FingerGaming

Every so often, while browsing the new App Store releases, I come across a game that I’ve seen dozens of times before. It might be called Crazy Eggs, or Eggs Collector, or Eggs from USSR, or The Eggs. Each one is a simple, Game & Watch-styled LCD game in which a wolf character catches falling eggs. Miss three eggs, and the game is over.

After watching thousands of new apps roll in over the past several months, I can safely say that “Eggs” is one of the most-cloned game in the App Store. Curiously, each “new” version of Eggs is written by a different author, yet it features the exact same gameplay (and often, the exact same graphics) as the numerous clones that came before it.

So what is “Eggs?” Let’s find out!

(pic credit: gameandwatch.com)

“Eggs” is, indeed, based on a real Game & Watch clone device released under the Elektronika brand in the former Soviet Union. The game itself is a reskinned version of Nintendo’s “Egg,” Game & Watch model number EG-26, released in 1981.

The Elektronika version of “Egg” contains characters from Nu, pogodi!, a popular cartoon series that is basically the Russian equivalent of Looney Tunes. New episodes are still being produced, though they tend to arrive once every few years or so.

From what I’ve been able to piece together from App Store descriptions, the Nu, pogodi! game is almost as big of a cultural icon as Nu, pogodi! the cartoon, making it an especially popular choice for App Store developers to clone.

Here are a few Nu, pogodi! clones currently available in the App Store. Note that many are no longer for sale in the United States, though they may still be available in other regions.

• Eggs Collector
• Crazy Eggs

• NuPogodi
• Eggs from USSR

• Hens & Wolf
• iCatcher

• iWolf (not available in U.S.)
• The Catching

• The Cat (not available in U.S.)
• The Eggs

• The Hockey (not available in U.S.)
• The Wolf (not available in U.S.)
• W.O.L.F.

Tags: Action, eggs, game & watch, iphone oddities, nu pogodi, Puzzle