Hansel & Gretel

The product development of Hansel & Gretel (for SmartGames)

Raf Peeters, January 2025

Hansel & Gretel is a new fairy tale puzzle game I created for SmartGames in 2024. Initially I never intended to develop one for several reasons. First, my colleague Emma was already working on a preschool puzzle game with a fairy tale theme (The Wolf and the Seven Goats) so there didn’t seem to be a need for another game in the same category.  And even if I had planned to create a new fairy tale-based game, Hansel & Gretel wouldn’t have been my first choice. The original story is fairly grim by today’s standards for children's books. While many fairy tales have dark elements, Hansel & Gretel presents particular challenges, especially when it comes to adapting the story for the included picture book. The second reason not to choose Hansel & Gretel was the game mechanics. One natural choice for a puzzle game based on that story would be a connection game, reflecting the well-known part of the tale where the children try to find their way home by following a trail of white pebbles, and later, breadcrumbs. But SmartGames already has a popular preschool game that uses a similar path-building mechanic. However, despite these concerns, several colleagues pushed so hard for a Hansel & Gretel game that I decided to explore the idea anyway.

 

The first thing I did was look for a different game mechanic. We already have a fairy tale-themed packing puzzle (3 Little Piggies), a connection game (Little Red Riding Hood), a matching game (Jack & the Beanstalk), and a logic puzzle (Snow White). The only puzzle type suitable for a SmartGame we hadn't yet used was a sequential movement puzzle, unless you consider a maze (like in Sleeping Beauty) as one. Sequential movement puzzles are my favorite ones, but I knew they could be too challenging for young children. Puzzles like that often require a certain level of insight into the game mechanics, and without that understanding, they can quickly become frustrating trial-and-error experiences. To make a sequential movement puzzle appropriate for that age group, I needed to find a way to encourage players to think before they acted. The solution I came up with was to design a sliding puzzle, where some puzzle pieces could only move one single step. Once that piece is moved, it blocks, forcing players to plan their moves more strategically. If a mistake is made, it's easy to undo because each move only involves one step. In some ways, it’s similar to Squirrels Go Nuts, but with the goal being for Hansel & Gretel to escape the game board. When creating a game based on a fairy tale, it’s essential that players immediately recognize it as such. For Hansel & Gretel, the most iconic element is undoubtedly the gingerbread and candy house. While researching this theme, I looked at numerous images online to see how others have interpreted this. There was a lot of variation in these illustrations, but one recurring feature stood out: many depictions included oversized lollipops (often resembling trees) in the Witch’s garden. I found this surprising, as it wasn't part of how it looked in my own imagination. However, these lollipops turned out to be very useful in the game design. Not only did they help reinforce the candy theme, but they also became the puzzle pieces that would block movement after one step. The game board itself features holes on half of its squares. Unlike in Squirrels Go Nuts, where the holes are placed randomly, these holes are evenly distributed, like the black squares on a checkerboard. When a puzzle piece with a lollipop moves over a hole, the stick at the bottom of the lollipop drops into the hole, blocking further movement. Once we confirmed that the game mechanic worked and we could create enough interesting challenges, the focus shifted to the styling. Our goal was to strike the right balance between making the game look delicious and keeping production costs acceptable. We decided to make the gingerbread house relatively simple, using a white print to simulate sugar coating. Adding multiple colors to the house to represent different candies would have made it visually cluttered and more expensive to produce. Instead, we chose to feature ball-shaped candies on the roof and on the other puzzle pieces. This allowed us to introduce a variety of colors while keeping the number of molds needed to produce these parts minimal. For a similar reason, the bottom part of both figurines are part of the puzzle piece they stand on. I really love the final challenges, because they do exactly what I hoped to achieve. You really have to think before you make a move. The intended age is 5+, which means that many challenges wil be hard enough for older children as well. Therefore I included 60 instead of the 48 challenges we normally include in preschool games, so that younger children still have enough easy challenges appropriate for their age, while still keeping the interesting ones for older children.

 

This is definitely my favorite design from last year, but most people in the world will need to wait until 2026 to play with it, because in 2025 it will only be published in Germany. 

Example of a very easy solution for Hansel & Gretel

Hansel & Gretel, a puzzle game I designed for SmartGames

Example of a more difficult solution for Hansel & Gretel

GAME RULES HANSEL & GRETEL


1) Choose a challenge. Place the puzzle pieces as shown in the challenge. The figurines of Hansel & Gretel should be orientated with their face towards the side of the game board with the exit. Easy challenges will only feature Hansel OR Gretel. Harder challenges will feature both characters. 


2) Help Hansel and/or Gretel escape from the Witch’s haunted garden. Watch out:  the lollypop-trees may try to prevent your escape!  


A) The Candy House is a fixed element and cannot be moved.  

B) The puzzle pieces with Hansel /Gretel and the 2 rectangular puzzle pieces can slide (horizontally and vertically) as many steps as desired.  

C) The lollypop square puzzle pieces can only slide 1 step, as the lollypops will drop in a hole on the game board and block further movement.  

D) Sometimes lollypops will already be blocked during setup, when they are positioned on top of a hole in the game board. If so, these pieces will act as fixed obstacles (like the Witch’s Candy House).  

E) Only the puzzle pieces with Hansel & Gretel can slide out through the opening of the game board. The other puzzle pieces will remain somewhere within the borders of the game board.  


3) You have found the solution when you can slide Hansel and/or Gretel through the exit. For challenges that feature Hansel AND Gretel, both characters must escape. The order in which they do doesn't matter.  

Challenges often have multiple solutions. One of the shortest solutions is shown at the end of the challenge booklet.  


HINTS   

If you get stuck and cannot move the characters to the exit (such as when you’re blocked by a lollypop) it's best to setup the game again from the start.  

 

Website ©2025 Raf Peeters

Products and images: © Smart