The App Store isn’t suffering from a dearth of puzzle games, so some rely on illustrated hooks or stories to draw players in. Sporos, on the other hand, presents a simple, no-frills presentation that puts the emphasis solely on the puzzles themselves. 

Placing the sporos pieces on a hex grid lights up the surrounding cells in patterns of straight lines, based on different configurations found on the pieces’ faces. Once you’ve lit up the entire board, you’ve completed the puzzle. This concept is easy enough to grasp, but the challenge quickly builds as the beehive patterns grow more complex corridors and the “Experimental” stages introduce arrow cells that divert the lines. 

You can move the pieces around as you’d like to find the right combination, but fewer moves will result in a higher star ranking out of three. Unlike skill-based games, the pure puzzle aspect means that once you know a solution, you can easily replicate it for a 3-star rank. “Hints” (in actuality precise outlines of solutions) are available as timed refreshes or in-app purchases just in case you happen to get unbearably stuck.

Puzzle games have to strike a difficult balance. In the best of times, they can appear utterly intractable until that magic “eureka!” moment. At the worst, they can become arbitrary, trial-and-error exercises. Sporos straddles the line, as the ability to fiddle with the pieces or use hints can undermine some of the brain-teaser challenge. This kind of brute force can draw out a solution, but puzzle enthusiasts will probably get more satisfaction out of staring at the board until the solution hits like a bolt of lightning. It’s an exhilarating feeling, if you have the patience for it.

The bottom line. Sporos is a pure puzzle game in the classical sense, with a simple rule set that quickly iterates and expands. It may not dazzle, and it’s easy to fall into a trial-and-error grind – but if you want a cerebral challenge, it’s as difficult as the limitations you place on yourself.