Jabeh
Jabeh is a wonderful new puzzle game from Arash Payan that is part minesweeper, part sudoku, part work of art, and part… well, I’m sure it’s part of one of the rings of hell.
The concept is simple enough. You have to find where the twelve blue stones are supposed to go on the board. You have a row of numbers along the top and left side of the screen that tell you how many stones are 
supposed to fit in that row or column (for instance, if there is a three on the row of numbers along the right side, then you know that there has to be three stones in that row – no more, no less). And there are even some arrows on the board that point the way to one or more stones. All you have to do is find where the stones go.
Simple enough… right. Wrong. There is no cake walking your way through this game. Just when you think you’ve got it all figured out you realize that it’s all wrong. Many times I stared at the screen thinking, “that’s it. I’ve done it”, only to see the screen still holding true and waiting for me to find the right placements. Ah the frustration… the good kind.
The game is not all evil. You can tap a handy “hint” button and it will show you exactly where one of the stones is supposed to go. I hate to admit it but the first time I played the game I hit the hint button seven times!
And the numbers in the rows and columns are a great way to keep track of things. You can even touch a box that you know wouldn’t be a place for a stone so that you can darken it so it’s out of sight out of mind.
Once you have the stones all in the correct place the screen changes to reveal a very nice drawing that looks like something you might find in an Oriental Art Book. Even the music is very nice and seems to be set up all with relaxation in mind… oh how cruel they are for doing that do me.
Game play is very nice. You have a simple menu screen that let’s you go over the instructions, see statistics, play the game, and even make changes to the sounds in the game. Every thing is very simple to use and it’s the type of game you can play with one hand without difficulty.
Placing the stones is done with just a simple double tap on the screen. A single tap will darken the screen like I mentioned earlier. You can take away the stones easily enough and replace them wherever you’d like. In the bottom left hand corner of the screen is a counter that shows you how many stones you’ve placed so you can always know how many more you need to find homes for.
Like I said, the game is very pretty, very simple, and very challenging.
After my overuse of the hint button on the first game I worked hard to not use it for an entire game. I was able to do it after a few games and finally got my time down to just over a minute on a game. I felt pretty good about myself, before realizing that I was only on the games “Easy” setting. With a mix of dread and happiness that only comes with the “good” type of frustration I moved on to the “Medium” and “Hard” settings… each of them living up to their names.
In all honesty. I thought that this would be a game that I’d play a little bit, review and then move on with my life, but I find myself going back to it again and again. It’s just so simple… and so hard at the same time that I have to keep testing myself.
There is a “Lite” version of the game so pick it up to get a little does of Good Frustration, but don’t be surprised if you find yourself getting the full version once you’ve finished the seven that come with it. The game is really fun and… I hate to put the word addicting in a review… but it is addicting.
Click here to check current pricing and buy it now. $2.99
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Category: Games
There’s a LOT of positives to be said for this game (see below) but the iTunes app description is deceiving. The statement “automatically checks for new puzzles every time you start the game” implies either that the programming generates a large amount of random puzzles or that new puzzles are/will be added. Neither is true making the current price of $4.99 unsupportable. Developers have not responded to email several reviews addressing the above concerns or lowering the $4.99 price.
That said, this is a very impressive, engaging, relaxing, beautiful logic game. The work the developers put into the graphics, music, and behavior of the app shows pride, quality and commitment. The free version remains my favorite game and I would gladly pay $2.99 for the full version, even with the reviews indicating quite a limited number of puzzle boards in the full version.
Hopefully the developers will honor their customer’s rave reviews as well their disappointment in the limited # of puzzes by making good on the app description’s implied promises of new puzzles or lower their price point to be more in line with their competitors. It’s a wonderful app, deserving of more customers as well as puzzles.
Maybe the reason you hate to use the word addicting in a review is because subconsciously you know that there is no such word as addicting. Try addictive.
congrats to NedH and Liquid Nitrogen the winners of the free apps.
“Ah the frustration… the good kind.” I don’t know. There’s a fine line there.
looks fun!
Good to see a new puzzler in the appstore. I’m tired of the million of sudokus we have right now, but this seems like the type of twist in puzzlers the appstore needs.
Another great looking puzzler! i just wish i had enough room on my iphone to get it
its really good .. i only know the lite version but i know its lots of fun
this looks like a checkers game concept.
maybe it is a good board game..gtg try the lite version before i give more comments.
I saw this in iTunes and thought the art was cool. Now that I see the review, I am going to have to download the lite version and give this game a go. It sounds like it would be a lot of fun!
Great review, hits the mark.
I got the Lite version, and it’s just as this review says; one of those simple, yet addicting games.
I got this when it was a dollar. I play this fairly often but the harder difficulty settings are a pain. Worth a dollar but I wouldn’t pay three dollars.
Looks very difficult, but is probably fun. I might get the lite version.
Hmmmm doesn’t really sound like my type of game but I’ll give the lite version a try.
so to everyone who havent played the lite version
its fun
you should download the lite version and try it outt
I do not have many puzzle games on my ipod but I bet this game is really good.