Don’t Tap the White Tile is just the latest hit to prove no one really understands mobile gaming

What is Piano Tiles/Don’t Tap The White Tile?

Well, it is the most downloaded game for iPhone and Android. The simple, arcade-style release has players tapping vertical-scrolling black tiles in a variety of different modes. The idea is to tap the correct parts of the screen as fast as you can, and that’s about the extent of the mechanics. The “Classic” stage wants to see how fast you can tap 30 blocks, and “Arcade” gives you the chance to continue for as long as you can avoid the dreaded white spaces, but that’s it.

You should try to beat my scores!
Above: You should try to beat my scores!
Image Credit: Jeff Grubb/GamesBeat
And it’s exceedingly simple.

Piano Tiles embodies everything about the kinds of stuff that is bubbling up on mobile recently. Like Flappy Bird, each match of Piano Tiles only lasts for a short amount of time. Like 2048, it has an incredibly basic visual style. Like both games, Piano Tiles only really has players performing one gesture action, and it is free. It also lacks any in-app purchases.

The app is performing well. In fact, more people are downloading Piano Tiles 2 game on iOS and Android than Clash of Clans or Candy Crush Saga. Those may make a lot more money, but they also have huge development teams. Umoni Studio, the developer responsible for Piano Tiles, doesn’t even have an official website.

What this says about mobile gaming

That apps like Piano Tiles and 2048 are taking over the top of the download charts while Angry Birds studio Rovio’s profits take a nosedive is potential evidence of a couple of possibilities.

For one, it could mean that big publishers have no idea what gamers really want. After all, Flappy Bird and 2048 seemed to come out of nowhere. They also lack a certain amount of polish and production values that mobile publishers often put into their releases. And smartphone owners don’t seem to care.

Game play: http://pianotiles2.com/