Flick - Overview

Flick is a simple game that is surprisingly addictive. It relies on good reflexes, short-term memory and observation skills.

The basic premise, which applies to both Flick Basic and Flick Shuffle, is to flick the object that appears in the centre of the screen in the correct direction. For each object you get right, you earn 1 point; for each object you get wrong, you lose 1 point. Simple. But how do you know which way to flick it? Each direction (left, right, up, down) is associated with a category and the object needs to be flicked towards the category it fits.

If you don't have it already, you can download Flick from Apple's iTunes App Store:



Game Styles

Flick Basic:

Flick Basic randomly chooses four categories (and their matching objects) for each new game. These categories/objects remain fixed for the duration of that game, but their relative positions may change. So, for example, say the program selects four colours, and associates them as follows: up = red, right = blue, down = yellow, left = green. For the duration of the game (how long that is will depend on the mode you selected), the colours will always be red, blue, yellow and green, but their direction associations may change (e.g. up = blue, right = yellow, down = red, left = green). This will happen at random during the game, so you need to pay attention, and not just rely on memory! The difficulty you choose will determine how obvious the categories are; in an Easy game an object’s category is directly related to its appearance, in a Medium game the category is based on one property of its appearance, and in a Hard game an object’s association with its category is not based on visual characteristics at all!

Flick Shuffle:

Flick Shuffle adds an extra dimension to the game, by changing not only the orientation of the categories, but also the categories themselves! For example, when you begin the game, the categories may be colours, as above. However, in addition to the colours changing which direction they are associated with, the program can randomly change the category, for example to shapes (e.g. square, circle, triangle, trapezium). You might find yourself suddenly going from up = red, right = blue, down = yellow, left = green to up = square, right = circle, down = triangle, left = trapezium, and you have to ignore colour altogether! How frequently these change depends on the difficulty you select; an Easy game will change categories once every 10 objects, a Medium game once every 5 objects, and a Hard game will randomly select a new category for every object! This is a further test to your observation skills and focus, because you will have to change which property of an object you pay attention to!

Game Modes

There are two ways to play both Flick Basic and Flick Shuffle.

Timed

You have 90 seconds from the time you start the game to get as many points as you can. Flick quickly, but be careful; a wrong answer reduces your score!

Sudden Death

This mode lets you keep playing for as long as you like, with one important catch; you have to be right every time! As soon as you flick one shape in the wrong direction, it’s Game Over! But wait – that’s a bit too easy. You might just sit there and think about each shape for a few minutes to make sure you get it right. There’s one other catch – the objects only remain on the screen for a short period of time; 7 seconds if you’ve selected Easy, 5 seconds for Medium and 2 seconds for Hard. If you miss 10 objects, it’s also Game Over!