APP STORE AWARDS

iPad Game of the Year

Lost in Play

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The year’s most charming adventure brought us into a world powered by childlike imagination – and we never wanted to leave.

– App Store editors

A tale of two siblings with vivid imaginations, Lost in Play showed us sights we’d never seen before in a point-and-tap adventure. Crisp, hand-drawn graphics sweep you into a land of daydreams. Here, solving whimsical point-and-tap puzzles helps the brother and sister find their way back to their real-world home.

Take a ride on a giant swan in a park. Help friendly frog people pull a sword from a stone. A colossal fish swallowed your brother? Rescue him by tickling its tummy until it spits him out. In Lost in Play’s made-up world, it feels like absolutely anything can happen.

In the boy’s vivid imagination, his masked sister becomes an actual monster. Rarrrrr!!!

Navigating unlikely scenarios like these will require outside-the-box thinking – and as with any classic point-and-tap adventure, you’ll sometimes need a nudge. We love how Lost in Play solves this: its minimalist hint system promotes a childlike sense of discovery by offering only part of each solution, such as showing us the first few moves to avoid a menacing bear but leaving the last few for us to figure out ourselves.

Spend enough time in Lost in Play and it might start to colour your worldview. Maybe your local park transforms into a lush rainforest, an office complex into an enchanted kingdom. Lost in Play reminds us that fantasies are a vital part of everyday life – and sometimes, you just want to get lost in them.

Quick tip

Stuck on the sliding-duck puzzle? So were we! Here’s a clue: start by moving two ducks to the 25 line and another two to the 50 line.

Fun fact

Toto and Gal, the two siblings in the game, are based on the children of one of the game’s creators. He was inspired to craft Lost in Play after watching his kids play make-believe and get completely immersed in their world.

Meet the creator

Lost in Play is the first game fully developed by Tel Aviv–based indie studio Happy Juice. The team previously collaborated with 11Sheep on the point-and-click adventure The Office Quest.