Reiner Knizia's City of Secrets Pipes

Reiner Knizia is a pretty big noise in the world of European boardgames. His mathematical approach to game creation is undeniably interesting, and it's yielded a series of well-regarded dice-rolling games.

Reiner Knizia's City of Secrets Pipes marks the latest attempt by the renowned boardgame designer to ascend the App Store charts.

A methodical steampunk take on the Pipe Mania template with a pleasant visual style, it's a slow-paced puzzler that's likely to prove a little too meditative for some.

In City of Secrets Pipes, you play Mole, a woefully inept engineer on a steam-powered airship that's careering out of control (no prizes for guessing who's at fault there). At least, it's careering out of control in the cutscenes.

When it comes to the actual gameplay, there's no haste or impending doom - there's just you and a selection of pipes.

Each level has a start point with a variety of nozzles. It's your job to connect this starting point to the scoring exit points around the edge of the level.

There are two types of connector - small and large - and you have to connect small to small and large to large. You're given one connector at a time, and you have to place it into the grid of spaces before you're given a new one.

If there's nowhere for a connector to go, it becomes a stopper. Not only do stoppers mess up your carefully laid plans, but they also strip points away from your score.

Connecting point-scoring outlets with thick-ended pipes doubles your score, while there are bonuses for chaining large ends all the way back to the source.

Thinking two or three moves ahead is essential if you want to secure some monstrous scores, but the random distribution of the pipe tiles means you'll have to have more than one plan on the go at once.

Higher scores mean more stars, and stars unlock extra levels that change the way the game plays.

Reiner Knizia's City of Secrets Pipes is more like a game of single-player chess than any of the fast-paced matching puzzlers that iOS gamers are used to.

Its standard puzzles are tough, its Golden mode even tougher. But, if logical, well-thought-out puzzles are your thing, then this comes highly recommended.