Just for Old Time's Sake!

Here are some puzzles that were written back in the 80's. Try them out and have fun just don't get caught by your boss.
Here is the link: http://virtualapple.org/numbersquaresdisk.html


Here is the article that goes along with it:
The Apple II Gains Eternal Life in the Web Browser

Phil Shapiro

Mar 20, 2009 8:04 am

Back in 1989, in the same year Tim Berners-Lee was cooking up the world wide web, I asked myself if there were some way to connect joy and thinking in the minds of elementary school children. With the help of a talented Apple employee, Dave Lyons, I assembled a collection of logic puzzles named Number Squares that ran on Apple II computers. Back in those days the Apple II was king.

I founded a software company and sold that software commercially between 1990 and 1995. When the Apple II computer was discontinued by Apple in 1994, I thought the lifespan of that software had come to an end.

What I didn't anticipate is the talented person who created AppleIIGo, a Java applet that runs Apple II software within a web browser. When I heard about AppleIIGo, I posted a short note on the AppleIIGo discussion forum asking if there was anyone who could help create a disk image of the Number Squares logic puzzles I designed way back when. Robert Stone, from Columbus, Ohio, answered the call.

And soon after I was running Number Squares on various modern computers. Thanks to to Bill Martens at the Apple Puget Sound Program Library Exchange you can now play these puzzles right in your web browser on the Virtual Apple web site. The direct link to the puzzles is right here.

A QuickTime screencast I created showing the puzzles in action can be seen here.

Here are a few tips for playing these puzzles. First off, you need to remind people playing these puzzles that this software does not respond to any mouse actions. All the game play occurs via the four arrow keys -- along with the return key (also known as the "enter" key.) Sometimes you need to use the mouse to click onto the window of the Number Squares puzzles for the software to respond to the keyboard, though.

Start off with the 4 x 4 puzzles. You'll enjoy those most. My favorite puzzles are the 5 x 5 puzzles. Use the arrow keys to move the numbers into the open space. Keep in mind that if you solve a puzzle one or two seconds faster than you did before, you'll receive more substantially more points for doing so.

The points you receive for solving puzzles is based on how fast you solve the puzzles and how difficult the puzzle is. I've seen kids play these puzzles for more than an hour and not get tired of them. With the gentle guidance of an adult or older sibling, the puzzles become even more fun and interesting.