# Simon Tatham's Portable Puzzle Collection

14 Hacker News commenters recommended Simon Tatham's Portable Puzzle Collection and 2 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 7 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Free, ad-free collection of classic logic puzzles that people play on many devices; critics say it is not as good as hand-crafted puzzles.

## Why people recommend it

- Varied logic puzzles people enjoy (3 comments): "I've always loved Simon Tatham's puzzle collection — especially Bridges, Slitherlink, and Signpost." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47176851)) "Yeah, this collection is _awesome_. I'm currently enjoying the Towers" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48637620)) "This is how most of Simon Tatham's puzzles work, and that works well." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49065677))
- Long-time fans recommend it (2 comments): "the main iOS app is a little wonky in places" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48632067)) "Huge fan of this collection" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50312904))
- Available on many devices (2 comments): "It is part of Simon Tatham's puzzle collection, it also has an app on F-Droid" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45925104)) "I install Simon's collection on every device of mine" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48636650))
- Pure logic, guaranteed solvable (2 comments): "mines.exe is guaranteed to be solvable every time" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50032063)) "100% pure logic goodness that they are" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47858489))

## What people warn about

- Not as good as hand-crafted puzzles (2 comments): "I love that Simon Tatham's Puzzles exists, but nothing beats hand-crafted puzzles made by good designers." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47861867)) "it really just isn't quite as good" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46844237))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Outer Wilds](https://hackerapproved.com/p/outer-wilds.md): 65 recommend
- [enclose.horse](https://hackerapproved.com/p/enclose-horse.md): 64 recommend
- [The Witness](https://hackerapproved.com/p/witness.md): 60 recommend
- [Braid](https://hackerapproved.com/p/braid.md): 36 recommend
- [Blue Prince](https://hackerapproved.com/p/blue-prince.md): 30 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Simon Tatham's Portable Puzzle Collection", https://hackerapproved.com/p/simon-tatham-s-portable-puzzle-collection/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).