How Did This Game Happen?
The Backstory:
First, the backstory:
I started in the game industry in the era of the TRS-80 and Apple II. First as a playtester, then as an independent game creator, and eventually as an executive and entrepreneur. I've designed some decent games, but what I most value is seeing the greatness in other games. For example, at Activision, I pushed the company to publish Cyan's first game, The Manhole, because I recognized the brilliance of its user experience. That story: https://www.filfre.net/2016/10/the-manhole/
In 2022, I regained the rights to the 2015 iPhone game Stick Figure Movie Trivia. I had come up with the concept for this game after Apple and Google both rejected a humorous but (to them) objectionable game. So we used that code to launch the movie game.
Stick Figure Movie Trivia 2015
Like so many trivia games, the 2015 game used the same user interface as the wildly successful "4 Pics, 1 Word," with over 400 million downloads.
You can see an immediate problem with using this for a movie trivia game. The player is limited to two words, each with a maximum of 8 characters. So in the example above, the movie is "My Neighbor Totoro," but the game's answer is "Neighbor" and "Totoro." Worse is a movie name like "The Shawshank Redemption," which ended up as "Shaw" and "Shank."
So while this user experience is perfect for "4 Pics, 1 Word," it's a square peg in a round hole for the movie game. Still, Apple did feature Stick Figure Movie Trivia; I just needed to fix the user experience. I found the solution by adopting the fast-paced Jack Attack from the excellent trivia game: You Don't Know Jack. More about that: The Interface Is Still The Game
With the help of the fantastic team at Double Coconut, the result was a game with no typing and a "game show-like" play. Possible answers animate in; all you have to do is tap on the correct answer. You get three tries; hints appear on the 2nd and 3rd tries. I even rebranded my company to One Tap Trivia to emphasize the simple game experience.
Stick Figure Movie Trivia - 2024
The game features 400 movies and has garnered a 4.7 rating. In addition to the mobile game, we also created a web version, which featured a "Movie Of The Day" puzzle.
The Problem:
Stick Figure Movie Trivia is a game designed for movie buffs. How many people are going to recognize films like The Mouse That Roared or One, Two, Three? So the plan from the start was to get the web game onto a primary movie-review site and share in the game's revenue (the web game links to the app stores after gameplay). And I found a great partner to do this with. Unfortunately, they have been dealing with serious issues, which have delayed the game's launch on their website. They are good people, and I look forward to their audience enjoying Stick Figure Movie Trivia. Still, I had a considerable investment in the game and its 400 drawings; I needed to do something to increase revenue.
For months, I'd been looking for the next game that could take advantage of the real-time, one-tap interface powering Stick Figure Movie Trivia.
I explored concepts like "Name The State" and even a nostalgia-soaked "OK, Boomer" idea. Interesting concepts, but none of them sparked the "this is it" feeling every designer waits for.
Then on November 16th, I saw the sign — literally.
I saw a photo on Facebook — three simple icons: a hand, a hammer, a watch.
The Image That Started It All
Usually, I would have scrolled past.
But this time I got this one right away:
"Stop. Hammer Time!" is a famous lyric from a classic rap song.
That three-icon rebus was so clean, so immediate, and so satisfying that it hit me instantly:
This rebus was more than a funny sign — it's the promise of a new game.
Won’t Get Fooled Again
It's easy to fall in love with a game idea and be disappointed when players don't share your opinion.
Before committing to a complete production cycle, I wanted to see how people reacted. Every day, I post an image of the Movie Of The Day from Stick Figure Movie Trivia to various Reddit interest groups. So I created my own set of icons and posted this puzzle on Reddit (the seventh-most-visited website in the world and the fifth in the United States).
(International House Of Pancakes)
My typical Stick Figure Movie Trivia posts might get at most 10,000 views.
This one got 400,000.
Another puzzle reached 300,000 views on the Rebus subreddit alone.
(Swiss Army Knife)
That subreddit averages 110K visitors weekly, so this was significant.
My first thought was:
From “Close Encounters Of The Third Kind"
The success of 4 Pics, 1 Word showed that people love solving visual wordplay. They love the shared “Aha!” moment. And they loved arguing about it in the comments.
Testing It In Real Life
I was worried that Reddit users might not be representative of mobile game players. So I loaded up my iPad with some puzzle images and took it to a few local parties.
People loved trying to solve the puzzles. In fact, at one party, an exceptionally bright woman suggested I do a "holiday wreath and $100" puzzle.
(Aretha Franklin)
I didn’t get it at first, but others did—171,000 views on r/rebus alone.
So the sign hadn’t lied: If you build it, they will play.
Why This Makes Sense
Visual puzzles have already proven their global appeal. 4 Pics 1 Word reached over 400 million downloads — an impressive achievement that shows how hungry people are for simple, visual guessing challenges.
But those games use a typing interface that limits each puzzle to a single word.
I realized the opportunity wasn't just to recreate a rebus game, but to evolve it. What happens when you take simple visual puzzles and run them through the one-tap real-time game experience I created for Stick Figure Movie Trivia?
The Result?
A 5 Star Rated iPhone game with amazing reviews!
“Figure This Out! is such a fun and clever picture puzzle game that keeps me thinking every time I play.”
“This app is so much fun the puzzles are clever, fast paced and super satisfying to solve…”
“This app is a blast! The puzzles are super fun to figure out while also giving your brain a boost.”
