Sliding Block Puzzle

Sliding Block Puzzle does exactly what its name implies by mimicking a favorite childhood handheld game. Its simple graphics and relatively challenging gameplay make it a perfect choice for those looking for a brief brain-teaser or a bigger challenge.

In Sliding Block Puzzle, you click and drag tiles around to move a red square from a frame. We enjoyed the design of the program's interface, which is simple but with a clean, professional look. While the commonsense directions are straightforward enough that we didn't need any additional instructions, we were nevertheless disappointed to discover that the Help file is basically nothing more than an advertisement for the developer's other programs. The program only offers one not-so-special feature, a link to a Web site that provides some tips. The site was helpful enough, but it would be better if the program didn't require users to go online to get help. The game itself reminded us of handheld plastic puzzles that require the user to shuffle tiles around to form a picture. The blocks were easy to control, but solving the puzzle was surprisingly challenging. We feel that anyone who enjoys playing games like Tetris or likes solving logic problems would appreciate this program. It's good for long periods of challenging play as well as a quick time-killer. Overall, this is a simple program that provides puzzling challenges.

Sliding Block Puzzle is freeware. Its mix of simple layout and challenging game play makes this a program we can heartily recommend.