Fling - The Art of thinking ahead.

When I first encountered this game, it vaguely reminded me of those laser games from the early 90's where you had to decide which path the laser would take among several mirrors to get to the destination. Fling takes that notion up a notch and creates a game where thinking ahead pays off.

Gameplay
The idea of the game is simple: Small puffballs are aligned on a grid. You can "fling" them across the board in any direction where they will connect with another puffball. When a puffball connects with another, it stops in the preceding square from the one it impacts, driving the impacted one off in that direction. The most important idea in the game is the order in which things are done. It may be possible to hit a puffball in more than one direction, but often where you stop is as important as what you hit. Each hit and stop gets you in the position for the next, and sometimes, you're forced to change which puffball you're running the board with in order to complete things. The game ends with only one puffball remaining, and starts anew on the next level. There's a time limit to keep you honest, but you can undo your "flings" all the way back to the beginning. The time limit you're left with will help or hurt you in the next round, so reaction time is a factor.

Strategy
For me, there are two ways to play this game. The first is playing it by ear. Find the quickest way to start and figure out what to do when you get there. This is pretty much the way I approached my life until my late 20s. It can be a lot faster paced and if your brain is working right, you can save yourself some time. If your brain isn't working right, on the higher levels, you'll go down ten other paths before you get to where you want to go and spend most of your time backing out of bad decisions (also like my 20's). The other way to play this game is to go through all the possibilities in your head before you make the first move. This can be harder and takes some concentration, but if you can train your brain to do it, you'll be preparing yourself not only for better times overall, but also for your 30's when things get complicated and there are a lot of balls in the air in your real life :)

Love, Hate?

Love.

What I really enjoyed about this game (and continue to enjoy) is that it has more than enough build and challenge to keep me interested. The game also plays with your mind by giving you easy to finish scenarios, then tricks you by giving you similar, but different scenarios on the next level; which your brain will want to solve in the same way, but must be solved in another more convoluted way. This really forces you to engage in each puzzle with an open mind and not fall back on strategies that worked for you last time. I'm secretly encouraging my 4 year old daughter to play, hoping that it will help her learn to think with innovation, planning and open mindedness. Predictably, she is getting more into iPhyzzle2, which I'll review next.