Buy Kanoodle for a 7 or 8-year-old trying their first logic puzzle, and IQ Puzzler Pro for a child who already likes puzzles, for anyone 9 and up, or for a box an adult will steal. They look like the same toy: both have 12 bead-shaped pieces, a pocket-sized case, and flat and pyramid puzzles. The difference is the puzzles themselves. Kanoodle starts very easy and stays fairly easy. IQ Puzzler Pro has a real climb from beginner to hard.

One honest note on sources. The most detailed side-by-side published, on SmartGamesAndPuzzles, is by someone who helped develop IQ Puzzler Pro for SmartGames, and the author says so. I've used its counts and measurements, which you can check against the boxes, and set its opinions aside.

Quick picks

  • Kanoodle for a 6-8-year-old's first logic puzzleCheck price
  • IQ Puzzler Pro for 8+, puzzle fans, and grown-upsCheck price

Side by side

Kanoodle IQ Puzzler Pro
Maker Educational Insights (EI-2978) SmartGames (SG 455)
Age on the box 7+ 6+
Pieces 12 bead pieces 12 bead pieces
Challenges 200 120, plus 48 free online
Kinds of puzzle Flat rectangle and 3D pyramid 40 flat, 40 on a slanted 45° grid, 40 pyramid
Easiest puzzles 12 that need just one piece placed 2 or 3 pieces left to place
Hardest puzzles About 6 pieces to place 10 pieces to place
Solutions A download from the publisher Printed in the booklet
Case One-piece plastic, the hinge bends back Three hard-plastic parts, the lid opens flat
Price seen $9.99 to $11.59 (Amazon tracker, Staples) €12.99 direct; in the US often a little more than Kanoodle

The real difference is the difficulty curve

This is the whole decision. Kanoodle's first level is 12 puzzles where one piece is missing and you put it in. That sounds too easy, and for most 9-year-olds it is, but for a 7-year-old who has never done a puzzle like this, it's how they learn that pieces can be flipped and turned. Even the hardest flat Kanoodle puzzles leave about half the pieces already placed, and the hardest pyramids need only three placed.

IQ Puzzler Pro runs across five levels. The easy ones give you 9 or 10 pieces already in place; the hard ones show 2 and leave you the other 10. It also adds a set nobody else has: 40 puzzles on a slanted grid, which changes how the pieces fit together and is genuinely new even to a kid who has done a lot of these. Its pieces are trickier too: Kanoodle has a cross and a square, which look the same however you turn them, and IQ Puzzler Pro has neither.

So the question is what happens in week two. A child who finds Kanoodle's levels too easy will move to the back of the book quickly and then run out. A child who finds IQ Puzzler Pro's early levels hard has a long way to go, and the book gets them there step by step.

When they get stuck

When a child is stuck at the table, the answer has to be in the box. IQ Puzzler Pro prints every solution at the back of the booklet. Kanoodle's current 200-puzzle edition has solutions, but you download them from the publisher's site, which means a parent, a phone and a printer. That matters more for car trips and grandparents' houses than it sounds.

Both are single solutions, so the answer in the back is the answer. (That isn't true of every Kanoodle: the 500-puzzle Ultimate Champion edition has puzzles with hundreds of possible solutions and no answer key at all.)

The case, for travel

Both close up into a case small enough for a backpack. IQ Puzzler Pro's is three hard-plastic parts with a clear lid that opens all the way flat, so spare pieces sit in the lid while you play. Kanoodle's is one moulded piece whose hinge tends to bend backwards, so the lid won't lie flat. One Kanoodle piece is a straight line of beads that rolls off a table, which you'll learn about in a car.

Neither has a recall on file with the CPSC, and both carry the standard small-parts warning, which matters only if a toddler shares the floor.

Why the ages on the box look backwards

The boxes say Kanoodle 7+ and IQ Puzzler Pro 6+, which reads backwards against everything above. The ages are about small parts and basic understanding, not about how hard the puzzles get. In practice: a 6 or 7-year-old will get further on their own with Kanoodle, and an 8 to 10-year-old will get more months out of IQ Puzzler Pro.

If your child is somewhere between, and you want a puzzle with a different idea rather than more of the same, I've compared Kanoodle's harder Fan Edition with SmartGames' sliding IQ Flow separately: IQ Flow is the better first puzzle for a 7-year-old who doesn't like beads.

Which to buy

Kanoodle if the child is 6 to 8, has never done a puzzle like this, and needs early wins. It's the cheaper box and it has more puzzles, even if many are easy. Print the solutions before the first car trip.

IQ Puzzler Pro if the child is 8 or older, already likes puzzles, or you want one box for the whole family. It's sturdier, the solutions are in it, and its hard levels are hard for adults too.

If you're unsure and it's a gift, IQ Puzzler Pro is the safer choice: its easy levels are gentle enough for a beginner, and it lasts longer once they're hooked.

Lasts longestSmartGames IQ Puzzler Pro120 challenges in 5 levels · solutions in the box · 6+
Check price on Amazon
First puzzleEducational Insights Kanoodle200 challenges, gentle start · 7+
Check price on Amazon

Questions parents ask

Yes. Both use 12 bead pieces, but IQ Puzzler Pro's hardest puzzles leave 10 pieces to place, against about 6 for Kanoodle's, and it adds 40 puzzles on a slanted grid.

The current 200-puzzle Kanoodle has single solutions, but you download them from Educational Insights' site. IQ Puzzler Pro prints them in the booklet.

The box says 7+. It suits beginners from about 6 or 7; many 9 and 10-year-olds find most of its puzzles easy.

SmartGames lists it at 6+. Its early levels work for a patient 7-year-old; its hard levels challenge adults.

Both have 12 bead pieces, but not the same set. Kanoodle includes a cross and a square that look the same however you turn them; IQ Puzzler Pro has neither.