Tatomic: An iPhone game for the color blind

Color-blind players are not the main audience most developers think of when plotting their games.

They're not who Nitzan Wilnai of VGViews originally built for either when the Tetris-like games Tatomic ($4.99) and Tatomic Lite (free) first became available for iPhone and iPod Touch. Yet enough players requested a color-blind mode that Wilnai got to work.

In color-blind mode, green atoms become purple. Too bad the background still looks red, orange, or brown.

(Credit: CNET)

The color-blind mode, found in the Options menu, swaps Tatomic's green-colored atoms with purple ones. In the free version, players must connect chains of same-hued atoms to clear the row, reminiscent of Tetris's iconic puzzle. The full version of Tatomic, however, gives you 30 levels and two additional modes--one in which you must create puzzle shapes, and another that will only clear an atomic chain when you attach a radioactive atom catalyst.

We tested both of Tatomic's color modes on one of CNET's own color-afflicted, who appreciated the difference right away, but still registered the blue atoms as white in both schemes.

It mattered little--he proclaimed the game "All the fun of the Large Hadron Collider, but without the risk."