Colorbind is an app for the iPhone made by Nonverbal's Daniel Lutz. This game has been in the top apps list for a while now but I never picked it up (I've something against paying more than £1 for an App). After some nagging from friends I caved in and went for it. I'm glad I did because this is a strong puzzle game which feels both new and traditional at the same time...

In this game you have to unfold different coloured ribbons across a piece of paper which has coloured dots drawn on it. You match the ribbon with the dot and once all dots are covered you complete the level. A simple idea made complicated by the fact that different coloured ribbons either pass under or over each other in crossing. This means you have to figure out a route to unfold the ribbons so that the colour you want to match isn't being dominated by a different coloured ribbon, you also cannot pass through corner folds no matter what colour the ribbon is. It really is simpler than that sounds! Maybe this video will help:

The result is a game which starts simple but that turns into a real 'mind-bender.' It strangely made me feel like I was playing Sudoku, this might be because there is an element of trail and error involved. You'll often lay down a path half way through and then start working on a different ribbon only to re-fold the paths while working out a solution.

The game looks very minimal and clean, there's no music save for a pleasent 'level complete' sound. This is a good think as any sort of music during the puzzles would be horribly annoying. This may not be a game for the household but if you travel a lot and want to occupy your commute with something that activates your brain then I highly recommend this.

Grab it from the App Store for £1.19 or $0.99