Tappday: Shapeout

I cannot stop playing Shapeout.  I’ve burned through way too many battery cycles over the past week playing this puzzle game.

Shapeout came into being on January 15, 2016 by developer, Hourfall, on the Google Play Store.  You may also know Hourfall by the reddit alias, /u/Jespur, who posted this creation on the /r/gaming subreddit which received much praise.

Shapeout has an very humble menu which I like

The game is simple.

Blocks begin falling from the top of the board and you need to clear the board before the blocks reach the top.

Sounds easy right?

Well let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Each falling block has a different green shape within it.  These blocks can be rotated by tapping them.  When the green shapes on adjacent blocks touch to create a square, they will disappear to clear the board.  It is equivalent to connecting four in Tetris.

It doesn’t just stop at the classic four-sided shape to clear the board.  You can connect several blocks together to get wild and crazy shapes.  From checkmarks to the letter “u”, as long as it is made of perfect squares the blocks will clear.

View post on imgur.com

You can also use the entire edge of the board to create shapes because it is lined with green triangles.  It is a really neat idea.

However, every time you tap to rotate a block a new block will fall from the top of the board.  Don’t worry, in classic mode you will not be stressed for time.  You just want to make sure to use your rotations wisely.

Once the board is filled the game is over and you will be ready to play again.

There are two other game modes available.

Survival mode is just like Tetris where the blocks will fall at timed intervals and you need to clear the board as fast as possible.

Endless mode, as the name implies, never finishes.  If you have time to waste at the airport this is the game mode for you.

Endless mode

Shapeout requires only “full network access” and “view network connections” permissions, but has advertisements.  The ads are in a banner at the bottom of the display and do not inhibit gameplay.  It is a “give to get” situation.

While there are many games in the app market that are older and very similar to Shapeout, I would still recommend it because it adds a new twist to a classic concept.

Overall I’m pretty satisfied with the game.  It would seem that Android users are as well.  Shapeout currently has a 4.9 out of 5 star rating with roughly 3,000 reviews.  Good job Hourfall!

Shapeout is available on Android only and can be downloaded by clicking the button below.

Download Shapeout