One of the first things I did when I got my Windows Phone was look for some good free games. The first one I tried was Flow, and it’s been hard to put it down ever since. Flow is a very simple game, but it’s the simple games that suck you in for hours at a time. The aim of the game is to connect matching colored dots while also filling in the entire board. It’s hard to explain, but easy to play.
The animated GIF to the left shows what a level looks like at the beginning and when completed. This particular board is 7×7 and has 6 different colors. The idea is to get from the empty board to completed board by dragging your finger from one dot to the corresponding dot. This seems like a simple enough premise, but the trick is to fill in the board in the process. If you connect all the dots but don’t fill in the entire board the game will tell you to keep playing.
The game starts out at a 5×5 board with only 4 colors and works its way up to 9×9 with 7 colors. Each board size has 30 levels. I found the first two board sizes to be exceptionally easy, almost to the point where it was boring. The end levels more than make up for the lack of difficulty in the beginning.
Flow has two different ways to play: Free Play and Time Trial. In Free Play you can choose whatever level you’d like to play. There is no need to complete one level to unlock the next. In Time Trial you select the difficulty and board size and then see how many puzzles you can finish in 30s, 1m, 2m, and 4m. I found Time Trial to be the most challenging.
Flow is a simply addicting game. The only drawback is the game has not been updated for Mango. If you leave and then try to resume it will reset the board you were on. If you’ve got some time to kill, or you just love puzzle games, this is one that will keep you interested for a long time. And don’t forget it’s totally free.
