Yonmoku: 3D Four in a Row

Yonmoku is four in a row with a third dimension. Sixteen pegs stand on a board of pale hinoki wood, and two players take turns dropping a bead onto any peg. Beads stack from the bottom and stay where they land. Four of your beads in a straight line wins: across the board, up a peg, or along any diagonal, flat or through the cube. That is 76 lines to watch at once. It is a game for two people and one phone or iPad. Hold a peg to aim, slide to choose, let go to drop, or drag the bead from the dish onto a peg. Slide off the board to change your mind. Drag to orbit, pinch to zoom, double tap to come home, and keep turning the board after a win to see the line from every side. At every handoff the camera eases back to the same home angle, so the next player sees the board fresh and the last viewing angle gives nothing away. There is no tutorial screen. In your first game the turn label carries three short hints, and after that it goes quiet. The room is a ryokan at dusk. The board sits on a low table on tatami, with a cushion on each side for the two players and a tea tray at the table's edge. One shoji panel stands open onto a small garden: a stone-rimmed bath fed by a bamboo spout, slow steam, a stream, a stone lantern. There is no music. You hear the room, the water, an occasional drip, and the wooden tock of a bead landing, which rises in pitch as a peg fills. A win is three plucked notes. If your own music is playing it keeps playing, and the silent switch is respected. One game or a series - Best of 1, 3 or 5. The loser of a game starts the next one. A full board with no line is a draw, and the series carries on. - The end cards show how long each player spent thinking and the longest single think. There is no clock during play. - Autosave after every move. Leave mid-game, come back later, and the board is as you left it. Made to be calm - No timers, no score popups, no flashing. Motion eases, never snaps. - Sound, ambience and haptics each have their own switch. - VoiceOver labels on every control and on the turn label. Dynamic Type up to the accessibility sizes. Reduce Motion is honored. Whose turn it is never depends on color alone. Nothing in the way - No account, nothing to buy, no notifications, no review prompts. - Your saved game and your settings stay on your phone. - iPhone and iPad, iOS 15 or later.