as a paid customer and a long time fan of the game, I’m not asking you get rid of the feature, I’m sure there is some Masochist out there who enjoys the challenge but could you add in a setting under the cog wheel for the rest of us who don’t want to see that garbage? Even if it’s just for paid customers like myself? It’s just a small feature. A small on/off switch. Nothing more. Please and thank you!
I miss the old game
Sat May 04 2024 ncem2013I've been playing Blockudoku (amongst other games by the same developer, but this one has been my favorite) for a few years now. I love puzzle games and I love that this one is so simple, I have ADHD and it helps keep me focused when need to listen to something. In a somewhat recent update (within the last few months) they started adding stuff to the daily puzzles. Now instead of reaching the target score, you have to do stuff like clear all the bubbles, or the flowers, or collect x amount of colored shapes. I don't like it as much now. I expected it to just be part of a spring holiday event, but it's still here. I played all of the daily puzzles for the last 2+ years until they started adding this. I haven't played in over 2 months now. I understand why some users would like the change, but I do not. I just want to get to a simple target score. Some of those were difficult enough as is, without the use of extra objectives, and I loved it. I miss it very much. I find the endless mode too boring for my ADHD, but the bubbles and stuff are too much.
To the devs: Maybe you could keep these as part of the seasonal sets of challenges (like right now there's one up for Mother's day). You could swap the bubbles and bushes out with stuff depending on what season or holiday it is. Change it to snowballs for winter or something. That way players still get new stuff added regularly, and simple players like me can still enjoy a new daily challenge.
No longer accessible
Mon Mar 11 2024 NeurodivergentI used to love the daily challenges. It was visually accessible. Then they changed over to bushes and gems. There’s is no way to keep track of progress, so you have no idea if you are going to be playing for 5 minutes or 50 minutes trying to beat this thing. When you clear a bush, suddenly more bushes appear because it’s never made clear to you how many there were. The best part about the old version was that it was accessible to neurodivergent people and the way we think. It laid things out so logically. Now, there is no logic. I have no idea what score I am trying to beat. I have no idea what my progress is. The images are dizzying on such a small screen. It’s sensory overload. They took a perfectly good ACCESSIBLE app and made it less accessible to Disabled people. And there only response to other people who have apparently left reviews, is change is hard. I am appalled such a callous and frankly ableist response. You’re right. It is hard being Disabled when the tiny things in life that do work for you, now no longer work for you. The world isn’t built for us. But this app was originally built with unknowingly with a neurodivergent mind, in mind. And for whatever reason, y’all decided… Gems and Bushes! Who needs accessibility, right? It’s like playing Minesweeper ala big box screen MS Dos starting mid-90s computer. Way to regress I stress of progress. It’s looks like 90% of the puzzle apps out there. Nothing about it is any different now. Good job.
Developer lost the plot
Sat Mar 30 2024 temsiThis used to be my daily go to game because it was structured and helped my ADHD brain relax. This and Number Match from the same developer. Now after years of playing these games, one has already been deleted from my phone and now this one is going down the same path. I understand tweaking and updating the apps. But you have to be completely bananas to think abandoning the gameplay that made the game what it was, is an improvement. It’s stupid and insulting. If you want to add a new way to play the game, go for it. But don’t remove the part that made the game successful in the first place. You’ve now ruined two of your products and you’ve alienated users like me - users who pay to remove ads. Whoever is making decisions for this company needs to be fired and replaced with someone who doesn’t have contempt for their customers. As of now, I have contempt for you and will go out of my way NOT to get any of your products because you are not trustworthy, and that’s 100% because of your actions and your complete disregard for the complaints and concerns of your clients.
Edit: the developer response is yet another copypasta that’s virtually identical to all the other responses. With no care for the users. Don’t insult my intelligence by giving a non-apology apology where you admit no wrongdoing and give a “sorry you’re dissatisfied” response - which is a common and sociopathic way to deflect criticism. I honestly and truly hope you go out of business.
Feels like cheating. (The programming)
Thu Feb 22 2024 Another comment from meLet me start by saying that I have loved this game for years. I have gotten every since daily challenge since 2019. But these past few months if has felt like the programming has changed. It feels like there is a set amount of times you need to try and beat a level before it will let you beat it. (I’m guessing to try and make people stay in the app longer)
Doing this has changed the rewarding feeling of solving a puzzle. To now, which feels like I am fighting the game programming in hopes that the system doesn’t cheat me again.
Example: Depending on the puzzle (even high score challenges) when you start everything feels regular, like it has always been. You get pieces and you figure out how to place them. But now it seems that once you get to a point, the games can see you are getting close to the goal and it will send you only bad, large pieces until you die. Which normally takes about 2 or 3 turns. I’ve been playing it enough that I can almost predict when it will happen. Please just go back to giving random pieces so it actually feels like a puzzle game again, instead of playing Russian roulette, hoping that this time the game will not make it impossible to win.
I love the game. But these past couple of months it feels like a battle, instead of relaxing.
