Thinking Putty Puzzle: Pull, Stretch, and Solve

Put your brain to the test as you stretch, roll, and connect putty to fill the grid and solve the puzzle.

ThinkFun's newest solo puzzle game is all about making connections between point A and point B and never crossing your putty!

Gameplay

The game is played with a board that has an indented eight-by-eight grid of interconnected spaces. There are six different colors of putty. There are also four different difficulty levels of puzzles, with each puzzle setup printed on one side of a card, with the solution on the other side.

Each puzzle requires you to use a certain amount of colors. The puzzle card shows you which spaces in the grid to place two small balls of each putty used in the puzzle. Your goal is to connect each set of matching balls with the matching putty, stretching and shaping the putty and fitting it into the spaces, never crossing paths with other colors of putty. Some puzzles also have you place blockers and bridges during set up, with the blockers closing off a space path, and the bridge allowing one color of putty to go under it, while another color of putty can go over. Most puzzles will end up taking up the entire grid.

Review

Thinking Putty Puzzle, at first glance, might seem more child-focused with its use of putty, but the puzzles, while starting out easy and kid-friendly, become quite challenging in the later levels. The putty is also just fun to use, particularly when faced with a particularly tough puzzle and you need time to think, it gives something for your hands to play with.

The game packs quite neatly, with the putty and cards going inside the board, which makes it good for travel and vacations. All the components are nice quality, the board snaps shut well, and the putty is neither slimy nor unpleasant to handle.

Having the physical presence of the putty to try different things on the board, and work through your theories, is a great addition to this particular type of puzzle, though sometimes the putty does mean you can't try new solutions as quickly as you'd like.

While Thinking Putty Puzzle is technically a solo game, two people could easily work on a puzzle together, as the board is big enough for more than one person to easily look at at the same time, and there's plenty of putty to go around. If you enjoy puzzles, this game is a great brain teaser for kids or adults.

Pros: Good for travel, range in puzzle difficulty, two people can work together

Cons: Sometimes the putty slows you down

Disclosure: we received a complimentary review copy of this game.