Fugdale’s Funhouse

Review: This simple game presents a grid of links (each link looks like a quarter circle). The links each start out rotated in random directions. You simply click on any one of the links and it will rotate one quarter turn clockwise. If one or both of the ends of the link you click connect with the end of an adjacent link, it will also turn clockwise and attempt to connect with its neighboring links. For each link that connects you get one point. Clicking on the right link can cause a chain reaction of turning links that can sometimes last for several minutes.

You must try to beat your previous score by finding the best link to click. The game has a unique quality to it. I haven’t quite seen this same premise before, but I had to dock it a few points simply because the user doesn’t really have much of a challenge, nor does he/she have much participation in the process. But still, clicking on a link that causes a long chain reaction does have some satisfying effect. It feels a little like getting a jackpot on a slot machine. So most people will definitely find this little game interesting for a while.

I found trying to strategize about the links a little too difficult. You can really only think a few connections ahead and the results always surprise you by being duds or by being jackpots. Despite the satisfying rush when first playing, the game holds little replay value and amounts to not much more than a cute time killer. However, props go out to the designer(s) of this game for coming up with a unique little interface. I hope to see more games by the same folks which incorporate a little more user interaction.