Futuriana: Pentix-like puzzle with unique, intuitive way of playing [iPhone]

Futuriana is a Tetris/Pentix-like puzzle with 5-cube pieces specifically designed for playing on touch devices. It is stylized as a vintage computer with a glitchy B&W display to bring a bit of nostalgia to some of us. (The glitches can be disabled in app settings.)

WARNING: Pentix is more challenging to play compared to the 4-cube variation of the game, Tetris.

How to play the game: once a new piece appears, you can touch the display anywhere, then: slide left and right to move the piece, or slide up and down to rotate. You will notice that sliding up-right or down-right rotates the piece in place, while other directions rotate and move the piece simultaneously. To help you visualize how the piece can be moved at any given time, a small "handle" is shown attached to the piece during the touch.

To drop the piece, do a short touch. Falling can be stopped by touching again.

In many cases you will be able to move and rotate the current piece in one go, that is, with one gesture. This allows for faster playing compared to other Tetris/Pentix variations.

You can flip the interface to play with your other hand, in which case the direction of all gestures is also flipped.

Futuriana is a timed game: level-ups occur at regular intervals. This means, it is more beneficial to play as fast as you can at all times. The first three pieces will not move to allow you to practice a bit, but after that the game will increase the speed every 3 minutes. The maximum speed is 30, i.e. there will be a total of 29 speed increases. If you can sustain the game at the highest speed (can you?), you will be able to play indefinitely.

Points are given for landing each piece at lower levels, the lower the better, and when clearing lines. You are rewarded graciously for removing more than one line at a time.

All in all, it is more advantageous to: (1) play as fast as possible at all times, (2) land the pieces as low as possible, i.e. don't let them pile up, and (3) remove as many lines at a time as possible.

Minimum score required to be recorded in the high scores table: 500. Currently the high scores table is stored only locally, though we may add some networking in the future releases.

In app settings (Home -> Settings -> Futuriana) you can switch on and off the visual aids (grid, handle) and also the vintage display effects.