Sticks and Rings

Sticks and Rings Jay Is Games is having a flash game design competition for which all of the entries must have a “grow” theme. The first entry in the competition is a puzzle game called Rings and Sticks, and it’s very good. The gameplay is unlike other games that I’ve seen before. You begin with a collection of rings scattered about the screen and a stick growing up from the middle. Along the bottom, there are a series of growing options. Either grow the stick, fork the stick, fork the stick slightly wider, grow the left branch, or grow the right branch. For each level, you have a limited number of each option that you can use. The goal is to grow the stick through each of the rings.

As the levels advance, the growth patterns become more complicated. Barriers begin to appear that your stick must grow around. There are also seeds that can begin a new stick growth. It’s not long before the levels begin to get really challenging.

All in all, it’s a great first entry. I’ll be interested to see if any other entries are as good.