Scatterbox
Hunt the hidden atoms
Free · In‑App Purchases · Designed for iPad. Not verified for macOS.
Scatterbox is a game of pure deduction. A handful of atoms are hidden in a grid. You fire a beam in from any edge, see where it comes out, and reason your way to what must be inside. No reflexes. No timers. No luck. Every board has exactly one answer, and it is always findable.
There are only four things a beam can do:
• Miss — straight in, straight out the far side. That lane is clear.
• Hit — the beam never comes back. It ran into an atom head-on.
• Deflection — passing an atom on the diagonal turns the beam ninety degrees.
• Reflection — two atoms turn it back out the square it entered.
Learn those four and you have learned the whole game. The first time each one happens to you, Scatterbox shows you why.
BOARD OF THE DAY
One puzzle a day, the same for everyone, built from the date. The difficulty rotates through the week — gentle on Monday, brutal by the weekend. Solve it to build a streak; miss a day and the streak resets. Your best streak is always on the home screen.
FREE PLAY
Set your own board — width, height, and atom count, up to 12×12 on iPhone and 16×16 on iPad — or switch on random mode and get a fresh shape every game.
BUILT FOR THINKING
• Number every marker, so you are never guessing at colors
• An optional timer if you want the pressure, off by default
• "Check" your guesses before you commit — for a small score cost
• Reveal shows the full path every beam actually took
Your score is the number of beams you fired plus a penalty for wrong guesses. Lower is better. There is no way to lose — only to solve it in fewer beams next time.
Scatterbox plays entirely on your device. No account, no sign-in, nothing to sync. It works on a plane.
Scatterbox is an independent game in the tradition of Black Box, the deduction puzzle designed by Eric Solomon in 1976. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by the original game or its publishers.
Free to play, with ads. A one-time "Remove Ads" purchase turns them off for good.
Privacy Policy: https://scatterbox.ggates1020.com/privacy/
Terms of Use: https://scatterbox.ggates1020.com/terms-of-use/
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Bug Fixes
The developer, GEORGE,HOWARD GATES, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Not Linked to You
The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:
- Identifiers
- Usage Data
- Diagnostics
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
- Seller
- GEORGE,HOWARD GATES
- Size
- 4.4 MB
- Category
- Puzzle
- Compatibility
Requires iOS 26.5 or later.
- iPhone
Requires iOS 26.5 or later. - iPad
Requires iPadOS 26.5 or later. - Mac
Requires macOS 26.5 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later.
- iPhone
- Languages
- English
- Age Rating
13+
- 13+
- Contains
Advertising
- In-App Purchases
Yes
- Remove Ads $2.99
- Copyright
- © 2026 George Gates