Vexed for Android 2.1.0
How to play
- Drag blocks left and right.
- Blocks fall when dragged over spaces.
- When matching blocks touch, they disappear.
- Clear all blocks to solve the level.
History
The origin of the concept seems to be a 1989 Taito arcade game called Puzznic. Unfortunately, being an arcade game, the puzzle-solving was marred by time limits and the need to solve the levels in order, though the game did implement an Out Run-esque level tree.
Official computer, console, and handheld ports soon followed, which omitted the risqué backgrounds of the arcade version.
Other versions soon became available, including Cultivation (8-bit Atari computers), Brix (DOS), and Think Cross (Amiga/DOS/C64).
In 1997 Andrew Von Dollen released a version called Vexed for the TI-86 calculator. Two years later, James McCombe' Palm OS version of the same name, perfect for the then-innovative stylus based platform, became a huge hit.
The Palm OS version lives on at SourceForge.net; although the code in this version is brand new, the levels are the same ones from that version (which explains the strange and sometimes repeating level names).
This version adds several features:
- Keep track of not only which levels you've solved, but also your best solutions, and whether they meet the par score
- Multiple user profiles
- Optimized par scores for added challenge
- Level thumbnails
- Block borders are color-coded (silver/gold) to indicate an odd/even block count.
New in version 2.1.0
Enabled installing app to external storage.
New in version 2.0.1
Native support for non-HVGA resolutions (try changing the block size in the options menu!).
Updated the status line (which now shows the level).
New in version 1.1.0
Added red borders to unmatchable blocks.
Added fast scroll thumb.
Minor UI tweaks.
New in version 1.0.4
Added two new skins.
If you like Vexed, you may want to check out Sokodroid.