The Preschool Puzzler: To The Rescue!
Written: Sep 06 '05 (Updated Sep 09 '05)
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Pros: Clever twist on the classic sliding block solitaire puzzle, fun for kids and adults alike.
Cons: Kiddie road rage: it's ugly.
The Bottom Line: Another clever solitaire game from ThinkFun, great for kids and adults alike. Preschoolers may want to try Rush Hour first.
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| theeye's Full Review: Binary Arts Roadside Rescue Brainteaser Puzzle |
I ought not to have been surprised.
After all, my purchase of Roadside Rescue, the fiendishly clever sliding block puzzle from ThinkFun (previously Binary Arts), had been prompted by the surprising success we had already experienced with ThinkFun's Rush Hour, Jr. puzzle, which we had picked up for our five-year-old on a lark (and which I highly recommend).
But when Roadside Rescue arrived in the mail and I opened the package, my immediate impression was that this new puzzle would likely prove to be too difficult and frustrating for him. The two games are superficially similar: both involve a collection of plastic cars to be loaded into a grid and manipulated in classic sliding-block-puzzle fashion, with the aim of positioning key vehicles into their designated spots. Multiple starting configurations provide challenges ranging from the relatively easy to the diabolically difficult. Where the simpler game's conceit is that the grid represents a crowded parking lot, the more advanced game asks the player to manipulate vehicles past obstacles on a three-lane highway so as to bring a police car, ambulance and fire truck to their respective intended positions.
The rescue theme is very kid-friendly (the official age guide is 'eight to adult') and the colorful vehicles are sure to please even the preschool set, but both the physical manipulation and the mental gymnastics required to solve Roadside Rescue puzzles are significantly more challenging than in Rush Hour.
Several fundamental differences contribute to the higher level of difficulty. First, in Roadside Rescue, the vehicles, which are mounted on equal-sized plastic rectangles of 'roadway', can slide sideways, across lanes, as well as backwards or forwards. Any given vehicle, thus, is not constrained to remain within a single row or column of the underlying puzzle grid, as is the case in Rush Hour. The effect is much like those square-grid sliding-block puzzles you undoubtedly recall from your own childhood, in which a scrambled picture must be restored by repeatedly sliding squares into the lone unoccupied position. Stationary obstacle pieces, representing pot holes, serve to customize the usable grid space for each puzzle.
Secondly, the objective involves positioning not simply a single escape vehicle, but as many as three separate rescue vehicles, each of which must be maneuvered to its own designated position. In fact, the game offers 42 separate challenges: eighteen simpler puzzles involving only one rescue vehicle and a small subset of the other vehicles, eighteen more difficult ones involving two rescue vehicles and six diabolical challenges involving all three. Maneuvering the police car, ambulance and fire truck to their respective positions is no easy task even for an adult: just when you think you've got one of them in place, you find that you've displaced one of the others.
But in the most clever innovation of all, the vehicles in Roadside Rescue are not nearly as respectful of The Grid as those in the simpler game. You'll recall that each vehicle is mounted on a rectangular piece of plastic roadway. Deviously enough, though, not all of the vehicles are mounted in the center of their respective bases. Some overhang the front of the base; some overhang the back; and a couple of long trucks overhang at both ends. This means that, unlike in the standard square sliding-block puzzle, these pieces are not interchangeable; a piece's ability to slide sideways depends on which other vehicles are currently positioned ahead and behind of the empty spot: a front-overhanging vehicle cannot be positioned behind a back-overhanging vehicle. This simple twist makes for a much more challenging puzzle.
For preschoolers, it also presents some physical challenges. In order to slide the pieces sideways, into what is generally the only unoccupied position, each vehicle base has to be precisely positioned. If a piece is slightly off position and a sideways move is attempted with, um, a little too much enthusiasm, several vehicles may be dislodged. Likewise, if a sideways move is precluded because of incompatible vehicle overhanging, a frustrated player trying to force a vehicle sideways may create a jack-knifed tractor-trailer condition which is decidedly not part of normal play and which may make it difficult to restore the overturned vehicles to their correct positions. (The preschool version of road rage is something you want to avoid at all costs. Trust me.) These considerations factored heavily in my initial skepticism of this game.
As it turns out, however, our son was fazed by neither the fine motor skills required nor the (as he puts it) eeeevil difficulty of the challenges and gave this game two very enthusiastic thumbs up. He is, in fact, working happily at the puzzles as I write, periodically interrupting me with a smug request that I set up the next challenge for him. He's done all of the single-vehicle challenges and is working his way through the two-vehicle configurations. If his performance on Rush Hour is any indication, he'll be triumphantly solving the most difficult challenges before too long.
Setting up the initial configurations, which involves positioning the sliding vehicles, as well as some immovable bases, representing pot holes and other obstacles, is quite easy. A booklet provided with the game gives the 42 initial configurations in full-color illustrations, which are easy to follow. My son, however, is color-blind and finds it difficult to match up the cars based on shape and position alone. Difficulty distinguishing colors need not be a barrier to using this puzzle, though; while color is a helpful guide, the illustrations are decipherable even without color clues. I do recommend, however, that an adult assist a child with the setup as even a single error in positioning or orientation can result in a configuration impossible to resolve.
The game is easily transportable and is packaged with a convenient drawstring bag which can accommodate the 9" x 4" grid, the 17 vehicle and obstacle pieces and the booklet. It makes a terrific take-along distraction for children who are responsible enough not to lose the small pieces.
Roadside Rescue is an entertaining solitaire game for the teenage or adult puzzle-lover and even for younger kids. Before tackling this one, though, I'd recommend trying either Rush Hour, Jr. (for the preschool set), or the adult version of that game for older kids.
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Additional information and resources:
Note: Epinions age ranges options are limited. This game is designated for ages 8 and up, but my five-year-old son likes it just fine.
Recommended online store: www.stewarttoys.com
Grid dimensions: 9" x 4"
Washington Post article about the manufacturer: How the Washington area's only toy manufacturer became the world's premier brainteaser company is puzzling. Read more here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A18618-2003Feb16
The ThinkFun philosophy: http://www.thinkfun.com/About.aspx?PageNo=ABOUT
Other games my son (and his folks) recommend: Rush Hour, Jr, King's Table, Fluxx, Kill Dr. Lucky, Aquarius
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 12
Type of Toy: Puzzle
Age Range of Child: 9 Years or Older
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Epinions.com ID:
theeye
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Location: New York, NY (it's a hell of a town!)
Reviews written: 66
Trusted by: 165 members
About Me:
Company president, math geek, first time mom at 39, epinion addict. Sleep? Not lately.
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