Introduction

AbaCruX ("ah-bah-crooks") started its life in the mid 1990s as a Macintosh application and was initially distributed as shareware. Then around 2000 or so the app was ported to Palm OS (Palm Pilot) and for many years distributed in a variety of independent app stores. Then came the iPhone.

AbaCruX was one of the first apps (2008) in the new 'iPhone App Store' as it was called back in the day. A couple of years later a version for iPad was released. Then came the universal iOS version. This app has been around for a bit. After all that time, however, the biggest advances in the game itself were made just this last year with a total of 240 configurations across 16 boards. This new version looks and sounds fantastic on your Mac, iPad, iPhone and now also AppleTV. You can run this AbaCruX on either. All in-app purchases are applied across all platforms. This is all a bit new and links don't yet always work. This always works: type "abacrux" into the search box of the app store app on your device.

Meditative

There is a certain meditative quality to playing this game. It is captivating, great mental exercise and has a calming effect. It is also something one can get pretty good at - a requirement as some of these puzzles are very difficult. The game itself - peg solitaire - was a coffee-table curiosity in the 18th and 19th centuries. A self-contained unit of entertainment - for one. Games were fabricated in stylish, luxurious and often very expensive fashion with beautiful wood or marble boards and exquisite little pearls that sometimes even found a circular rail of sorts in the board itself, so they wouldn't get lost. That sense of beauty is something this new version tries to recreate in a sort of digital sense. Not only with its grandious visuals, but also a very customizable sound environment. A game to relax, focus and calm down with.

Addictive

Of course, then there is that tad of an addictive nature to the game and the huge sense of accomplishment upon solving any of the puzzles themselves. Your skill set evolves over time. Observably so. Solving the more basic configurations in each board is a good start as is replaying configurations solved earlier. For a better score. For fewer moves. Certain patterns evolve, strategies form - as does speed. You will need all of this background to solve the more complex configurations in the upper level boards. Having solutions is great, because they can teach you strategy. You will not be able to solve all puzzles. Too difficult. Should you succeed, however, people will know about it if you are on GameCenter. AbaCruX is abstract in its mathematical nature and as it turns out the search space - the sum of all possible jumps and moves to consider - is beyond enormous. Even for the simpler boards. So, there is a lot of depth to this game. And then there is the time factor, of course, because you only get seconds.

Search for 'abacrux'

AbaCruX is a brand-new version of the game with a new game engine, fabulous animations, positional audio, a secondary scoring metric with Game Center integration and much more. We hope, of course, to interest you in one of our new in-app purchases. Those keep the lights on and support future development. 'Extra boards' is very cool. Eight beautiful additional boards with 15 puzzles each. Then there is 'Solutions'. This add-on adds an option for the game to show you the solution to a puzzle. Finally there is 'Pro Features'. Pro Features allows to customize the game, adds a replay option and more. Now as universal app for iOS, Mac and Apple TV.

Available for:

iOS

Mac

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