Tesserae (Game)

Tesserae

GAME » on 1991

Android (Platform)Game Boy (Platform)Game Gear (Platform)iPhone (Platform)Mac (Platform)NEC PC-9801 (Platform)PC (Platform)

A puzzle game combining peg solitaire with color theory.

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Overview

Tesserae is a puzzle game developed and published by Inline Design (Company) for Macintosh computers in 1991. A retail adaptation of the 1990 shareware puzzle game Stained Glass (Game), developed by the author of its Macintosh port, Tesserae revamps the graphics and interface while adding new board layouts (known as "mosaics") to choose from, new difficulties, a "tournament" multiplayer mode, and a new tile (the gray "Tertiary" tile, which is comprised of all three primary colors together). Like the original Stained Glass, Tesserae challenges players to clear as many tiles of different colors/shapes from the board by jumping over other tiles, similar to peg solitaire. However, there are specific criteria to follow based on whether colors are mixed or not. The game later received ports by Eurocom for DOS PCs, as well as the Game Boy (Platform) and Game Gear (Platform), in 1993 (all published by GameTek in North America and Europe). It also received a Japan-exclusive NEC PC-98 release by ASCII on March 27, 1992. It later received a modern iOS and macOS release in 2009-2010, with a free-to-play, ad-supported Android (Platform) port by Tarkus released in 2014. Full information about these releases are sparse.

Gameplay

There are seven total tile types of tiles: three Primary tiles (red, blue, and yellow), three Secondary tiles (purple, orange, and green), and one Tertiary tile (grey). Each tile also has a symbol composed of three different symbols, one for each color (circle for red, square for blue, and cross for yellow). The objective of the game is to clear as many tiles from the mosaic as possible, with the best result being one tile remaining, all while following specific criteria:

Jumping Over Tiles

Tiles can only move by jumping over one other tile (similar to peg solitaire), horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. Tiles cannot jump off the mosaic.
Tiles can jump over other tiles of the same type, removing the latter from the board. Primary tiles (red, blue, or yellow) can jump over other Primary tiles to remove the latter from the board.
Primary tiles can only jump over Secondary tiles that contain the same color/shape, turning the Secondary tile into a Primary tile of its other component. For example, a blue tile cannot jump over an orange tile (as orange tiles are formed by red and yellow tiles), but can jump over a purple tile to turn it into a red tile (as purple tiles are formed by red and blue tiles).
Primary tiles can jump over Tertiary tiles, turning the Tertiary tile into a Secondary tile of its other two components. For example, a red tile jumping over a grey tile leaves a green tile.
Secondary tiles can only jump over Secondary tiles of the same type and over Tertiary tiles. Jumping over Tertiary tiles, turns it into a Primary tile of the one component not in the Secondary tile. For example, a green tile jumping over a grey tile leaves a red tile, as green tiles are formed by blue and yellow tiles.
Tertiary tiles cannot jump over any tile other than other Tertiary tiles.

Landing On Tiles

Tiles can land on blank spaces or other tiles of the same type, keeping its color.
Primary tiles can land on a different Primary tile, combining them into one of three Secondary tiles (purple tiles from red and blue tiles, orange tiles from red and yellow tiles, and green tiles from blue and yellow tiles).
Primary tiles can land on a Secondary tile that do not contain the same type, and vice versa, combining them into a Tertiary tile. For example, red tiles cannot land on purple or orange tiles, as they already contain red in them.

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