From the Dark Side
by Tiny Ruisch
Trainyard is a fun little puzzle solving game that I originally downloaded because my grandson wanted to play it on one of my devices. That was in September of 2013, before he got his own tablet. I’ve still got the game on my machine and I still play it frequently.
The object of the game is simple. You have to get your trains from their departure points into the correct station. You control your trains by drawing track on a square of grids for them to follow. Trains and stations are colored and the train must go to the correctly colored station. Each square on the grid can have two tracks overlapping at angles, but every time a train runs over that square, the track that is on top switches direction. When timed correctly, multiple trains merge into single ones. Two trains can merge together and change color. I’ve relearned the primary colors chart by playing this game.
The games begin with a tutorial that demonstrates the basics of the game. Initial puzzles are simple tracks from depot to station (see figure 1). As the game progresses, you have to route multiple trains, switch track and combine trains (see figure 2).
The puzzles continue to get more complicated. Eventually you will get squares that change your trains color, split them up or block them. This is one of those games that is easy to learn, but requiring thought to master. There is no single answer for any puzzle. In fact, most of the Trainyard puzzles has thousands of solutions. If you find a unique solution, you can upload it to the games online data base. If you get stuck, you can also consult the data base for suggested solutions.
With no time limits for solving each puzzle, Trainyard is the perfect game to play when you get a spare minute or two. I’m addicted. Why don’t you give it a try?
Trainyard Express is the free version of the game. You get more than 60 puzzles. The paid version of Trainyard is $2.99 from the Google Play Store. It features more than 100 additional puzzles. There are also some more advanced functions for the higher levels.
Give the game a try. Thanks for reading.