[Bonus Round] The Tower, Black Stories, And 99 Problems

Welcome to the latest entry in our Bonus Round series, wherein we tell you all about the new Android games of the day that we couldn’t get to during our regular news rounds. Consider this a quick update for the dedicated gamers who can’t wait for our bi-weekly roundups, and don’t want to wade through a whole day’s worth of news just to get their pixelated fix. Today we’ve got an interesting timing-based tower builder, a card game that’s better with friends, and another somewhat masochistic minimal title. Without further ado:

bonusround

The Tower

In The Tower, you build a tower. That probably seems a little obvious, but the mechanics are unique: each level of the tower slides back and forth across the one below it, and the player anchors the level by tapping, trying to get it to line up in a roughly vertical shape. Imagine it as a cross between Jenga and one of those arcade prize machines. For the moment, The Tower is free with no in-app purchases.

—

Build the tallest tower in the world to reach the sky with a power of one-tap gameplay. Beat your friends, unlock new towers, discover all locations.

The Tower (Playboard) | The Tower (Play Store)

Black Stories

Black Stories is basically 20 Questions with an Are You Afraid of the Dark theme. You play with two or more real players on a single device, with one serving as the game master. He or she presents a riddle, and the other players have to solve it with yes or no questions. The one to solve it becomes the next game master. The game includes a single deck of riddles, with more available as an in-app purchase – the single one available at the moment is $1.

—

Black Stories is a set of electrifying, dark and sometimes gruesome riddles. It is a social game in which players are confronted with a challenge to solve intricate mysteries and enigmatic deaths. Black Stories are designed so that they teach the players how to think laterally, or how to analyze facts abstractly.

From the collection of Black Stories players choose one as their task.
One of the players becomes the Game Master, takes the phone and, as the only one, reads the solution of the riddle.
Other players have to solve the mystery, aiding themselves with asking simple questions on which the Game Master could only answer yes or no.
The player who solves the riddle fastest wins. Now he becomes the Game Master.

Black Stories (Playboard) | Black Stories (Play Store)

99 Problems

Alright, masochistic gamers, here’s another one for you. Tap the screen to make the square jump in a consistent manner. Avoid hitting All The Things. Do not pass go, do not pay for in-app purchases. And no matter what you do, do not make Jay Z jokes.

—

99 Levels of minimalistic, jumping action.
Tap to jump.
Stay on screen.
Avoid Blocks.
Good luck.