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It is a fact that hard-core gamers are mostly geeks. It is no wonder that even in the age of 2GB graphics cards which can run 6 monitors at the same time, puzzle games still maintain a hardcore fan base. Some of the more popular puzzle games include ?Where's the water?, and Sudoku. One of the most popular new puzzle games in the past few years is Continuity. On the iPad and on Android, a popular puzzle game is Cut the Rope. Even more popular is Angry Birds, which has spawned a series of games. Following the logic that geeks like puzzles, these games have created a following which has gone mainstream. As of May 2012, Angry birds has reached one billion downloads. Although it is unlikely that all iOS devices have this game, what is definite is that a majority of users have downloaded the game for their iOS and Android devices. Why are Puzzle Games popular? The allure of puzzle games transcends geekdom. It is easy to say that the most popular puzzle games have been sugar-coated to cater to non-geeks. However, that does not explain why Rubik's cubes continue to sell all over the world, even to non-geeks. What is certain is that these puzzle games each have a hook and this is what keeps users playing the game. For puzzle games on mobile devices, the hook may be the simple graphics, sound effects and music. The sound effects and music, of course are optional, as it has been shown that a lot of users disable this feature so they can play the game in peace. The gameplay has to be easy and the rules have to be simple. A colorful simple game which is easy to understand makes for a great hook to attract new users. The level of difficulty and the learning curve shouldn't be too steep as the user advances in the game. Mass Appeal of Puzzle Games Ultimately, what makes for a great puzzle game is the appeal to a wide audience. A case in point is Angry Birds. This is one game which is played by kids as young as three years old, yet its puzzle complexity makes for compelling game play for adults. Even senior citizens who don't know how to use a touch screen could easily grasp the idea and start playing with their grandchildren. The premise is simple. This is not any different from throwing a baseball at a stack of milk bottles. At its core, the old carnival game and the tablet game are the same. There's a stack of something, and the aim is to topple these down. With the use of different exploding birds, you have to topple the pig structures. Each succeeding structure and game screen has an increasing level of difficulty. For Angry Birds, each succeeding game in the series has brought a different spin and different exploding birds with different gravitational physics involved. Don't worry, there's no need to compute for the trajectory of the bird launched from the slingshot. You can always do a trial and error until you get the right angle for launch. This article was contributed by James Taste aka Triggerman. James also contributes for Play Free Bubble Games Online.
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