aNewDomain — If you’re looking for a fun game to play against your friends, I recommend checking out Don’t Tap the White Tile. It’s a game by Android developer Hu Wen Zeng and you can download it free from the Google Play Store. I’m making it the app of the day for aNewDomain today. Here’s my review.
First, I should warn you. Be careful when you download the game — there are a bunch of clones on the Play Store, but this version is fluid and has great leaderboard software so you can rank scores with your friends. It’s the first one in the image below.
I usually like to play games that make me think. This is more of a “stare at your screen and zone out with headphones for a few minutes” sort of game. It’s almost Zen — you’re tapping tiles, listening to soothing piano music while your brain works to recognize patterns.
The whole point of the game is to avoid tapping the white tiles, hence the name. When you tap each black tile, a check point is measured in inches, as if you’re playing on a large ruler. As someone who never got into the Guitar Hero or DDR fads, this game grabbed me really fast. Honestly, at first I didn’t like it much, but once you get going, it’s hard to put it down, especially if you’re trying to beat someone else’s high score.
Magical Modes
If you start to get bored with Classic or Arcade modes, there are tons of different variations within the app. You can look in the Arcade+ section to find some other cool modes.
“Bomb” mode is exactly what it sounds like — there are skulls on certain black tiles that end the game when you tap on them. It makes your brain second guess itself, because you get so trained to tap the black tiles.
“Lightning” mode is another cool variation in the Arcade+ section. It’s just like the regular game, but every now and then the screen flashes like a lightning strike. It sounds silly, but it makes the game quite difficult.
“Double” mode takes the normal game and adds more than one black tile per line here and there. It’s fun to watch how quickly your brain builds muscle memory when playing games like this. It focuses your brain on a pattern, then when the game changes the pattern, your brain wants to continue with what it knows and has to take that extra split second to correct itself.
“Relay” mode gives you a countdown timer, and for every 8-, 10- or 12-inch checkpoint you make, more time is added to the clock. As with all the game styles, you can set the option of the game by tapping.
For a free game the ads aren’t that invasive, but you definitely notice them. They do have a setting that controls the ad display — in the main menu tap on More, then tap Ad Options. You can choose either banner or popup. I like popup because then the game isn’t trying to show you a banner while you’re playing.
Don’t Tap the White Tile has options to enable leaderboards for Google+, Facebook and Twitter, so if you’re into the social aspect of mobile games, this one likely has you covered. In my experience, the Google+ leaderboards are funky at times, but that can be fixed with an update.
The game is pretty fun to play on smaller tablets, but honestly, playing on a phone is the way to go. I tried it on my Moto X and my Galaxy Tab 3 7-inch, and it’s much easier to play on the smaller screen of the Moto X.
Give Don’t Tap the White Tile a try – download it for Android on Google Play or Apple iOS. Oh, and be sure to add me on Google+ so we can compete for non-white tile tapping dominance.
For aNewDomain, I’m Mat Lee.
Ed: The original version of this review ran on aNewDomain’s BreakingModern. Read it here.
All Screenshots: Mat Lee
Featured image: Marble and Granite Checkerboard Floor by Chris Waits via Flickr
