This post is brought to you in partnership with Academics Choice. While I was compensated for my review, all opinions are 100% my own.

Confession time – I have a slight addiction to puzzle apps. They are one of my favorite ways to decompress – or just give myself a quick five minute break during a busy day.

Equii is a challenging (and slightly addicting) word puzzle game. Users attempt to solve the word puzzles by combining images, letters, and numbers. The game can get tricky through things like addition, subtraction, and other modifiers – always keeping the user on their toes!

Players are shown a series of visual cues. You may be shown something like this:

The answer? Seahorse!

Here is another example:

This one may take some users a little time, as they work to figure out that the first picture is not “tree” but “pine.”

As a parent, I love that Equii is not only an enjoyable game for ME, but one that would work for kids/tweens as well. Kids can practice two key skills while playing Equii – critical thinking and spelling. (And in my opinion, those are two things most kids could use more work on!)

The game will not allow you to move on until you have spelled the puzzle clue word correctly. For example, if my second grader was playing this round, his first instinct may be to type “cowch.” I love that the app provides a fun way to remind kids about phonics and spelling “rules.” In this case, we’d have a great opportunity to go back over the “ou” sound.

But – don’t get me wrong. This game is not just for kids! There have been plenty of times where the puzzles leave me stumped. Equii has a great mix of easy/obvious puzzles and challenging/”Why can’t I figure this out!?” puzzles. Just when I start to feel really smart, a puzzle will come along and completely stump me. It’s a great workout for the brain.

The game can be played in solo mode, or you can go head-to-head in a random match-up or with a friend. Users can also create their own word puzzles. You get coins each time your puzzle stumps another user! I had fun trying to come up with puzzles to submit! Here is one of the puzzles  I created:

Can you figure it out?(Once the puzzle is shown to other users, the word clues will NOT be beneath each picture!)  I really enjoyed the challenge of creating word puzzles – perhaps even more than solving the puzzles. This feature really adds a level of critical and creative thinking to the app.

If you’re looking for a fun way to “escape” or challenge the brain for a few minutes a day, want an app that’s suitable for you AND your kids, or if you simply like to play games and puzzles on your phone, please go check out Equii!

Equii from Triora Technologies is a free download (*contains in-app optional purchases), and is available through iTunes and Google Play.