Pass the sQuaricon™
A NEW KID IN PUZZLE TOWN

INTRO
sQuaricon™ Game Series is a core new collection of innovative abstract strategy and puzzle games that blend minimalist design with deep tactical gameplay. Inspired by the SUDOKU pattern, and as a side product of exploring our own, in-house discovered (back in 2006) Combinatorial Mean patterns, each game in the Series challenges players with unique rule sets while maintaining intuitive accessibility. In development, we follow the TWO DOTS' Mental Model (Dan Cook) for relaxing team building and the project workflow. This method should shorten the team/project identification stage and free up more time for testing new ideas and raising overall project quality. Thanks for your attention,
Goran Umicevic, CEO

sQuaricon™ Game Series - INTRO

What are the simplest pattern-matching games ever?

Lo Shu > Tic Tac Toe > sQuaricon3™

The sQuaricon Game Series is a new puzzle game, a chain of five distinguished skill-based, meditative, logic, and pattern-matching puzzles on a square game board: sQ3, sQ5, sQ7, sQ11, and sQ13 connected by the same board mechanics.

The sQuaricon™ 3 game is between the simplicity of 1010!, Block Blast, Match-3 Masters for sQuaricon 3 for the Clikers audience.

sQuaricon™ 5 &7 games are core-casual for clicker players, and finally, the sQuaricon™ 11 and 13 games are for the SUDOKU class players.

Player's progress is reinforced by the growing gameboards, by several playing modes starting from Regular and ZEN, and additional gameplay with obstacles or tours.

STAY TUNNED!
www.squaricon.com

sQuaricon™ 5 Regular mode
(TAP to see)

sQuaricon™ 5
Casual Game for Passionate Players

- - - The skillful player solves it in 20-30 moves for 1-4 minutes
    - There are almost 3M starting positions and 5+ game-playing modes with the moves-notation as simple as in chess, which makes the game sessions' synchronization ideally small for synchronized PvP matches even on a slow internet connection
    - The kaleidoscope-like animation adds value to the player's experience

(illustration sQ5 in Regular Mode)

Code: Gordan Sikic, 2008, 2013, 2023
Sounds: Don Bobo Bobanoovic, 2007

NOTE: All illustrations here are low-fi graphics, except where the artwork is specified

The Squaricon™ Game series

A NEW KID IN PUZZLE TOWN

From the instant tile-puzzle to the strategic PX on consoles and PC

Are you passionate about tile-puzzle games?
Lo Shu, Tic Tac Toe, SUDOKU, RUBIK, TETRIS, Match-3, sQuaricon

It took years to transform an innovative Combinatorial Mean concept into the meditative brainteaser and tile-puzzle series of games. The breaking point was my video talk with Amy Jo Kim (2016) and later accessing her 8-week GameAcademy Summer Masterclass 2019. This deeply changed my understanding of how games connect with players by updating their mental models and motivations. And finally, how to find and include the hottest fans (superfans) in the development process.

sQuaricon™ is the original IP game series of five pattern-matching puzzles, but it generally applies to any of the pxp square boards.

sQuaricon Game vision!

Tile-puzzle with Core Casual metagame
Mobile > iPad> PC > Console > Windows Game

Our vision is to redefine the casual puzzle genre by creating games that blend the simplicity of classic puzzles like Tic-Tac-Toe and Sudoku with innovative, engaging gameboard mechanics.

Our games are designed to deliver a "momentary escape" for casual players while offering a depth engagement that appeals to thinkers and puzzle enthusiasts.

With a scalable design and a well-thought-out player journey from single-player casual to PvP real-time competition, sQuaricon is positioned to grow into a series that resonates with a today's global puzzle audience.

Testimonials:

- - "I like this elusive motion", Gabe Carter, Oberon Media (2009)
  - "The game should start from the Japanese market",
    Prof. Tom Sloper, Sloperama (2009)

sQuaricon™ Games Company

Generally, the sQuaricon Game Series has at least three faces:

First is a tricky, relaxing time-killer up to hybrid casual on the sQuaricon-3, the smallest possible tiles puzzle game board,
the core-casual puzzler (sQ5, 7, 11, 13), and
The third face is the PvP exciting game across all its game modes...

