#480 – Pipe Dream

Plumbing the depths.

PLAYERS: 1-2 simultaneous

PUBLISHER: Bullet-proof Software

DEVELOPER: Distinctive Software

GENRE: Puzzle

RELEASE DATE: September 1990

If you can see in four dimensions and relish the thought of connecting pipes in an orderly and safe manner, Pipe Dream will be your dream… come true! The goal is to string a certain amount of pipe pieces – curved, straight, and two-way, both horizontal and vertical shapes – from the beginning pipe before the time limit runs out. Once your time is over, a white liquid called flooz emerges from the beginning pipe and make its way through the connected pipelines to the end. While you can continue to connect pipe while the flooz is running in the beginning stages, it will become much harder as Pipe Dream progresses. The more pipes connected, the less wasted pipes around the board, the more points you’ll earn; you also need a certain amount of pipes connected before you can proceed to the next round.

If I can be personal, it was a pipe dream for me to like Pipe Dream. Grievances: the time limit is too short from stage one, and the randomly generated pieces will either cause your pipes to flourish or stop them up with overwhelming ferocity. Sure, you’ll likely win if you can quickly string together some pipes, but if you don’t connect a majority of the pipes the game gives you, you’ll lose all your points (points are taken from your unused pipe pieces). This is where being able to see in four dimensions can help you: when Pipe Dream gives you pieces you don’t need, lay them in places you think your main pipe might cross in the future. Unfortunately, my brain is stuck in the three-dimensional past, and I’m too curmudgeonly to care. A pipe nightmare.

D