Smiley World Games

“Loved it! Challenging and utterly brilliant in its concept. A highly innovative game that has a solid basis grounded in psychology for a change. Thank you!”

Stenciletto geometric shapes game

Stenciletto is a series of progressive cognitive exercises using simple geometric shapes. The aim is to develop visual and spatial perception skills. It can be enjoyed by anyone – all that is required is that players can recognize basic geometric shapes and understand what a stencil is.

To solve the puzzles requires the use of critical thinking skills including visual & spatial perception, logical reasoning, planning and problem solving. It is deceptively simple yet cognitively challenging. All you have to do is tap geometric stencils in the correct order to match the pattern shown. But it’s a lot harder than it looks and it will certainly make you think!

The game has been developed over a ten-year period by an experienced teacher with the help of children, teenagers, adults, and people with learning disabilities and brain injuries.

All groups have found it rewarding and motivating.

The Stenciletto puzzle most people get wrong!

This simple Stenciletto puzzle has been widely circulated on the internet, Facebook groups and in newspapers. All you have to do is identify the three shapes used to make the pattern at the top, starting with a solid shape at the bottom.  You can do it in your head, or download Stenciletto where you can tap on the shapes to move them into position. 

Either way, it’s harder than it looks. 

 

“…this is a great little puzzle game. It’s a good brain workout for the daily commute, and is deceptively challenging under the cute graphics – simple shapes quickly become more complex. Should keep me occupied for a while…”

Who is the game for?

Stenciletto can be used for a variety of purposes:-

• Cognitive Education – a content-free method of learning and practising logical thinking skills
• Brain Training  – as a stimulating cognitive challenge to complement other brain training programmes
• As practise for IQ tests – an excellent way to evaluate and hone your logical skills
• As a stimulating and enjoyable way to pass the time, great for the commute. 

What’s in the game?

There are two types of games. Classic Games are based on Grace Arthur’s original geometric stencils (squares, circles, triangles, crosses etc.) that will be familiar to most people. Our new World Games are designed as extension exercises for people with good perception and logic who need an extra challenge. 

There are over 600 graded puzzles in Stenciletto. Each level has a free set of puzzles for you to try (60 free puzzles in total). 

Each paid game contains 15 puzzles. For each Classic Game competed, players win an animated Smiley. These are all based on well-known characters from history and mythology to give a fair representation of people from different cultures. They are also a really fun way to record progress and achievement. 

Different modes of play are available:- 

• Mortal Mode is the default mode where you either purchase lives or wait for new lives to regenerate. Timed and scored with Mortal leaderboards.
• Immortal Mode gives you free lives forever, simply top up your life bank when required. Timed and scored with Immortal leaderboards.
• Mindful Mode isn’t timed and has no scoring, so you can relax and take as much time as you like to complete the puzzles. 
• Education Mode opens both Immortal Mode and Mindful Mode, so you can choose either mode of play (Mortal Mode can be disabled).

“I don’t usually play a lot of games on my phone, but this one I really enjoy. It is challenging without being frustratingly difficult. I thought I would breeze past all the puzzles and be bored, but nope! I love the colors and the challenge! Thank you for a great game!”

What’s new in this version?

This version has ‘Education Mode’ to make the game appropriate for classroom use and home education.

Education Mode is a single purchase that opens all content that’s relevant for using the game in a classroom situation, so there’s no need to make any additional purchases. This mode includes both Immortal Mode and Mindful Mode, so you can choose to play against a timer and with scoring, or without the timer and scoring. Some children like the challenge of beating the clock, and others need more time and less stress. 

Education Mode gives you access to every puzzle (over 600 puzzles) and as new games are added you’ll get these too. Plus there are additional settings for teachers to control accessing content, the internet, Game Center and sharing. 

You can find out more about using Stenciletto with children here:

Simple shapes game for children to learn critical thinking skills

History of Stenciletto

The game was originally known as the Stencil Design Test. It was created by Grace Arthur Ph.D, an early 20th century psychologist who realized that non-verbal skills form a core part of intelligence. Her task was to measure the IQ of Native American and deaf children who had not attended regular schools. As a result, they performed poorly on verbal IQ tests. However, when tested using this activity, she demonstrated they had an IQ equal to that of educated Americans. 

You can read more about the Stencil Design Test here:-

Stencil Design Test by Grace Arthur Ph.D.

Who created Stenciletto?

Q4 Technologies is a software studio developing games under the brand Smiley World Games. As developers, we have supplied software to schools since 2004, as well as creating apps for other industries. Our apps are built to a very high standard and have won international educational awards (BETT Awards). 

Stenciletto Reviews

Apple

Loved it! Challenging and utterly brilliant in its concept. A highly innovative game that has a solid basis grounded in psychology for a change. Thank you!

Love the game, think Level 4 Puzzle 12 is broke, I’m pretty sure I’ve got it right but no… Is an easy one too.

I don’t usually play a lot of games on my phone, but this one I really enjoy. It is challenging without being frustratingly difficult. I thought I would breeze past all the puzzles and be bored, but nope! I love the colors and the challenge! Thank you for a great game!

Google

Works great for me and my kids on android phones.

Super unique game and a challenging one~. An IQ test is exactly what this is. Show it to your friends and confuse the heck out of ’em !!

They fixed the problem with the navigation buttons. Fun little game. Saw the article in the guardian.

Works now after the update. Great fun and a good challenge.

Edit: Recent update has resolved this issue. Game is very good with calming music to accompany your playing. Original review below. Looks like a fun game and is easy enough to play, but I can’t progress past the first stage as my phone’s navbar gets in the way of what I assume is the “next” button at the bottom.

Now the layout bug is fixed, this is a great little puzzle game. It’s a good brain workout for the daily commute, and is deceptively challenging under the cute graphics- simple shapes quickly become more complex. Should keep me occupied for a while…

Lots of fun! I’ll keep my little gray cells quite engaged. And kudos to the developer for responding quickly and fixing some bugs I had reported earlier

Stenciletto is quite the brain twister! With the recent UI fix (Thank you!) I’ve been thoroughly enjoying the unique challenge Stencilleto has to offer. If you’re a fan of a good fast-paced puzzler, you should certainly give this game a shot!

Fun and well implemented. Recommended. Would be nice to have a “casual” mode without time/lives pressure, but that’s minor. Reminds of Bart Bonte’s games

Nice game, harder than it first appears. The recent update has fixed the previous issue with not being able to move onto later levels. I just wish there was an option to turn off the timer so it could be a more relaxed playing experience! Might be the only thing that stops me continuing playing as the timer makes it a bit stressful. No ads (that I have come across yet) which is great.

This game is lots of fun. The story of the psychologist who invented it, Grace Arthur, is wonderful too.