Marple Copyright © 2008 by Mikko Kankainen

Awarded "Best puzzler" in MacWorld's "The best games of 2008"!

Nominee for "Best Puzzle Game" in 2008 Best App Ever Awards!

Introduction

Getting tired of Sudoku? Why not try Marple?

Marple is a game of logic and deduction. The playing field consists of 20 tiles arranged in 4 rows of 5 columns each and a set of clues. The goal of the game is to figure out the correct order of those 20 tiles using the given clues by process of elimination. There are 1,000,000 puzzles to play so don't expect to run out of them any time soon! At 3 minutes / puzzle, 1 hour / day = ca. 137 years of puzzles!

Marple was inspired by the PalmOS game Hercule, created by Hippa-Potta Software.

Marple is available at Apple AppStore. If you're still hesitating, try the Lite version first.

If you enjoy puzzle games, check out my other game Vexed too!

How to play

The game board consists of 20 tiles that are arranged into 4 rows and 5 columns. Initially each tile contains 5 parts that are specific to their row. The objective of the game is to figure out which part belongs to which tile.

To help you solve the puzzle you're provided with a set of clues. The clues reside in a box below the tiles.

There are four different types of clues:

"In between" clues consist of three different tiles. They indicate that the middle tile is located in between the other two tiles. It however doesn't tell the order of the other two tiles (C can be on the left side with B on the right side or B on the left side with C on the right side). Also, it does not indicate that the tiles would be next to each other (for example, C can be on the first column, 2 on the second column and B on the fifth column).

"Left of" clues consist of two tiles with "..." in the middle. They indicate that the tile on the left has to be located left of the right side tile. They however do not indicate whether the tiles are next to each other or not (for example A can be on the first column with C on the fifth column).

"Next to" clues consist of two tiles. They indicate that the two tiles have to be located next to each other but they don't tell which one of the tiles tiles is on the left side and which one is on the right side.

"Same column" clues consist of two tiles with a double headed arrow between them. They indicate that the two tiles are located in on the same column.

To eliminate a part from a tile, touch the tile to zoom it. You can then eliminate the part by touching it. If you want to undo the elimination, touch again. If you know which part is the correct one, you can touch and hold it for a while to eliminate all the other parts from that tile. Close the tile by touching anywhere outside of it.

Gameplay tips

• You can dim clues that are no longer useful by tapping them. To undim a clue, tap it again.
• You can touch and drag clues to rearrange them. Dropping a clue on top of another makes them switch places.
• If you're stuck and need a hint, touch the magnifying glass icon. This will highlight a clue that you should be paying attention to. Note that each hint lowers your score.
• If you want to restart the level, touch the icon with two arrows.
• You can safely exit the game while in the middle of a puzzle. Marple will remember the game state when you return.

Tips for beginners

You should start by going through the "In between" clues and the "Left of" clues and eliminate tiles from the leftmost and rightmost columns. You can make the game easier by enabling "Give away two tiles" from the settings view. This will automatically solve two tiles but will also add two minutes to your time.

Below is a list of some of the things that can be deduced from different types of clues.

"In between" clues

Since the middle tile has to be in between the other two tiles, it cannot be on the first or last column. For example, if the clue is , you can eliminate 2 from leftmost and rightmost columns. Also, if one of the tiles is already known, you can safely eliminate the other two tiles from that column.

"Left of" clues

Since the right side tile requires the other tile to be located on its left side, it cannot be on the leftmost column. For example, if the clue is , you can eliminate the star symbol from the leftmost column and A from the rightmost column.

"Next to" clues

If the other tile of the clue is known and is on the leftmost or rightmost column, you can deduce the location of the other tile. For example, if the clue is and B is known to be on the leftmost column, 1 has to be on the second column from the left.

"Same column" clues

If the other tile is known, so is the other one. For example, if the clue is and A is known, the plus symbol has to be on the same column. Conversely, if some column doesn't have the other tile, it cannot have the other either. For example, with the previous clue, if some column still has A but not the plus symbol, you can eliminate A from that column as well.

Remember that this was just a list of some of the things that can be deduced from the clues. As you play the game you'll find out lots of other things that can be deduced from them.

Support

Support email address: mikko.kankainen[at]iki.fi

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