Gadgetopia

Dave’s post from the other day reminded me of another great game with a weird name; Sokoban. (and wouldn’t you know that the Wikipedia entry hits at number 9 on a Google search, further reinforcing Deane’s Standard Reference theory!)

On the surface it’s a fairly simple game…

Sokoban (Japanese for “warehouse keeper”) is a transport puzzle in which the player pushes boxes around a maze, viewed from above, and tries to put them in designated locations. Only one box may be pushed at a time, not two, and boxes cannot be pulled.

… but some of the more advanced levels are really challenging.

There are a few game sites that have Java-ized versions of the game, but I prefer the downloadable versions (my favorite is SokoSave, available for several platforms) most of which will keep game stats for you. And with most builds of the game (most are free) creating your own game board is as simple as modifying a text file.