The sQuaricon Matrices Hint Algorithm can lead an entire game session... It serves as the Hint that leads the gameplay on any sQuaricon matrix.

The sQuaricon Game Series (PC) was first published in 2009. (CNET.com),
You are welcome to download the refreshed 2023 PC version

INFO: squaricon@gmail.com

x
Listen to my PLAYLIST: sQuaricon logo by Jaroslav Procka

Thinkers and Clickers fans!

Single player

sQuaricon™ Game Series ©2006 is a chain of five distinguished skill-based, meditative, logic, and pattern-matching tiles' puzzles on the square game boards: sQ3, sQ5, sQ7, sQ11, and sQ13 connected by the same board mechanics.

Coffee Matches
falls into the tile puzzle games genre. You fit endless elements seemingly without any special effort or excitement... However, a subconscious motif is to relax, reset daily problems, and empty the surplus of worries
TAKE FIVE! (PvP)
This game got inspiration from Take Five of the Dave Burbeck Bend. And, it is functioning... More in the next part of this page (PvP for winners)
Player's progress
is reinforced by the growing gameboards, by several playing modes starting from Regular and ZEN, and additional gameplay with obstacles or tours
Players' mental model
is constantly updated, starting from the Clickers' time-killer playground (sQ3) to more and more meditative, strategy, and skill-demand models for Thinker players
For Clickers! and Thinkers!
By its gameplay complexity, the sQuaricon-3™ game is close to the simplicity of 1010!, Block Blast, Match-3 Masters for the sQuaricon-3 for the clikers audience,..

art, animation: Igor Puskaric,
Code sQ3 (ZEN Mode): Tomislav Klepac (download Android v)

PvP for The winners!

TAKE FIVE!
Player vs. Player
Inspired by Dave Brubeck Band

The sQuaricon Game Series fits to several game categories:

PvP Tournaments (LINK) are the main trump for the competition-minded gamers - the sQuaricons have full online PvP and multi-player capability, which is probably an incomparable advantage for the game economy and monetization
Hybrid-casual, single/PvP/Local (sQ3), simple dynamic tile puzzler for mobile and tablet (see Match Masters of Candivore)
Casual (sQ3, sQ5, sQ7), meditative tile puzzler with elusive visual content - mobile, tablet, PC
Mid-core, core (sQ3, sQ5, sQ7, sQ11, sQ13) are puzzles with a possible Saga-type narrative for tablet, PC, and consoles
Code: Ivan Strok, 2021
Audio: Goran Bastinac
YouTube video

sQuaricon™ 3 5 7

Above: the Resources Map of approximate time and moves spent per gameboard size

sQuaricon™ 7 ZEN mode

sQuaricon™ 7
Elusive Motion
(ZEN mode on demo gameboard trailer)

From Casual to the Mid-core Game for Super Fans

- - A skillful player completes the session in 30-40 moves for 4-10 minutes in the regular playing mode. (In ZEN mode, it is 10-14 moves and 1-2 minutes)
  - The whole game session - similar to chess - can be noted in a small text.file - ideal to play against or share and watch other players in synchronous or asynchronous mode

illustration: ZEN playing mode - Prototype 2009.

sQuaricon 11 Regular mode

sQudoku 11, squdoku 13
Core Thinkers' game: sQuaricon 11, 13

sQ11 - On average you will play 200+ moves, for 45+/- minutes, and ... You are there.
If playing a sQ13 Tour - take a weekend :)
Tablet, PC, console game for Superfan League.
Big screen - Big excitement

illustration: prototype 2009.

Watch platforms

sQ-3 fits a wide range of screen sizes, from iOS/Android watches to PC...

Instant Puzzle for all screen sizes

Left: In 2016, we published the Memo Tiles, one of the first-ever games for Apple Watch. As seen in the sQuaricon-3 illustration (left), the sQ3 gameboard may add some elegance to the small watch screens.

