I’ve been playing Puzzle Quest a lot before work lately. There’s something relaxing about immersing yourself in a puzzle for a few minutes before facing the day. I don’t get very far at a time, but the consistent puzzle solving has become a nice habit.

I changed my strategy a lot since fighting Dugog the first time. Certain special puzzles, like capture puzzles and spell puzzles allow me to see the board in a different way. The “very hard” difficulty spells require many matches, forcing you to be diligent about creating 4 of a Kinds whenever possible. AI enemies like Dugog may seem ridiculously lucky, but I seem to have gotten more “lucky” lately. I'm going to guess that it's less about luck and more about training yourself to see moves ahead of time.

So just how much of each Puzzle Quest puzzle is based chance as opposed to skill? I don’t think it’s the same answer for every puzzle. For example, all the capture puzzles I have encountered so far have all pieces visible on the screen from the start. No pieces fall into the board, so all is known in the beginning. Winning those puzzles is almost purely a matter of skill.

Spell puzzles and normal battle puzzles seem to be a complicated mix of chance and skill. Spell puzzles have no opponent, so you control every move. While you may not be able to see the pieces that will continue to fall into the board, you usually have many options in the beginning. For example, you could choose to match the first set of three you see or you could search carefully for any possible 4 of a Kinds. Finding more matching pieces in a row can significantly speed the win, reducing the chance of having no moves left and losing.

Finally, the normal battle puzzles seem to be the puzzle type most largely determined by chance. Without the ability to control enemies’ actions, you have little influence over the board you are given each turn. Also, battle puzzles have a large number of spells that can be applied. With a spell like Stun, you can set up a move one turn in advance. The enemies can also resist spells like Stun, creating another factor that you can’t predict.

Puzzle Quest is still holding my interest weeks after I began playing it. I think the chance element plays a large part in this addiction, as sudden victories can occur when your character is hanging on by a thread. The chance can make you feel like it was your clever playing that got you ahead when it may have just been blind luck. Whether or not my skill has kept me alive in Puzzle Quest, I like to think that I am slowly improving my strategy and becoming a great knight.