I recently discovered a fun and casual iOS game great for anyone interested in radiology… that just might improve your ability to read x-rays. And I’ll share my thoughts on it with you now.

Gaming

To be honest, I’m not much of a gamer. When I was a kid, I wasn’t even allowed to have a Nintendo®, at least not until my older brother gave us his original NES as a hand-me-down gift years later. I’ve dabbled in computer games like Myst® and Call of Duty® - but they’re either so incredibly difficult that I get no pleasure from them, or so addictive that I have to ban myself from playing them. And I couldn’t use a console controller if my life depended on it.

I prefer casual games that don’t take a lot of commitment. Something I can dip in and out of when I need a brief distraction. Games like Lemmings, Tower Defense, or Hellcats were some of my past favorites.

I was recently setting up an AppleTV in my garage gym and I started browsing for any new apps when I came across .projekt.

.projekt - a game about silhouettes

.projekt is a new minimalistic puzzle from a developer based in Ukraine. In his own words, “It requires you to look at things differently. It is a relaxing experience. There are no ads, no high-scores and no time pressure.”

I always was excited by geometry lessons at school and in university. But not all people were as excited as I was. So I created a game called .projekt to share my passion for spatial awareness with others. - Kyrylo Kuzyk, Developer

When you launch the game, you’re presented with a grid and two walls. The goal is to build a 3D shape to match the shadows on the walls by dropping cubes in the correct places on the grid.

The first few chapters are a brief tutorial with simple shapes. Each chapter progresses in difficulty, challenging your spatial cognition.

The game

.projekt challenges your spatial visualization by projecting shadows from a 3D object onto a 2D surface and then requiring you to recreate that 3D object. Once you get past the tutorial chapters, the difficulty quickly increases with more complex shapes, overlapping shadows, and blocks that have to be removed to solve the puzzle. You can easily rotate the view with a swipe of the finger and add or remove blocks with a tap or hold.

AR mode

To make it even more interesting, the game includes augmented reality. Just tap on this icon to project the current chapter onto a nearby surface like a coffee table. Now you can move around the grid and play as if it were in front of you. To be honest, AR feels more like a gimmick to play with for a while, but I prefer to just play on the phone.

Dark mode

And for those radiologists at heart who can’t stand the bright white interface… there is a dark mode. Now you can play comfortably in the moody ambiance of a darkroom.

What I like

.projekt is a simple game that I can play for a few minutes with a cup of coffee, when I need a break, or when my kids finally take their nap. It doesn’t take a lot of coordination, but is a fun geometrical challenge.

What I don’t like

On the phone, it can sometimes be difficult to target the right square for the block. I’m sure this is easier on larger devices and on the desktop, but it does get a little annoying to have to remove blocks when they land in the wrong spot.

What about you?

What are your favorite video games related to chiropractic, or otherwise? As always, leave a comment if this was helpful or to tell me what you’d like to see more of.