The transition from paper to screen, or even from physical to digital, can turn a mediocre game into a smash hit. I play a lot of tabletop games, but the digital versions of some of them are so much easier to set up and play that if you want a quick game of them, it's a no brainer.
The digital arena can be used to great effect to highlight old or obscure puzzles, keeping them alive through the generations. Crosswords and word searches, Sudoku, or - if snakes are your thing - Slitherlink.
The rules are simple, and the number of puzzles available is seemingly infinite. Do I have the necessary logic to complete just a single puzzle?
Frustrations
The inclusion of a pen and paper puzzle in a list of 1001 must-play video games might cause some debate, but when the Nintendo DS swept across the world, into the hands of gamers who didn't even know what a gamer was, you can see why old favourites were given a new life in a digital form.
I'm pointed to Puzzle Series Vol. 5: SLITHERLINK as the go-to notable first release of Slitherlink as a video game, but it's a puzzle you can find online and in app stores I'm sure. Sadly, going for this Japanese only release means trying to navigate Japanese only menus and tutorials...
While I have absolutely no idea what the top screen is trying to tell me, I am lucky enough to have seen a few Slitherlink solves on YouTube to know how this puzzle works, and it's quite simple. A grid, either full of numbers or not, needs to be home to a single looped line, drawn along rows and columns. A number in a square indicates how many of its edges form part of the line, blank squares having an unknown number of lines, 0 squares having absolutely no lines and so on.
Using these rules, you can - with the power of logic - snake your way through a grid and complete a looped line. If the puzzle is constructed well enough, it'll be the only looped line possible, so you know you've got it right if you manage it.
Fun Times
That's it, essentially. That's Slitherlink. The only thing you don't know is how to draw lines, but given this is a Nintendo DS game and you have a stylus and a touch screen, I'm sure you can figure it out.
Your first steps are probably to cross of places where a line absolutely cannot be. Around a '0' clue, for example, or in a place that would cause the line to hit a dead-end or join itself in a T-junction or a crossroads.
The more you cross out or pencil in, the more logic unfolds before you. If a line can only go here, then it must shoot off there. If this is a line, that'll force another line here and that's impossible, so that cannot be a line.
As the puzzle goes on, and as you do more and more puzzles, you'll spot patterns of clues that form shapes you simply know to be correct.
Incidentally, I've no idea what the point in mirroring the grid in the top screen is. You can safely ignore it entirely. Or maybe you can't - I can't read Japanese.
A successful puzzle is rewarded with a number of stars based on the time taken, by the looks of it, and there are plenty of puzzles to keep yourself occupied with, and chasing faster times - though if you know the solution, couldn't you just replay the level and draw it in really quickly?
Further Frustrations
Like all puzzles, sometimes they lead to the gears in your head just ceasing to move. This was the second puzzle in the entire game, and I'm stumped. I don't know any Slitherlink tricks, I'm just going by what I think needs to happen, but no matter what I tried I couldn't finish the loop off.
I suspect, after going away and coming back to it, I'd see something new or something I did wrong and that would solve my problem.
Final Word
The problem for Slitherlink is that if I leave now, I won't get back to it because I'm not really a fan of Slitherlink. I must prefer Sudoku, but I can see why drawing lines and loops can scratch a similar itch. It's nice to be able to solve something that is designed to confuse or tease people. These aren't going to be fiendishly difficult puzzles, though with the ruleset you could construct some real challenges.
Do you want to give those real challenges a crack? That's very much up to you. Slitherlink is fine, and this digital adaptation is more than playable, even in Japanese. If you want something to do on a lunch break, try a Slitherlink puzzle.
If you want a video game to play, though...
Fun Facts
If a '3' clue is in a corner, the two outside edges of that square must be filled in. Don't question it, you'll be wrong.
Slitherlink, developed by Nikoli, first released in 1989.
Version played: Puzzle Series Vol. 5: SLITHERLINK, Nintendo DS, 2006, via emulation.