Pocket Puzzles for Big Brains - Outdoor Fun

Explore your love of the outdoors by challenging your brain with fun and engaging pencil puzzles! This book contains 130 deductive reasoning puzzles themed around nature, complete with instructions, suggested techniques, and solutions. Whether you’re at home or the campground, you can relax and focus your mind.

Pocket Puzzles for Big Brains: A lot of fun in a little book!

What’s Inside

13 types of grid puzzles, 10 of each
Difficulty ranges from easy to hard as you progress through the book
Instructions and examples for each puzzle
Basic solving tips to help you get started
Solutions at the back
Book interior is black and white

Puzzles Featured

Anglers

It’s a beautiful day for fishing, ain’t it? These folks have staked out their favorite casting site, and today, everyone’s gonna catch a big one! Connect each angler with a single fish, using only orthogonal paths for the fishing line.

Each angler catches one fish. Their number shows how many cells their line passes through. A question mark means the distance is unknown.
Some puzzles may have anglers inside the grid instead of along the edges.
Lines may not cross over each other or obstacles. They only enter and exit a cell one time.
All empty cells in the grid must be used.

Birdwatchers

The bird enthusiasts are out in force, so why not grab a pair of binoculars and join them? Mark cells containing birds, as seen by the clues in the binoculars.

The number beneath each set of binoculars shows how many birds it sees in that row and column.
You can see through birds and other binoculars.
All birds are spotted by at least one birdwatcher.
Birds are territorial and may not be adjacent to a birdwatcher or another bird in any direction.

Bunnies & Trees

You’re a nature photographer, and today’s subject is bunny rabbits. Use the clues in the camera lenses to place one bunny and one tree in each row and column.

Each row and column contains exactly one bunny and one tree.
The number in the lens tells you how many bunnies you can see horizontally and vertically from there.
You can see through other cameras, but not through trees.

Clouds

One of the best ways to let your mind wander outdoors is to simply lay back and watch the clouds go by. But where are the clouds? Use the clues to imagine clouds in the skies.

Shade cells which contain part of a cloud.
Clouds fill rectangular areas at least 2×2 cells in size.
Some cloud cells may be given, and will already be shaded.
Clouds may not touch each other in any direction, even diagonally.
Numbers around the edge tell you how many cells in that row or column contain part of a cloud.

Leapfrog

The frogs in this pond are about to jump to new positions. Can you figure out where they will land? Use the number clues on their backs to determine the length of their leap.

The number on a frog’s back shows how many cells it will jump in a straight orthogonal line.
Frogs with a zero don’t move. Frogs without numbers leap an unknown distance, including zero.
The path of a leap may not cross other frogs (start or end position) or the path of their leaps.
After all frogs have moved, each region must contain exactly one frog.

Mushroom Hunt

One of the most sought-after treats by foragers is the morel mushroom. It appears so rarely that growth sites are often closely-guarded secrets. But you have a map! Can you decipher it to find the mushrooms?

Each arrow points toward exactly one mushroom.
Each mushroom is pointed at by only one arrow.
Numbers indicate how many mushrooms are in that row or column.

River Run

The race is on! Excited paddlers navigate their way through one of several different rivers in search of glory! Your task is a bit easier. Place the numbers in the pools so that no digit repeats in any row, column, or along the river paths.

Grids may be of different sizes, but will always be square.
Numbers run from 1 through the size of the grid (1-6 in the example, 1-9 in a 9×9 square, etc.)
You may not repeat digits in any row or column, similar to a Sudoku puzzle.
In addition, numbers may not repeat along a river’s course.

Skipping Stones

It’s time to head down to the pond and test your throwing arm. Find a nice smooth stone, toss it over the water, and follow its path. Add points for style by bouncing over or around lily pads without landing on them, until your stone finally splashes and sinks.

Ripples are the first skip point, and show the strength of your throw. Draw a straight arrow of that length up, down, left, or right.
Arrow lines may not cross other lines or splashes.
You might go over lily pads, but you can’t land on them.
Each following arrow is reduced in strength by 1. You may go straight or turn 90 degrees.
If you land in a splash, the skipping path ends, even if the segment lengths haven’t reached 0 yet.

S’mores

Some people may claim that the best part of a campfire is the camaraderie, but everyone knows it’s really toasting marshmallows to make s’mores. Put the ingredients together for a delicious treat.

Connect one set of graham crackers with marshmallows and chocolate to create s’more groups.
Connecting lines must be straight between two ingredients in a horizontal or vertical direction.
Connections may not cross other lines or ingredients.
Marshmallows may not connect directly to chocolate.
A s’more may have one or more of the marshmallows and chocolate pieces, as long as the quantity of each is equal.

Snake

The pattern on a snake’s body helps them blend into their environment. Can you see through the camouflage to find where the snake lies in this grid?

A snake’s body is a one-cell wide path that moves up, down, left, and right in the grid.
The body path may not touch itself, even diagonally.
Numbers outside the grid show how many cells in that row or column are part of the snake’s body.
Unnumbered rows/columns might hold any number of body segment cells.

Tents

You and your group have arrived at the park and are about to set up. Suddenly, the park ranger arrives to inform you of their peculiar rules for tent placement.

Each tree must have one tent set up orthogonally adjacent to it, like a tent-tree domino.
Tents may not be next to each other in any direction, not even diagonally.
Numbers outside the grid show how many tents are set up in that row or column.

Trail Signs

There’s nothing like hitting the trail for a relaxing hike, but it seems that exploration is never easy. The trails have been washed out in recent rains, but at least the signs are still up.

Draw a single closed non-intersecting loop to represent the hiking trail.
Black signs are outside the loop. White signs must be inside it. Gray signs might be on either side of the path. This is true even if the sign is broken and blank.
Numbers on an arrow show the total length of trail segments parallel to its direction in front of that arrow.
The trail might not use all empty cells, and never enters the same cell as a sign.

Worms

Digging for worms is a classic childhood pastime for any kid about to go fishing. The worms here travel from burrow to burrow. Can you figure out their paths?

Each worm connects two burrows. Draw an orthogonal path between exactly two circles for each worm.
A worm’s path makes a right or left turn in every cell it enters. They’re wiggly, after all.
Worm paths never cross.
All cells in the grid must be used.