A simple game does not have to mean a puzzle game. Think about how simple arcade games were in the early 1980s. In Pac-Man, all you did was move around, eating pellets and avoiding ghosts.
Rotato is a lot like Pac-Man. Players move around, collecting coins and avoiding stars. Only this game is simpler because you only move tapping the screen, but it is more difficult, because the playing field is much smaller…
Players are represented as a spade on the screen. The board looks like a record player and the spade is positioned like the needle. To move, tap the screen. This will send the spade all the way to the center of the record, collecting any coins it passes over along the way. Tap the screen again and the spade will move back to its original place on the outer rim of the record.
The record rotates around so that you will be able to collect coins that are all over the board. You will just have to wait until they make it around to your side. As you progress the record rotates faster and faster, making it difficult to plan your movement without running into a red star.
If you run into a red star while moving between the center and outer rim of the record, you will die. Be careful to time your moves so that you avoid the star. You will earn additional point multipliers if you skim a red star. If you manage to get a near miss, it will increase the multiplier by one.
There are also green stars that give your spade temporary invincibility so that you can run into stars without dying. The shield only lasts a few seconds at a time.
As items, like stars and coins appear on the screen, their sound will be added to the music playing, creating a sort of song.
Before the start of each game, you can pick a one-time-use upgrade. These upgrades will add more coins or points to the game, increase the multiplier, slow the speed of the record, and more. Each upgrade costs between 20 and 100 coins. If you run out of coins, you can buy more through an in-app purchase.
Rotato is available for the iPhone and iPod touch for free. Download it in the App Store today.