Kaleidoscope Classic

If you're a puzzles shmuzzles type of person you've probably clicked on this page by mistake. After all, puzzles are for squares and chess club types, aren't they? Well, no, not when they're as toe-curlingly addictive as Kaleidoscope Classic.

In fact, this is one brainteaser that should come with a warning. It's so lip-bitingly compelling you may find yourself buying a satin jacket and proudly scrawling 'Puzzle Nerd' on the back, because once you start fiddling with Kaleidoscope Classic you'll be so enthralled you won't give a hoot what anyone else thinks.

So what's it all about? Well, basically Kaleidoscope Classic consists of an 8x8 square board composed of 18 pieces, each unique in size, shape and/or color. The object is to create a designated pattern using all 18 pieces. Each challenge varies in difficulty and while one pattern may have 20 billion solutions, another may have just one unique solution. The possibilities are endless!

Kaleidoscope Classic comes complete with a book containing 101 exciting challenges and a strategy manual to help you get started. The challenges range from relatively easy to extremely challenging, so you'll always have something to solve. And even if you don't, Kaleidoscope Classic can be endlessly fooled around with in order to discover new patterns. Speaking of which, new challenges are being created all the time so you'll never run out of pesky puzzles to solve. Riveting? This nifty, take-anywhere mind-mangler makes Rubik's Cube seem about as gripping as an episode of 60 Minutes.

And that's hardly surprising as Kaleidoscope Classic has been created by a psychologist and a mathematician/physicist, and is designed to appeal to your left-brain, right-brain, memory and creativity. We don't know about that, but what we do know is that Kaleidoscope Classic is giving us a brain ache (in a good way) as it is, without a doubt, one of the most engrossing and original puzzles we've seen in years.