''Gemsweeper'' is a thinking puzzle
casual game
A casual game is a video game targeted at a mass market audience, as opposed to a hardcore game, which is targeted at hobbyist gamers. Casual games may exhibit any type of gameplay and genre. They generally involve simpler rules, shorter sessio ...
developed by German studio
Lobstersoft.
During the game the player rebuilds the ruins of El Dorado by solving over 225
nonogram
Nonograms, also known as Hanjie, Paint by Numbers, Picross, Griddlers, and Pic-a-Pix, and by various other names, are picture logic puzzles in which cells in a grid must be colored or left blank according to numbers at the side of the grid to r ...
logic puzzles.
Story
In Gemsweeper the player assumes the role of a treasure hunter. When working in a museum putting together the pieces of a broken
Olmec
The Olmecs () were the earliest known major Mesoamerican civilization. Following a progressive development in Soconusco, they occupied the tropical lowlands of the modern-day Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco. It has been speculated that t ...
statue, the statue becomes alive and asks the player and old professor McGuffog to rebuild the mystical city of
El Dorado
El Dorado (, ; Spanish for "the golden"), originally ''El Hombre Dorado'' ("The Golden Man") or ''El Rey Dorado'' ("The Golden King"), was the term used by the Spanish in the 16th century to describe a mythical tribal chief (''zipa'') or king o ...
. By solving over 225 puzzles, the player gradually rebuilds the ruins of the city and progresses his treasure hunter rank.
Gameplay
The player has to uncover gems which are hidden behind some tiles and has to break all other tiles on the board. Numerical hints above and to the left of the board tell the player where the hidden gems are. Gems are picked up with a hand cursor whereas cursed tiles are smashed with a hammer. Jokers help if the player has to guess what's behind a tile.
Gemsweeper features an interactive tutorial to teach the player the basic principle of nonogram logic puzzles.
In Arcade Mode the gameplay is different from traditional
nonograms. The puzzle does not contain a picture, but is abstract. As soon as a row is solved, a new row with different hints appear.
References
{{Reflist
External links
Official Gemsweeper Website
Nonograms
Video games developed in Germany
Windows games
Windows-only games
2007 video games
Puzzle video games