Our take
This is the collection we open when we want a puzzle and nothing else. Simon Tatham started it because he wanted small games “you can pop up in a window and play for two or three minutes while you take a break”, and that is exactly how it feels. Every puzzle generates a new grid on demand, so there is no level list to work through and no daily ration.
The range is wide: Net has you rotate pipe pieces until everything connects, Bridges asks you to join islands with the right number of lines, Pattern is a picture-logic grid, and Solo is a flexible take on number placement. Each one has its own short help page, a difficulty setting and a size setting, which makes it easy to start small.
It looks plain, and that is part of the charm. There are no animations to wait through, no sounds and no rewards; a solved grid simply flashes and you can start another or close the tab. The code is open source under the MIT licence, and volunteers have ported it to phones.
A first sitting
Open Bridges at its default size, then try Net with the “wrapping” option off. Two grids is a good first sitting.
Where to stop
A solved grid is the natural stop. Because there is always another one, decide on two or three grids before you begin.
