D-pixing: the new Sudoku?

If you prefer playing Scrabble or Sudoku to Angry Birds on your phone, then you’ll love D-Pixing. Inspired by ancient hieroglyphics and based on Rebus puzzles popular in Victorian times, D-Pixing is a fee iPhone and iPad game created by renowned (think Private Eye, The Times, The Guardian…) media cartoonist Aidan Potts and Plymouth based indie games studio Remode.

Rebus puzzles were popular during medieval times and were often used to carve names in churches. At St. Bartholomew church in Smithfield, London, for example, Prior Bolton is represented by a bolt (arrow) through a ton (barrel). A rebus craze hit England in Victorian times, with scores of puzzles published by newspapers and magazines as challenging entertainment, as Sudoku is today.

D-Pixing is a contemporary reinterpretation of the great tradition of rebuses, tapping the image(s) that correspond to the word given - the right tap gives you points and the wrong tap takes time away. The images are beautifully hand drawn by Aidan Pottts, who has created a library of 450 of them, matching 5000 words. Watch out for a few unexpected twists, for example the inclusion of a common French word and to court controversy a word pronounced with a London Cockney accent - dropped H alert!

Illustrator Aidan Potts says, “The idea for the game came when I realized that technology will allow me to match hundreds of images to thousands of words, bringing a fresh, new life to the rebus tradition. Ella Romanos from Remode was recommended to me by TIGA, where she is a board member, and the game took shape from there. Remode immediately educated me in the finer points of game play, such as the need to reward players for correct combinations and reducing their time for incorrect ones and I don’t think there’s higher praise for their work.”

Ella Romanos, Remode CEO, says, “We were very excited when Aidan approached us. The idea of rebus puzzles is genius in its simplicity and something players can return to again and again, while his distinctive illustrator style gives the game a special feel.”

To try the game, download from iTunes on your iPhone or iPad.

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