Stoke-on-Trent, United Kingdom – Lightwood Games today is delighted to announce that Foursies, a four in a row game with a twist, is now available on the App Store. With new rules designed specifically for mobile devices, this free iOS app brings a classic game format into the digital age. If you’ve played vertical strategy games like Connect Four or Captain’s Mistress, you’ll think you already know how to play this game. That’s true to an extent, but the unique twists in Foursies turn a familiar game into a brand new challenge.
In a nutshell: you play four boards at the same time against the same opponent and the first to make lines on two boards wins the game. However, on each turn you must play in a different column on every board! These rules are designed to make the game quicker and more engaging, so that it suits a turn-based mobile app.
By giving the player four moves to make on every turn, it means there’s always something to think about. Even if your hand is forced on one board, you still get to make a strategic decision on another. Requiring only two lines to win avoids long, drawn-out end game situations so it doesn’t matter if one board starts looking like a stalemate. Most games last between ten and fifteen turns. Foursies even picks a random starting position each time you play, so things begin quickly and every game is different.
“We wanted to bring this family favourite to iOS, but we found that playing the traditional way didn’t work well in a casual, turn-based format”, said Lightwood’s Chris Newman. “It takes several moves before the game gets interesting and in the later stages your move is often forced. Unless your opponent is responding immediately this can get dull very quickly, so we designed Foursies to have more decisions and less grinding”.
The most interesting new rule is being forced to play in four different columns. This not only ensures that you can’t play the same way on every board, but adds a brand new strategy element to the game.
“Some gamers dismiss Connect Four as trivial because there’s a known solution, which means a knowledgable player can always force a win or a draw”, said Newman. “Foursies eliminates that possibility! You could try to play a perfect game on one board, but you have to play differently on the other three”.
Foursies has a wide range of custom counters to choose from, so players can put their own mark on the game. Counters are unlocked through playing the game, or can be bought via in-app purchase.
Device Requirements:
* iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad
* Requires iOS 5.0 or later
* Universal Application
* 30.8 MB
Pricing and Availability:
Foursies 1.0 is Free and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Games category.
Lightwood Games
Foursies 1.0
YouTube Video (Demo)
Screenshots
App Icon
Press Kit (zip)
Lightwood Games is a trading name of Lightwood Consultancy Ltd, a small company based on Stoke-on-Trent, UK. Established in 1999, Lightwood gained a reputation for producing high quality software for clients around the world. After a decade of delivering web-based projects for clients as diverse as motor traders, stock photography sites, roleplaying games and licensed real money poker operators, the developers found the lure of the new generation of mobile phones too strong to resist and extended their skills to provide consulting services in this sector. The company began developing games for iOS in 2010. The company has continued to focus on producing high quality applications in the puzzle game genre, and now concentrates exclusively on its mobile game output. In April 2012, Lightwood’s developers won two awards at the UK’s first GameHack event for their game Plasma Party. They won “Best Use of Mobile” and “Most Innovative App” for developing a unique multiple screen gaming platform in just 24 hours. Copyright (C) 2013 Lightwood Games. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPod and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.