SmartGames Genius Star

A puzzle you can lose at, which rather changes the mood.

Roll the dice, and the seven blockers go wherever the dice tell you. Then it is you and eleven puzzle pieces against a star-shaped board with a hole in it, and someone sitting opposite doing exactly the same thing, faster. The pieces are chunky and the board is satisfying to fill, which is fortunate, because you will be filling it a great many times. Toy of the Year winner, and the reason SmartGames now has an entire Genius range.

The dice are the trick. There are more than 160,000 possible arrangements across five difficulty levels, so the puzzle in front of you is genuinely new every time and nobody can memorise their way out. Each challenge also carries a Golden Star twist: play it safe for a normal win, or leave the golden piece intact for a double. Works head-to-head or alone, though alone it stops being a race and becomes something you keep going back to.

Perfect for: the person who finished every sudoku in the book and started resenting it for being the same shape every time.

1–2 players | 160,000+ puzzles across 5 levels | Age 8+