Cursor*10

If you want something doing...

As Adobe Flash dies (or has it finally actually been killed off by now?), we get to experience another little gem of a game that I have never come across on my travels, Cursor*10, a small puzzle game where you've got to be a team player... with yourself.

How's that work, then?

Fun Times

The goal of Cursor*10 is simple. Reach the 16th Floor. It's as simple as finding a staircase and clicking on it, collecting points along the way by clicking on other stuff. But it soon turns into something a little more complicated.

Your cursor has a limited lifespan. Those aren't seconds that are ticking down, either. Your time is running out and you need to get a move on up these floors and... what's this?

This set of stairs only exists while I hold a button down, and holding a button down means I can't move my cursor to click on the stairs to go to the next floor, and my cursor is about to expire and I only start with ten. What can I do?

When one cursor dies, the next comes to life, almost immediately, starting on the first floor and moving alongside all the previous cursors you've played with. That's right. We're about to help ourselves out through this short maze - but have we done so in a useful manner?

There aren't many puzzles in Cursor*10, but they'll all trip you up. Buttons that need to be held down, staircases hidden in boxes, blocks that are destroyed after 99 clicks of the mouse button, a task designed to take longer than the life of a single cursor.

As my cursors climbed higher and higher into the structure, my mistakes became glaringly obvious. Multiple cursors clicking aimlessly or worse, waiting around for a previous cursor to push a button. Staying still is an absolute waste of time, and correcting your mistakes is almost a waste of a cursor.

While the goal is to simply get to Floor 16, the high-score is where 100% completion is to be found. So far as I'm aware, the best score is 188. Based on my first attempt, I've got some ways to go...

Final Word

I'm not a fan of trial and error games, but Cursor*10 has such a unique and straightforward premise that you can't really ignore it because you don't like trial and error. A game lasts for a few minutes - it's not going to kill you to have to think for that long, is it?

Of course, finding it playable nowadays on computers actively trying to stop you from accessing Flash content may be tricky. It's not hard. I played it through Flashpoint, which I see is alarmingly out of date and I should probably get on top of updating that if I want to enjoy any Flash content in the years to come.

I can't really find a whole lot of information about it, which means I must congratulate the 1001 list for another hidden gem. It might not have wowed me and kept me entertained for hours, but what a neat little idea for a game, well-executed. What more could you want for a little time-waster?

Fun Facts

Your possible high score is only revealed as you find more ways to score points, all while you're desperately trying to uncover the route up the floors and the right times to move your cursors.

Cursor*10, developed by Nekogames, first released in 2008.

Version played: Flash, 2008.