Brain Warmup Department: Bridges
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For those of you who used to like the puzzles I printed in the old bulletins, here is a link to an online version: one of the puzzles that I used to feature in the old paper Bulletins, but it is easy to play on a computer as well. Not so easy on a tablet or phone, since most of the puzzles require right-clicks, not easily done in a tablet or phone environment. Bridges gives you a grid of islands, circles containing a number. Your objective is connect the islands with bridges so that 1) all bridges are horizontal or vertical only, no diagonal or curved bridges, 2) The numbers in the circles indicate the number of bridges that go to that island, 3) Two islands may be connected with one or two bridges, but no more, 4) Bridges may not cross one another or go over an island, and 5) All of the islands need to be connected together with the network of bridges. Strategy: bigger numbers usually allow you to connect one bridge in each possible direction and later decide which directions have second bridges as well; check how many islands can actually be connected with up-down or left-right lines, often this will give you clues as to where the bridges must be. Click on the puzzle you want to try at the right (or the caption below) to go to the page with all the instructions you'll need. These puzzles come from Simon Tatham's Portable Puzzle Collection (see below) and there are links there to apps for most devices. 
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 Easy puzzle (McBruce's time: 1min 5sec) |
 Medium puzzle (McBruce's time: 0min 26sec) |
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 Tricky puzzle (McBruce's time: 0min 48sec) |