I used to love this game
Sun Feb 25 2024 LyssadehartI have played this game for years. I loved the daily challenge, I enjoyed working on the self determined game, but then something changed. It started on my phone. I opened the app one day and all of the sudden I was forced to play a new version with flowers and bushes. I wasn’t given an option, and I really don’t like the experience. I can’t even tell you exactly why, but I detest the flower version. So, I deleted it off my phone. I still had the game on my iPad and it was the same old version, so I at least had that.
Yesterday, I opened my app, ready for my relaxing daily challenge, and what has corrupted my iPad you ask? The new non-negotiable flower version. I finally reached out to help, saying I detest the flower version and how do I go back to the plain version? “Oh, there’s no way to do that, we understand change is hard, but this is what you have now…” Really? My husband is still playing the old version on both his phone and iPad. And I’m sort of curious who thought the flower version was better and why game players couldn’t have an option, given both games still exist.
I don’t mind change, but the new version isn’t better to me. Visually it’s annoying to my eyes. I can’t say if the annoyance is due to the stupid flowers, or to the complete lack of choice. What I can say is that I’ve now deleted it off my iPad and will go find a new game. One that doesn’t make me angry to play.
Good App but a few suggestions
Thu Apr 09 2020 Johnny G BlundersI like almost all the features yet from a potential standpoint I think a few additional features are necessary to make it a truly A1 app. One change is to allow you to disable in settings the ability for it to glow before you place the block down so you don’t know how your decision will affect the turn. Another more important feature would be to save states. For example, if you added a third game mode for practice you should allow the ability to move backwards in plays and the only way to do so would be to keep track of the states whether that is through an array or otherwise(stack) this could even be implemented as a setting features on any game mode or in a premium version as it would be a crucial tool for learning from your mistakes!
Edit: In addition look at A* search or Greedy algorithm to create a system of which blocks you generate for the turn. This should allow to integrate a difficulty setting into the game because you will know which blocks produce the most points and you can if let’s say they choose hard difficulty make sure it’s only giving them the blocks that only fit into one particular spot on the board.
Rare review
Thu Nov 16 2023 BaseballexpertThe last time a reviewed an app was over ten years ago. But this game is so frustrating that I had to write a review in the hopes that the developers are listening. Let me start off by saying that the game is good. I even spent the money to remove the ads. But after playing it far too many times, I have concluded that it is not a great game because of one large problem. It’s fun for the first half of a game: you build your strategy, getting blocks to fit “just right” and then after about ten minutes, it becomes impossible. It’s as if the algorithm knows which blocks you need and instead gives you blocks you cannot use, thereby causing a rapid end to an otherwise enjoyable experience. It seems as if the 4,000 point mark (which takes about 10 minutes to achieve on average) is when the “evil algorithm” kicks in and does you in. Lest the developers think I am just complaining, I am offering up a suggestion: make the game more like Tetris in two ways. First, allow the player to rotate blocks. Second, show the player a preview of the next three blocks. Without these changes, this remains one of the most frustrating games I have ever played.
HUGE increase in ads making this unplayable
Tue Feb 06 2024 KGZ12345I don’t know what happened in the last week or so, but you’ve made what was my favorite app nearly unplayable. I play games like this both for fun AND as therapy for recovering from a brain injury and related side effects. I’ve been so thankful for this game, and honestly I was glad there were some ads so the developers could make some money but I wouldn’t have to pay. Then the other day I opened the app and I was fed an ad NOT only before a round and after the round, but the game was interrupted to feed me one in the middle of playing! I never write reviews, but I was just playing the event and it happened again, before it opened the round, ONE move before I finished it, and then again after I hit the desired point total. It’s so completely jarring to the thought process to stop you in the middle. I should say that in addition to more than three times the number of ads I’m suddenly seeing, the ads are almost all three times as long! They used to be :05 second ads but now are :15 or more. I’m getting so distracted by them all that the benefits I used to get by playing are now essentially all lost. I don’t know why you’d do this, but please be aware that it’s absolutely being noticed and if you’re not already, you’ll be losing people if you don’t do something about it soon.
RIGGED! This WAS a great game until a few weeks ago
Tue Feb 06 2024 William H. Burnsides IIII’ve loved playing this game, until it was recently updated. Prior to the update, I was able to score over 17,000 points at my highest, and multiple times over 10,000. Now it’s almost impossible to score over 4,000. I say almost because I’ve been able to get a little over 5,000 since the update. Basically what happens now is you reach around 3,500 points and the game stops giving random pieces and just gives you a bunch of garbage pieces until you lose, typically between 3,700 and 3,800.
It is so frustrating, and it feels like having a video game where you are stuck on an infinite loop of level one.
I don’t think I’ve ever wrote a review for an app, but after reaching out to support (crazy, I know), and hearing back that they are sorry that I don’t like the update but that they did it for the enjoyment of all players, I’m just frustrated enough to be writing this. I can only imagine the idea is to close the performance gap between players as it relates to tournaments or something, which I never do.
As long as you are new to the game and can’t break 3,000, you might still like the game, but once you cross that threshold, get ready because the game wants you to lose.
