Following on from the critical success of Permutile (which we reviewed on AAWP here), developer Beautiful Mind Games has released another fascinating puzzle game, this time with a competitive two player element. With polished graphics and a huge range of skill levels and options to tweak the game, Pairanoia deserves to be another hit game.

In the game, you have four square tiles you can play on each move. These can be placed anywhere on the board as long as they touch another tile which is the same colour or the same shape as the tile but not both.

From the app description:

• One piece can be a part of more than one pair. Any two adjacent pieces must form a valid pair.
• You can also reposition pieces already on the board — as long as by doing so you don't break more pairs than you create. No pieces can be left "orphaned" either.
• Play alone, test your skills against the computer, or challenge a friend.
• In single-player mode, the object of the game is to form as many pairs as possible. Get extra points for completing your task faster.
• In two-player mode, your goal is to form more pairs than your opponent.
• Track your performance over time and post your grade to online leaderboards.
• Choose from a variety of difficulty levels and draw pile sizes.
• Leave the game unfinished and come back later to complete it.

Having spent far too long over breakfast with Pairanoia, I have to say it's a wonderful concept that's very easy to understand, but one that does lead you to plan ahead and think strategically about your moves. I also love that it offers a solitaire mode for single players as well as local head-to-head and a computer AI opponent to play against.

Available in ad-supported and paid for downloads, you can get your copy of Pairanoia from the Windows Marketplace or from the AAWP directory.