Game Review: Lonpos Pyramid

By Tom Vasel
July 18, 2006

Publisher: Lonpos Publishing / www.lon-pos.com

Rating: 7 / 10

I rarely write a review for anything outside a board game, and although Lonpos Pyramid may be considered a game - it’s really a puzzle. It’s not listed at www.boardgamegeek.com, and I think there might be some hue and cry if it was. That’s not to say it isn’t any good - I actually think it’s one of the best puzzles I own (and I own quite a few). I’m only posting this on my site and others because I think the puzzle will be of some interest to board gamers and has a lot of elements of a game involved.

Lonpos Pyramid has twelve different pieces, each a shape that is an arrangement of balls placed together - five balls in an “L” shape, a line of four balls, a “W” of five balls, etc. All of these pieces are placed in a special tray to complete a large rectangle in a sort of Tetris style. The pieces are nicely molded out of bright plastic - each piece is in a different color, and they fit into a black carrying case with indentions so that the pieces fit easily into it.

A small book is included with a ton of puzzles included. Each puzzle is ranked a specific level and shows a setup of many of the pieces inside - with one or more missing. Of course, the puzzles with only one piece missing are a bit of a no-brainer but made for excellent practice for my young daughter. Harder puzzles have six or more pieces missing; and while I could solve all of these, there were even more hard ones available on the internet. Even though there are obviously scores of ways to place the pieces in the grid; it seems devilishly difficult to do so.

However, this grid and piece puzzle is really not enough to keep me interested, as there are many other puzzles that do this effectively. What makes Lonpos so interesting are the pyramid puzzles. When flipping the black container over, one finds a grid that is five by five - the basis for a five level pyramid. Puzzles are included in the book that are just like the grid ones, but they are much more difficult. Sure, the ones with one piece missing are rather easy; but because the pieces can fit in a greater number of ways, diagonally, etc., even puzzles with a few pieces missing can be rather fiendish.

The puzzle takes on a three-dimensional look - and some of the harder puzzles I still can’t do - and were rather challenging and fun. I don’t mind the normal puzzles, but the pyramid puzzles were addicting and a lot of fun. The book has quite a few of the puzzles, with color illustrations showing where the pieces go - and there are enough to keep one occupied for a while - with more found again at the website.

More puzzles are found with other pyramid games from the Lonpos series; and all of them are ranked from “1” to “12”, with the highest level being more difficult than I care to try, culminating with a nine level pyramid with 165 balls in it! It’s a fascinating puzzle and can be carried around easily in the plastic snap case. One could play a game with it, seeing who can be the first to complete a puzzle. But for me, it’s an excellent solitaire challenge, and the plastic pieces are fun to maneuver around. Out of all my puzzles, this is my favorite because of the brightness and shear variety of puzzles involved. More info can be found at www.lon-pos.com.

© 2006 Tom Vasel

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