Review: KuGon
by Zain Shauk
August 12, 2008
Overview
KuGon is a creative attempt at turning basic arithmetic into a puzzle game. It’s fresh, but not very challenging.
Gameplay
In KuGon, simple addition is used to fill numbers into blank spaces.
Its puzzle format is a unique approach to making addition interesting: Four squares surround each octagon in a puzzle. There are numbers in some shapes and others are blank and must be filled in. Numbers in the four squares must add up to a number in the octagon.
There are a couple of bonuses that allow users to reveal missing numbers, or to expose totals of certain groups of shapes, but for the most part, it’s mental math time.
Also, at the beginning of each puzzle, users are quite randomly presented with a trivia question (such as, “what animal has striped skin as well as striped fur?”). After completing the puzzle, gamers are given the opportunity to answer it. A correct answer will allow you to save an image of the trivia answer (in this case, a tiger) to your photo album.
Review
While KuGon presents a different format for mental math, it’s based on simple addition and is not very exciting.
It’s a little too easy to move through and there aren’t many ways for the gameplay to develop or become more complicated.
In fact, the only way that KuGon masquerades as more difficult is by leaving extra squares blank, but it has to allow hints (like the aforementioned revealing and exposing) to be mathematically solvable anyway, which takes away from the challenging feel and makes the game somewhat tedious.
That’s not to say that it isn’t a productive time killer. At a recent wedding rehearsal, I definitely opted to play KuGon over staring at a wall. The fact that it employed addition without a standard list of equations was nice. But although I was doing some thinking, the game was too simple to feel productive.
KuGon has been featured in the App Store and has gained some popularity, but that's most likely due to its low price point and educational feel, not because of its actual gaming value.
It does deserve recognition for its unique format, but its simplicity is a killer.
There are possibilities to increase KuGon’s difficulty, maybe through subtraction or even adding in multiplication and division components, but those changes may be hard to incorporate with the limiting KuGon structure.
Summary
It’s a creative attempt at making a game out of simple addition, but it’s not much more than basic mental math.
