Grandma Bethlinda's Variety Box

by Arthur DiBianca profile

2015

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Reviews and Ratings

5 star:
(10)
4 star:
(14)
3 star:
(10)
2 star:
(1)
1 star:
(0)
Average Rating:
Number of Ratings: 35
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- voidnoidoid, December 17, 2023

- paperclypse (Portland, OR), October 30, 2023

- mg51, November 2, 2021

- aaachenb, October 5, 2021

- TheBoxThinker, January 25, 2021

- kierlani, July 4, 2020

- Edo, June 23, 2020

- IanAllenBird, December 14, 2019

- Stian, May 15, 2019

- Zape, March 24, 2019

- elias67, March 12, 2019

- wisprabbit (Sheffield, UK), August 24, 2018

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Absolutely Loved This, July 14, 2018
by Whystler
Related reviews: dibianca minimalist

This is exactly the kind of experience I was looking for. A delightful play through. An interesting and quirky performance. Press this; turn that; tap; pull; hear things in your head; have a giggle and even a snack; experience a variety of mechanical machinations; test yourself with a puzzles. All of this done with two commands - so much functionality and theatrical entertainment with no need for a lexicon of word guessing. Thank you sir!

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- play_all_day, June 14, 2018

- IFforL2 (Chiayi, Taiwan), May 7, 2018

- Stas, April 5, 2018

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
A Puzzle Box Well Worth Solving!, February 24, 2018

Arthur DiBianca; quirky, imaginative, witty, innovative, minimalistic (in the sense of the interactiveness if not of the writing). The philosophy presented here, as far as IF design is concerned, seems to be "less is more"; and he makes a strong case for it. As streamlined as ever, his three verb interface (x,u,z) makes for a straightforward, frustration-less experience (aside from forgetting and actually trying to use a traditional verb). This is DiBianca merely hinting at the scope of his design space and world-building capabilities. While a few of his signature puzzles are sure to delight most IF fans, solving this puzzle box does provide a bit of tedium towards the end. Even still, I was able to solve the box without a considerable amount of trouble, and without needing to consult the walkthrough (that's always a good thing).
With that said, I'd be torn between giving this a 6 or a 7 in the Comp, so 3.5 stars here would be nice if it were possible. I guess my bias toward his inventive, unique style will have to dictate a four then, even though DiBianca's more recent entries are sure to impress to an even greater extent!

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- nosferatu, January 18, 2018

- Guenni (At home), January 6, 2018

- Spike, November 9, 2017

- ifMUD_Olly (Montana, USA), April 21, 2017

- Robin Johnson (Edinburgh, Scotland), November 30, 2016

- EJ, August 12, 2016

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
Made me exclaim aloud in wonder, June 25, 2016
by Danielle (The Wild West)

Haven't finished this game yet, but I keep laughing aloud and clapping with delight as I play with it, so I'mma give it five stars.

Others have noted how well-written it is. Being a writer myself, I marvel at the craftsmanship! Writing clear descriptions is a hard trick for some of us to pull off, but the writing in GBVB's practically invisible, a window into the world of the box. Add in the ingenious use of "U" and you get all the delights of physical puzzle-solving minus the annoying fiddly bits.

In short, this game is the philosophical opposite of Hard Puzzle.

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- Doug Orleans (Somerville, MA, USA), May 20, 2016


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