Intuition is a breakthrough in puzzle games that blends out-of-the-box thinking with brain-teasing fun. Inspired by the MU-Puzzle in Douglas Hofstaedter’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, Intuition has been described as one part Sudoku, one part Minesweeper! Sure to be a winner with brain-game aficionados, Intuition also offers easier puzzles for the casual player.
The puzzles of Intuition come to life with a vibrant soundtrack and colorful animations. The result is wildly addictive gameplay, featuring two unique and entrancing ways to play. The Classic Game steps through 110 different puzzles, with levels progressing from easy to highly challenging. Or, players can kick back with the Endless Game, where the game serves up hundreds of different challenges at the level of difficulty selected by the player.
Hints are available at any point in the game, for players who get stuck or want to make sure they’re on the right track. Since a puzzle can have multiple possible solutions, Intuition 1.0 uses a sophisticated puzzle-solving engine that determines if the player’s current path leads to the goal, and what the next step should be. If the player’s current path will not lead to the solution, Intuition backs up to the last line where the player was on the right track. Players can even select the amount of assistance they get, from a hint that tells players only if their last move was correct, to a hint that fills in the next line for them if they are really stuck!
Features Highlights:
1. Two different ways to play: Classic Game and Endless Game
2. Hundreds of different puzzles constantly supply new challenges
3. High-resolution graphics adapt to any window or screen size
4. Hints revealed in stages so players who get stuck don’t get the answer all at once
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard or Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard
Pricing: Free trial, $14.99 to purchase
The Logic Behind the Game
Intuition is a series of moves (formal rules) that you use to manipulate rows of chips. In this screenshot you will see that the top row is Yellow-Red. Move #1 in Intuition states that if you have a Yellow chip, you can double everything that follows. So, you can turn Yellow-Red (line 1) into Yellow-Red-Red (line 2); and you can turn Yellow-Red-Red (line 2) into Yellow-Red-Red-Red-Red (line 3)!
Move #2 in Intuition states that if you have a row ending in a Red chip, you can append a Green chip. Again, in this screenshot this move is applied to row 4 in order to get row 5. There are seven different moves in Intuition (don’t worry, you are introduced to them gradually, and one at a time)!
You can see that Intuition is closely related to natural deduction, and implements a formal system. This system is called a Semi-Thue or String Rewriting System (SRS), and solutions to puzzles may be computed using something similar to a Lindenmayer or L-System. So, in addition to being fun, it can be used as a way to introduce logic proofs (since each puzzle is a proof) and formal systems!
