Game Review: ‘G’Nuzzle’ from Pickle Everything

G’Nuzzle from Pickle Everything Games gamifies puzzles, adding a new dimension to one of the oldest ways to play on a tabletop. There have been puzzle-solving competitions before, usually involving individuals or teams working to solve a set of puzzle pieces in a race against others with the same or similar set. These are fun but difficult to organize for a game night. Instead, G’Nuzzle has everyone share the same puzzle as they take turns and try to place all of their pieces first.

Two Times the Puzzle

The G’Nuzzle box comes with two ready-to-play puzzles: one of colorful, nineties-style big-eyed pets and the other fittingly a flurry of pickled people from professors to pilots to plumbers. These can serve as different levels of difficulty since the pets are in all different colors while the pickles have a lot of green all over, making it trickier to tell where the pieces should go.

Fast Gameplay with the Need to Plan

To start a game of G’Nuzzle, players choose which puzzle they want to do and then deal out the puzzle pieces equally, all face down. Players then take turns following a one-minute timer, first flipping their pieces and adding them to the middle Group Puzzle. The trick here is to pay attention to the special rules as single pieces must be connected to what has already been built in the Group Puzzle. Players may add two or more connected pieces from their own pile to the middle, making for a quick way to get ahead.

When it is someone else’s turn in G’Nuzzle, players have the chance to analyze and arrange their pieces. This is crucial as one minute may seem like a long time for a turn, but it is easy to become frazzled and waste precious seconds looking for another spot to place a piece. Instead, players should study their pieces and keep a constant eye on the evolving table for potential matches as well as putting together any connections in their own piles they can make. Players then will go into their turns ready with a plan of action and rush to be the first to give up all their pieces and win with a triumphant “G’Nuzzle!” If there are more than two players, the game continues for next place until the final player gets their own reward in completing the puzzle.

More Challenges Ahead

G’Nuzzle is a tile-shedding game for two to four players aged seven and up. Replay is strong since players will be dealt different pieces each time, and clever players will hold onto their memories of where pieces should go. Then, they will be prepared to set up chain reactions as one piece after another goes onto the Group Puzzle. Players wanting to up the challenge can even bring in the optional rule that only the active player is allowed to touch pieces. Everyone else will have to sit back, watching carefully and planning but unable to act until the timer comes their way. Then it will be a puzzle-solving frenzy!