Gandhi Gandhi Boom Boom

Gandhi Gandhi Boom Boom was "best in show" at the Columbia University site of the 2009 Global Game Jam. (I was one of the judges that selected it as such.)

You begin with a single Gandhi head, moveable with the arrow keys, and rotatable with E and R. From the screen edge, additional Gandhis, and hamburgers, begin drifting toward you. At screen top is a green bar that slowly declines in size with time.

The basic rule is to match like with likes and avoid opposites. Spotting a Gandhi, you move yours into it; they conect with a "snick," and you gain 2 additional seconds of life (the green bar adjusting accordingly). If a hamburger attaches to a Gandhi, though, you lose 10 seconds. But once a hamburger is attached, you can attach it to further hamburgers. One problem: hamburgers are attracted to Gandhis and vice versa (opposites attract), so making the right rather than wrong connection is tricky.

Then, bombs and peace symbols start drifting in as well. They, too, are opposites, and gain time if connected, losing if opposites connect. Your array of connected objects begins to get more difficult to manage, because more and more items are floating about the screen -- soon joined by cats and dogs -- and if you're too close to the screen edge, you can't rotate, since your array can only rotate within the live area.

It's cute, novel, intuitively easy to figure out, and a quick play. It's also something you get better at as you play, providing an enjoyable sense of mastery. Original gameplay; a raga score (a musical style I don't think I've seen in a game before); an amusing conceit; and pleasant graphics. Remarkably polished, for a little game created in 48 hours.