Qix (1981) was a
Golden Age videogame involving, of all things, drawing. Draw boxes using "stix" to claim as much screen as possible without getting in the path of the "Qix" (pronounced
either "kicks" or "quicks" depending on where you live) and "Sparx". Draw slower for more points and hope that you have enough coins. If the Qix touches one of the player's stix while in the process of drawing, a life is lost. Claim enough of the playfield, and the player wins and moves on to the next level. Later levels have two Qixs to deal with. If the player successfully draws a stix between them, the level is cleared automatically. Simple but very addicting!
One of the few games designed by Taito America.
Several softcore Japanese games use the gameplay of this game. So did
Cacoma Knight in Bizyland, which attempted to provide a context for the gameplay and created a
Widget Game in the process.
A sequel,
Qix++, was released for
Xbox Live Arcade. Prior to that there was a sequel in 1987 called
Super Qix in which the player uncovers pictures and features a goblin-like creature as the "Qix" and little red skulls as the "Sparx".
Volfied, released in 1989
* and also made by Taito
, is a similar game with a science fiction theme, and incorporates power ups into the gameplay. The original game was also adapted by
Nintendo into an early
Game Boy title featuring
cameo appearances by
Mario.
Qix has examples of: