Line #32 VideoGame/Blackbox


1	!! Because [[Administrivia/HandlingSpoilers trope names may not be tagged]], along with the unique nature of this PuzzleGame, there may be unavoidable spoilers below. Trope descriptions may still be marked, though.
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3	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/58f8e9407522ca3a268b4a2b.jpg]]
4	[[caption-width-right:350:''[[{{Tagline}} Think you're clever?]]'']]
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6	-->'''Blackbox''' \|'ˌblæk 'baks\|\
7	noun\
8	1. [[BlackBox any complex system with unknown internal functions or mechanisms]]\
9	2. a game that redefines frustration\
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11	''[[https://www.blackboxpuzzles.com/ Blackbox]]'' is a mobile puzzle game developed by Grow Pixel. Its puzzles require interactions with different features of players' hardware and software, as opposed to tapping and swiping your screen in certain ways all the time.
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13	The objective of each of the game's 81 challenges is to illuminate a certain square-shaped light using a certain forementioned interaction, with the colorful shapes on your screen being your only clues (aside from the HintSystem).
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15	The game is under development to this day, with new challenges arriving on occasion.
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17	You can download the game [[https://apps.apple.com/us/app/blackbox/id962969578 on the iOS App Store]].
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19	----
20	!!''Blackbox'' provides examples of:
21	* AllegedlyFreeGame: The game can be played free of charge, with the exception of the "Basic Pack" that is required to access all of the challenges.
22	* AntiFrustrationFeatures: [[spoiler:All location-based challenges were temporarily made easier during the early UsefulNotes/Covid19Pandemic.]]
23	* ArcSymbol: Squares, often black ones. Each light is shaped like a rounded one.
24	* ArcWords: "Blackbox". The first definition of the word is a decent description for the puzzles.
25	* BizarrePuzzleGame: The ''[[ExaggeratedTrope extensive lack of convention]]'' within the puzzles surmounts to this.
26	* BribingYourWayToVictory: Hint credits can be purchased for real money. However, it is possible (and more fulfilling) to beat the game without the use of any additional hints.
27	* ClockTampering: [[spoiler:The game is affected by manual (and undetected) changes to your device's clock.]]
28	* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: Each set of challenges has its own color. [[spoiler:This becomes important in two turquoise challenges, where hints of the same color and hints of different colors must be selected.]]
29	* HintSystem: Hint credits can be spent on additional tips, but their use is wholly optional.
30	* HolidayMode:
31	** During the holidays, the leftmost red challenge creates a unique snowflake when solved.
32	** During the Halloween season, the two rightmost orange challenges are changed to depict jaws clamping down.
33	* MoonLogicPuzzle: Practically all of the game's challenges makes little sense outside hindsight.
34	* NintendoHard: The game's defining feature is just how immensely unintuitive (yet genuinely clever) almost every solution is.
35	* NoFairCheating: Certain challenges do not work [[spoiler:if the game notices manual manipulation of your device's internal clock.]]
36	* NonIndicativeName: So-called "meta challenges" (whose lights consist of two differently sized rounded squares) are not the only ones that utilize heavy ParadiegeticGameplay.
37	* OneWordTitle: A compound-word-type {{Portmantitle}}, referencing the unclear mechanics.
38	* ParadiegeticGameplay: Due to the sheer number of different tools of a mobile device that are required.
39	* ScalingTheSummit: [[spoiler:The three highest turquoise challenges require you to travel to various different altitudes.]]
40	* StealthPun: [[spoiler:One hint states that you have the ''power'' to solve a certain challenge all by yourself.]]
41	* WaitingPuzzle: Several tricky ones exist. Some can be circumvented [[spoiler:by going offline and repeatedly setting the internal clock and rebooting the game]], but others cannot.

Context VideoGame / Blackbox