Above: PLAY LIKE RUBIK
Code and llustration: Vedran Sknjug
Ex. CRO-Team, Zagreb (2020)

RETRO Redesign - ART test (2023)
download for your PC

background: Lenko Tomic Matulovic

welcome to
NEW KID IN PUZZLE TOWN

It is likely the 3rd ever constructed game on the
basic 3x3 game board (besides the XO and Lo Shu)

Competion & lookalike games - try them:

- - - Lo Shu, Tic Tac Toe (XO), SUDOKU, RUBIK CUBE, TETRIS, TWO DOTS, 1010!, WORDS, BLOCK BLAST!, ZEN Match,...
    - Enjoy mini tricky sessions
    - code: Gordan Sikic, TopTal

Other games

Besides the sQuaricon Game Series, we were working on a few other game projects

Tondo Jigsaw 2

(2025)

- Another original game concept: the rounded Jigsaw puzzle.
Above: Art Marko Umicevic
Code Andrija Stepic
Audio: Goran Bastinac
Download the Android version

Rollin' Tiles (2016)

Rollin' Tiles: abandoned project despite good critics
for "innovation and clean UI but it’s not going
to be enough to generate a sustainable
revenue stream" (Chillingo Board of Directors).
Above: art Peter Simon
Art director: Marko Umicevic
Audio: Goran Bastinac
outsourcing; The Knights of Unity (2016)
Download Android v. (Drive)

sQuaricon Core Team Members

Igor Puskaric
Art Director, concept and animation

Mr. Igor is a 2D and 3D Artist who specializes in digital art including hand painting, and organic and hard surface modeling. Everything from stylized art to photorealistic assets.

Goran Bastinac
Audio, (for all sQuaricon Titles since 2011)

Mr. Goran has a very rare and surprising talent to recognize dramatic moments even though the game scene is not fully visualized yet; moreover, he has a lot of useful ideas and shares them unselfishly.

Marko Umicevic
Art Direction

Mr. Marko is a Fine Art Historian and Photographer. His latest work in games was on Rollin' Tiles that got exceptional attention from Chillingo's Developer relation director Levi Buchanan: "Really like the art direction and the clean UI"

Lenko Tomic Matulovic
2D/3D Artist

Mr. Lenko is a 2D and 3D Artist who specializes in digital art including hand painting, and organic and hard surface modeling. Everything from stylized art to photorealistic assets.

Davor Umicevic,
Community Manager

Mr. Davor has strong analytical skills and will lead relations to the gaming platforms and actively follow the changes in trends and preferences among the players' community. He will ensure smooth communication between the platforms and the audience.

Gordan Sikic
Programmer, Freelancer, SW Engineer at Toptal

Mr. Gordan Sikic is a top Toptal developer who coded the sQuaricon Game Series in C++/Open GL. In this project, we would like to engage him to help us develop an exciting VR game version.

Goran Umicevic,
CEO, Game Design

Mr. Goran specializes in brainteasers, logic puzzlers, and pattern-matching games with 15+ Years of learning and practicing in game design, now applying the Game Thinking method in the design & development improved on Amy Jo Kim's 8-week GameThinking Masterclass 2019 (gamethinkingacademy.io).

n-Queens Problem?

He is the inventor and producer of the sQuaricon™ Game Series, which is at its core an original modular board algorithm for solving the prime-numbers' part of the n-Queens problem.

(more on tiny.cc/CombMean)

A wonderful Concept Art by young Czech graphic designer Jaroslav Pročka, 2017.

* The term "the original IP" refers to the original intellectual property that forms the foundation and core concept of the game design. In this context, IP refers to the unique and creative elements that make the game distinct and protectable under intellectual property laws, such as copyright and trademark.
Having a well-defined original IP provides a clear direction for the development team. It helps communicate the game's vision and identity to stakeholders, including publishers, investors, and players. (ChatGPT)

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