IQ-Plus
The product development of IQ-Plus (for SmartGames)
Raf Peeters, January 2026
While working on IQ-Go, we also developed IQ-Plus, another variant aimed at newcomers and alternative channels outside of toy shops. Unlike IQ-Go, this one sticks with the familiar dimensions of our standard IQ games. Later we will also bring back some older IQ titles that had gone out of production, but in a simplified form, when we add those games to this new subcollection.
It sits somewhere between the standard IQ series and the IQ-Go spinoffs. IQ-Plus is based on a similar concept as IQ-Puzzler PRO. But I wanted to make it slightly easier and cheaper to produce, and so I introduced a few changes:
• 96 challenges instead of 120, spread across 4 levels, with no Wizard level.
• The most noticeable difference is the white PLUS-shaped piece. My boss had long wanted a white puzzle piece in an IQ game, and by making it part of the white game board, we achieved that while also cutting costs. All the other pieces are the same as in IQ-Puzzler Pro, except for the orange and dark red pieces — one was replaced by the fixed PLUS, the other by a straight orange tetromino. The board itself is slimmer, with both 2D and 3D challenges, but without the extra angled grid on the bottomside that IQ-Puzzler Pro has.
• Because of the fixed PLUS piece, the puzzles are easier to solve, so we leaned more heavily on 2D challenges and reduced the number of 3D ones. IQ-Plus includes only 12 pyramid challenges, compared to 30 or 40 in Pro or Deluxe. That was partly a design choice — beginners tend to prefer 2D challenges — and partly a practical one, since the fixed PLUS reduced the number of possible 3D packings.
In the end, IQ-Plus became the accessible sibling of IQ-Puzzler Pro: familiar in shape, simpler in gameplay, and designed to welcome new players into the IQ family. Similar to the IQ-Go products, this game will only be available in select channels. So you won’t find it in any regular toy shop.
Example of a Master 2D challenge (left) and solution (right) of IQ PLUS
GAME RULES IQ-PLUS 2D challenges
1) Choose a challenge and place the indicated puzzle pieces on game board as shown. The position of these pieces cannot change. The white PLUS puzzle piece in the center is fixed to the game board and can't be moved elsewhere.
2) Fill all the empty spaces on the board with all the remaining puzzle pieces.
3) There is only one solution, found at the end of the challenge booklet.
GAME RULES IQ-PLUS 3D pyramid challenges
Construct a 5-level pyramid. Each challenge shows the position of some puzzle pieces in the 5 layers of the pyramid. The middle part of the game board forms a square 5x5 grid with deeper holes. This is your ground level for the 3D challenges.
1) Place the puzzle pieces as shown in the challenge:
• A puzzle piece can be placed horizontally (with all its ball shapes in the same layer), or vertically at a 45° angle (with all its ball shapes spread over multiple layers).
• Grey balls indicate spots in the pyramid that are still empty.
• White balls indicate the position of the fixed piece on the ground level.
2) Fill the empty spaces with the remaining pieces to create a pyramid with 5 layers.
3) There is only one solution, found at the end of the challenge booklet.
Website ©2026 Raf Peeters
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