IQ Circuit Critical Thinking Game

Just in time for summer, we got another big box of educational games and puzzles — including IQ Circuit — to review for Timberdoodle last week.

We’ve loved and used Timberdoodle products for decades, so my kids were thrilled to see a package from our favorite homeschool supplier sitting on our front porch.

Abby called dibs on IQ Circuit as soon as she saw it, so she was first to try it this new critical thinking puzzle by Smart Games.

Designed for ages 8 and up, this one-player game includes 120 different challenges grouped into four skill levels: starter, junior, expert, and wizard.

The instructions are simple to understand — just connect the dots to complete the circuit. But the challenges are much trickier than they look at first glance.

I initially thought our instructor booklet was misprinted, because the starter level puzzles give so much information on the set-up page, it looked more like a solution page at first glance.

Even so, we quickly discovered why that level included so much information. Beginners need all the hints they can get to complete these brain-training puzzles!

Each level gets a little more complicated. I’ve successfully completed one of the expert level puzzles, but it took me long enough to complete that one that I have no illusions of being able to successfully skip straight to wizard level.

The size of this game and the fact that the tray opens flat to hold unused puzzle pieces makes it a great choice for road trip entertainment. Sadly, our shipment didn’t arrive in time to take on our last vacation.

But that’s okay, because it’s going to take awhile to get through all 120 challenges. We’ll probably still have a few to go when it’s time for our next road trip.

Interested in giving this critical thinking puzzle a try yourself? You can order IQ Circuit through Timberdoodle as a stand-alone product or as part of their 9th grade curriculum kit.