I'm a little startled at the number of tangrams I've solved in my life and yet never knew they consisted of seven pieces. I have a sneaky suspicion that when I was a child, many of them had fewer or perhaps additional pieces, depending on what would make the shape easier to solve as I learned spatial relation. That I solved over 200 in NEVES without figuring out that the name is seven backwards ... I hang my head in shame.

However, it is a game of tangrams, not palindromes!

Truth be told, NEVES barely qualifies as a game. It truly is a collection of tangrams — 542 to be exact — that you solve. They are broken up in various collections. The key to NEVES is in how you choose to solve them.

For those who don't know what a tangram is, it is a shape — an apple, a man fishing, a number 3 — made of seven polygonal shapes. Variations on the puzzle will change, but in general, you will see the shape as a guide or be presented with a silhouette, then move the available shapes into place until you use them all in reproducing the shape. The difficulty lies in using the shapes properly: There are times when four shapes will solve the puzzle, but you must use all seven; other times, you may use all seven yet have not solved the shape. There is always an answer. Seeing the answer is key.

NEVES uses the silhouette guide for solving the tangrams, which works beautifully with the Nintendo DS touchpad. You can rotate shapes with your stylus in either direction. Should you need to turn a piece over, you simply tap it. To place a piece, you drag it to the desired location. Touching anywhere off the puzzle will "lock" the piece in place. The color will change, letting you know that shape is in place — but don't take this to mean it is correct.

You continue through this process of rotating shapes, flipping them and moving them onto the silhouette until you complete the puzzle. Once you do, the silhouette changes color, and you receive a puzzle complete notification. Time to pick the next puzzle.

There are two ways to choose from to solve the basic Silhouette Mode: rooms or shapes. Rooms are divided into groupings of four. Four groups of four rooms: Rooms 1-4:1, Rooms 1-4:2 and on. As I didn't necessarily find the puzzles to be more difficult in subsequent rooms, I don't know what the criteria is for grouping them. You can play any Room 1 at the beginning. But to play a Room 2, you must have finished the previous Room 1.

The thing about tangrams? Their difficulty is personal. I had a pomegranate that stumped me for a week. I had to move onto two other rooms. I regularly tried, it but I simply could not solve it. Then one day, in nine moves, I simply completed it. Yet, I'd moved on to a Room 3 with no real issues.

The other way to solve the Silhouette Mode is through shapes. You can choose to solve all fruit, letters, animals, plants and food, transportation, and myriad of other categories. At first, this may seem like an extraneous add-on. But consider my issue with the pomegranate. Most fruit are round, and I'm solving problems with polygons. The more fruit I solve, the better I will become at solving round shapes built with polygonal pieces. This is a great way to hone your skills in the areas you are either good at or build your skills in the areas where you are lacking.

I mentioned at the beginning that NEVES barely qualifies as a game. It does have game elements, and once you've become comfortable with the self-paced silhouettes, you can move on to the maddening, hair-pulling Time Pressure mode or 7steps mode. (Can you see the missing patch of auburn on the right side of my head?)

Time Pressure is pretty self-explanatory. You're presented with a tangram, and you have 3 minutes to solve the puzzle. The good news? You've solved the puzzle before. The bad news? You have 3 minutes. It sounds like a lot. But unless you're good at tangrams to begin with or you've solved all 542 and become a whiz at them along the way, it's not so much time ...

7steps.

...

Welcome to my missing hair. Plan accordingly. (For the puzzle, not the hair).

Remember how a tangram consists of seven shapes? Well, you have exactly seven moves in which to complete your puzzle. One wrong move and you fail. This requires pre-planning. If they'd added a timer to this mode, I'd have thrown my DS, I'm sure.

There also is a fun multiplayer mode — and it only requires one cart! You can play for Bragging Rights. Once you've sent the game to your opponent, you will each have three puzzles. The first to solve all three puzzles wins. And no comments about how my kids are better at this than I. They do this at school. That's my story, and I'm sticking with it.

NEVES isn't what I'd call an addicting puzzle game. It is very low key. It was easy to put down but just as easy to pick up again. The production quality on it is exceptional. Colors vary, the music is pleasing and the user interface is not only simple to use, but very intuitive. And tangrams have replayability. If you were to put this away for a few months and then pick it up again, I guarantee your skills will have lapsed. This is a fantastic waiting-for-the-doctor/sitting-on-a-plane/falling-asleep game. Not only that, it's a great game for kids that doesn't overexcite them, is fun and teaches them spatial relations.