8 Reasons You Need IQ Six Pro, A Popular Logic Game

Phew, a new year! Are you ready? Flipping the calendar page this year has been crazy. Our January has been an absolute blur, and not in a good way. (Go away, germs. You’re no longer welcome here.) With everyone at my house being in various states of illness and quite frankly disrepair, independent activities for each person have been a lifesaver.

[Disclosure of Material Connections: I received a complimentary IQ Six Pro game from Timberdoodle in exchange for writing and publishing this post. All opinions — and photographs! ;) — are my own, and I was not required to write a positive review.]

I was reading through Timberdoodle’s Top Ten Gifts for 2022 list recently, and noticed Smart Games — as a category — made that top-ten list. It’s easy to see why. Each engaging title in the Smart Games collection requires

logic,
problem-solving skills,
spacial-reasoning skills,
critical thinking,
creativity, and
flexibility.

We love Smart Games. Previously, I wrote an in-depth review of the Walls & Warriors Smart Game and today, I’m diving in to another great Smart Game: IQ Six Pro, a multi-level, single-player, logic game.

Here’s why IQ Six Pro is such a good choice for your game closet.

1. IQ Six Pro is compact and easy-to-hold.

Game shelves, like bookshelves, are finite. (Alas.) At 5.5″ x 3.5″ — roughly the size of a smart phone — the IQ Six Pro won’t take up much storage space. It’s not too small that it becomes difficult to hold, though. The IQ Six Pro’s compact yet usable size makes it an ideal handheld analog game.

2. IQ Six Pro is a single-player game.

While board games usually mean togetherness and family camaraderie, there are lots of situations (such as illness!) in which single-player games are the perfect solution.

And even though gameschooling is often touted as a group activity in homeschool circles, kids who are only children — or kids in families with big age gaps between siblings — shouldn’t have to miss out on gameschooling fun. Because IQ Six Pro is a logic game, it can be used a hands-on curriculum component.

Timberdoodle includes IQ Six Pro in their full-grade curriculum kit for ninth grade, but as you can see, we’re enjoying in our sixth grade homeschool as well.

In our hyperconnected society, the ability to maintain steady focus is ever-diminishing. Single-player logic games can be a great way to increase your attention span.

3. IQ Six Pro is portable.

Because all the pieces fit into the hinged snap-shut plastic case, the IQ Six Pro is easy to toss into a tote bag and take it with you. It’s all-in-one; the plastic case serves as both the grooved baseplate and the holder for the challenge booklet. You don’t even need the original box.

4. IQ Six Pro doesn’t have a lot of moving parts.

Keeping game pieces together can be a challenge in any house, but especially in a house with toddlers or highly distractible older kids (not naming any names.) IQ Six Pro is easy to keep track of. It has

twelve colorful pieces,
one instruction booklet, and
one baseplate / case.

5. IQ Six Pro is ideal for a wide range of ages.

Smart Games recommends IQ Six Pro for ages 8 to adult. Really! Kids won’t outgrow it, and you’re likely to find other adults picking it up, too.

IQ Six Pro would make a great gift for grandpas and uncles, or anyone who needs to spend a lot of time in the hospital, waiting rooms, or other situations which require quiet patience.

6. IQ Six Pro is long lasting, with 120 puzzles.

With 120 tasks over multiple levels —

Starter
Junior
Expert
Master, and
Wizard

— IQ Six Pro will last your student a long time.

The included booklet contains game play / setup instructions, and

a series of multiple 2D challenges to be solved on the black inside baseplate,
a series of multiple 2D challenges to be solved on the grey outside baseplate, and
a series of of 3D (pyramid!) challenges to be solved on the black inside baseplate.

7. IQ Six Pro is easy — yet challenging — to play.

IQ Six Pro contains 12 puzzle pieces. Each challenge prompt begins with the position of a small number of those pieces already determined, according to the provided diagram.

For example, the first prompt in the Beginner 2D category is quite straightforward, providing the position of 6 of the 12 pieces. The player then figures out where the remaining six pieces go in order to solve the puzzle.

But the difficulty level increases quickly! The number of provided positions drops to 5 pieces, dwindles to 4 pieces, then ultimately gives just a single-piece clue for the final challenge in the Wizard level.

Regardless of the number of position clues provided, each challenge — yes, even that last Wizard puzzle — has only one possible solution.

8. IQ Six Pro includes a 3D playing mode.

Activate pyramid mode! The 3D challenges might be my favorite thing about IQ Six Pro. Since playing three-dimensionally is significantly more difficult than in two dimensions, Smart Games suggests that players don’t begin the 3D challenges until they’ve already completed the 2D puzzles. (There are 72 puzzles in 2D and 48 puzzles in 3D, for a total of 120 challenges.)

Of course, slow sequential steps are not how Aveline rolls, so she jumped right to 3D game play.

The first 3D challenge requires the player to build a pyramid from the illustration, to learn how to read the diagram as well as to practice how to turn pieces to achieve the required result.

After that point, players are given only the position of some of the game pieces, and have to figure out how the remaining pieces fit in order to create a tidy pyramid.

In the final level of the Wizard challenge — the 120th puzzle — players are only given a very scant two-piece prompt and need to construct a pyramid properly from the remaining ten pieces. Such a fantastic series of spacial reasoning exercises!