Speeding balls and crazy loops
Zip City is a simple, solo puzzle game in the Logiquest series . It consists of forty puzzles. We solve them by arranging the city tiles properly so that the balls dropped from above reach the right place. It is not an easy task, because we have to set the right path for not one, not two, but often three or four balls. To make it even more interesting, there are puzzles with one ball placed on a special tile. By itself, it won’t fire until another ball hits it. All this makes it difficult to break away from this game. In addition, the different shapes of the tracks mean that there is something to think about. Arches and straight corridors accelerate the orbs, which can be essential when a task requires a specific color to land first at its destination.
The first level of the four is very simple. It’s a good introduction to the gameplay mechanics, but to be honest, only five of these tasks would suffice. After that, it gets much better. I have my best memories of riddle number twenty. The way to solve it is a masterpiece: placing a seemingly irrelevant tile in the right place lightened the whole puzzle. In addition, the balls released in this arrangement were great.
Packaging matters
The release no longer makes such a phenomenal impression as the gameplay itself. Personally, I prefer boxes with an age, i.e. typical packaging for board games, rather than opening from the side. As a result, packing the components is inconvenient. It is a pity that all the elements were placed in bags that need to be torn apart. Thus, it is worth getting a string bag for the balls. Fortunately, there are more balls, so even if one is lost, we have a spare.
The platform itself works well, but there are puzzles where the curvature seems too small and the balls will stop while rolling (for example, puzzle number twenty-two). On the other hand, in task 40, although the solution makes sense on paper, in practice one of the balls is too fast to hit the right place. I have made several dozen attempts and only once, with a little help, have I achieved success.
Thus, it is worth bearing in mind that you have to play on a perfectly flat surface, and in extreme cases you should slightly lift the board. In addition, the product looks great. The city’s tiles are diverse and contain small flavors, such as a stadium. In the end, I would stick a bit to the colors of both the tiles and the balls. It’s easy to make a mistake in low light. In addition, two yellow tiles show a cross-shaped intersection, slightly different in the layout of the exit of the tunnels, it would be better if different colors were used for them. Additionally, I noticed that in quest thirty-eight, there was a wrong hint.
Is Zip City worth visiting ?
Absolutely, because it’s a brilliant puzzle that offers a lot of fun. Not only is it very fun to tile the city, it is a lot of fun to watch the balls roll. Is forty puzzles a lot? Not much, I wish there had been a larger pool of challenges. Especially since some layouts are easy to remember. For example, even with my eyes closed, I will solve problem number twenty. However, you can create your own circuits yourself and enjoy the mere release of balls on the tracks. I had a lot of fun with Zip City and I recommend everyone to check out the entire Longiquest series , because they are ambitious logic games. Surely everyone will find something for themselves.
Finally, a curiosity, for problem number thirty-five and thirty-nine, I found an alternative solution. These discoveries made me a lot of fun!
