Fugdale’s Funhouse

Relax…Breath…Balance. You will find yourself testing your sense of balance in these two unique games. Both feature the physics of balance and weight distribution in their designs.

Levers - Balancing Act

Levers starts off simple enough. A calm ocean scene with a simple two-sided scale hanging above. An item falls from the sky and you place it on the hanger. If you manage to hang the items on the appropriate hooks, the scale will balance. When it stays balanced long enough a new item of a different size and weight will fall and you have to rearrange the items to set things right again.

The items include more hangers to extend your scale, as well as, an odd assortment of bird houses, squid, glasses of water and bowling balls. As you add more items the scale gets much harder to keep in balance. Making things even more difficult, a small army of blackbirds emerge to shake things up on the scale and some of the items you hang have a life of their own. You sometimes have to wait for the mobile to turn far enough to reach certain hooks to hang your items on. The game’s physics are pleasant and the ambience created by the ocean and the various splashing noises helps calm things down.

The game becomes like a meditative puzzler quite quickly and I think players of various levels will reach their comfort zone and quit playing after about 10 items or so. But for those who have a sense about weights and balance, this game will please you.

Top Figures - Balance or Drown

Your objective in this tricky puzzler requires you to remove support beams from a structure one at a time so that the swimmer (aka: the top figure) standing on top never falls in the water. You quickly realize why the little person wears a life preserver, as you repeatedly dunk the little fella, trying to figure out the best way to pull the planks out.

With very simple graphics and easy gameplay, I wonder why I had such a difficult time figuring out some of the sequences. The physics and timing really add to the challenge. Sometimes you can pull a plank and quickly pull an opposing plank before the man loses his balance. In fact, you will do well if you think in terms of balance as opposed to logic. Yet, the game tests my patience quickly and I end up wanting the top figure to take the plunge.