Stix (1983, C64)

Stix (known as Aree in Italy) is a puzzle game developed and published by British company Supersoft. It was also released for BBC Micro / Electron. The C64 was also published by Italian company Pubblirome and by Keypunch Software.

Stix is a clone of Taito's game Qix. You control a cursor which can move on the border of a rectangle which covers the screen. If you press fire, you can leave the border and you will draw a line with cursor. Connecting the line with the border and thus forming a rectangle will fill its interior, and the borders of the rectangle touching the old colour will become part of the boundary. You need to fill a certain amount of the screen to complete a level. The challenge comes from several factors. There are sparks moving on boundary, and you loose a life if you touch them. If you stop while drawing a line, a spark will appear at the beginning of the line and come after you. It will disappear if you finish the line before it reaches you. There is an energy field moving across the screen. If it touches you while you draw a line, you loose a life. The energy can only move in the area with the initial colour, however. Finally, there is a time limit for each level.