Rush Hour is a classic strategy game and is regarded by many in education circles to be in the same league as the Rubik Cube. The puzzle consists of a car park made up of squares which form a rectangular grid. The car park has only one exit and a range of cars and trucks which are two or three squares in length. The game includes 40 pocket sized puzzle cards of varying levels; 10 beginner, 10 intermediate, 10 advanced and 10 master. Each card provides an illustration to show which vehicles are required and how they should be set-up for the puzzle. The aim is to manoeuvre the vehicles in such a way as to allow the special red car to exit the car park via the one opening. Once the vehicles are set-up they can only be moved horizontally or vertically depending on their original orientation. Thus vehicles can never be lifted when moved, they can only slide. The puzzles in Rush Hour have been cleverly designed. The beginning levels are fairly straight forward and can be achieved with a little tinkering. These are skills that most people naturally have and this helps to entice the player into the next level of puzzles. Just when you are getting used to success though, the nature of the puzzles change and suddenly you are required to abandon any prior strategies and begin to try new ideas. In this way Rush Hour is able to maintain its fresh feel for quite some time. The advanced and master levels will often have the car park almost completely full and these stages require you to combine strategies required for earlier levels. Thinking outside of the square is essential for many of the puzzles as the obvious route will end in frustration. Each puzzle card also contains the solution on its flip side.

Rush Hour is one of the flagship games for Binary Arts and the appeal is not hard to understand. The puzzles are maddeningly addictive and they really can engage anyone from age 6 through to adults. Because the game has been designed to help you build up your understanding of the various strategies, Rush Hour manages to support rather than irritate. Even when you get stuck there is always another puzzle to move onto. Many teachers and schools possess copies of Rush Hour because it does help to expand young minds in the visual\spatial field and students can learn much about perseverance and the importance of talk as they take on each puzzle. Rush Hour now has 3 expansion packs at very reasonable prices. Each pack provides another set of puzzle cards and a new vehicle. The new vehicles include a taxi, another red car and a limousine. Between the original copy and the expansions there are enough challenges to occupy the most fervent of puzzle nuts for months. I also believe that additional puzzles can be found at the Binary Arts website. Great value and fun.