I think I found the best game in the Playdate Catalog

I haven’t started playing when I picked up mine this week. I was looking for something else, but I lazily searched for half the right title and found myself looking at it jump rope STAR! above the results instead. Interest – partly because “Hot Rope Jump” was one of my favorite games Mario Party 2 before – I clicked on it, and was greeted with pictures that looked like something I’d snap on the fridge if served by a five-year-old. It was like a “say no more” moment; I bought it right away.

As you might expect from this title, jump rope STAR! and Playdate rope games. It features several different modes of solo and co-op gameplay, the latter involving two players sharing a single device. I haven’t been to many Playdates, so that’s pretty cool. The game was created by Chris Corciega (Soinksters Games), but the graphics were “created by 5-year-old artist,” Maya. And it’s beautiful. As you try to set new goals, you use a crank to control the swing of a jump rope held by a bipedal bunny and a…striped pig (?). Well I’m not sure what the second person is, but the two of them are swinging a rope, and the goal is to do this in time and jump to the little girl so you don’t upset her.

His timing isn’t always the same and he speeds up as you progress, so it starts to get tricky after a minute or so. But, achieving good balance earns you points in the Star Meter on the side of the screen, and when it’s full, you can use that energy to slow down and get more balance while the girl is in the air. In some ways, things are more complicated. Playing with a friend in two-player mode, for example, one of you will have to press the buttons to move the girl so that she can catch the falling stars while the other one swings the rope. (It’s really hard to do it yourself, I’ve found).

It’s a simple but fun little game, made even better by the fact that you can involve someone in a silly game. Adults and children alike can enjoy it, and there’s a kid-friendly way to play the game if you don’t want the family game to be too competitive. This strikes me as one of those perfectly Game day game – the type that just seems like a natural fit for the device, and trying to make them understand its beauty.