Recently I’ve been diving into the world of mobile games — downloading platformers, idle clickers and little puzzle games to see how they fare on my phone. In this downloading of many puzzles games, I’ve discovered the genre of infinite, high score chasing puzzle games, and with them Ten Buttons.
Ten Buttons has one goal: get ten of the same color buttons to be on a five by five grid, while not allowing the grid to get too full to move. At first you have a three by three set of random buttons in the middle of the grid, allowing you to drag these buttons about in hopes of changing the other colors. You see, if you line up the buttons, placing one across or diagonal from another button of the same color, the buttons in between them change to the outer button’s color. After each move, more buttons are randomly added to the grid.
This is, admittedly, a pretty simple concept. At the top of the screen there are tabs showing the various colors and amounts of buttons currently in play. Most of the buttons can be moved around, apart from buttons with a white x between the holes. These are stuck until you make a match of ten. When you do have ten or more of the same color buttons on the screen, a pair of scissors cuts off that color and points are added to your score. These scissors are pretty satisfying to watch, as bits of string and buttons float to the ground, clearing the area around it.
Soon buttons start to be stacked, only allowing you to change the color and cut off the top button, which means the board is going to be filled for longer. This adds a lot more challenges within the game, as you will need to clear more buttons in one move to make up for the fact that these buttons won’t be completely gone when cut.
If you get more than ten buttons all of the same color, at the same time, you might find yourself with a button that contains a star. This will just give you a bonus once cut. If the board starts to fill up, you can use a power-up of which there are two, to help you out. One power up removes a button while the other shuffles the board. These power-ups default to one per game, however, you can purchase more or watch advertisements for more.
Playing Ten Buttons, I found the sleek graphics and addictive nature of wanting to get a high score pulling me in. When it came to matching up the buttons, I got into a groove of trying to get at least two buttons to my color, quickly switching as random buttons were added. The rounds are quick, so playing while waiting in line or during commercials on TV took up the right amount of time. Ten Buttons is a very simple game, but one that is done well.
