Qix

[Maurer]

I had always tried the slow-speed up till now. I decided to go to high-speed for a change, and made it to level 3 without losing a life. But did you know the Qix splits into 2 at level 3? And the sparklies start following your trail while you're drawing it. Needless to say, I was vaporized within seconds.

Does anyone know about the further levels of this fascinating little game? Insights, anyone?

-M-

[ArcadeBoss]

Here's one...

Consider that you can use the fast draw to almost close off a large area, then use the slow mode to go the final little distance and get more points. You can't switch modes during a run so you could build a wall with several small fast-mode rectangles, then on last segment of wall use fast mode to split the two areas.

[Maurer]

Here's a short rundown on the original game:

Qix (c) 10/1981 Taito.

- BASIC IDEA -

The objective of Qix is to claim a certain proportion of the playing field as your own. At the start of each level, the playing field is just a large, empty rectangle, containing the Qix - a sticklike entity that performs peculiar, erratic motions within the confines of the rectangle. The player controls a small marker that can move around the edges of the rectangle. To claim an area of the screen, the player must detach from an edge and draw Stix within the rectangle. Stix are simply lines traced out by moving the marker. When the marker traces out a closed shape, the area enclosed by the shape becomes solid and has been claimed. The player may draw either Fast Stix, which appear blue when solid, or Slow Stix, which appear red. Slow Stix take longer to draw, but are worth twice as many points. Once the player has claimed an area, the marker can safely move along the border of that claimed area. To complete a level, the player must claim 75% or more of the rectangle's area.


- TRIVIA -

The author named the game ''QIX'' (pronounced ''KICKS'' and not ''QUIX'') because his car registration/number plate at the time was : ''JUS4QIX''.

Qix is the first ''drawing game'', a truly original game. Also the first totally Taito American game, Qix initially did big numbers, but quickly died when players discovered the machine was 'unbeatable'. Having a googolplex of possible combinations, there was no singular pattern to the game and players lost interest.

A Qix unit appears in the 1983 movie ''Joysticks'' and in the 1984 movie ''The Karate Kid''.

- SCORING -

There are a couple of ways you earn points in Qix. The first involves actually claiming areas.

There are two buttons, slow and fast. These buttons determine how fast your Marker goes. In essence, going slow increases the risk of losing your Marker so it is obviously worth more points. Here's how the points work out for making ''boxes'':

1) Slow : It is a base 500 points multiplied by the percentage of area covered by that box. For example, if you create a box that claims 3% of the total area, then points scored would be 500 X 3 or 1500 points. This area fills in with brown.

2) Fast : It is a base 250 points multiplied by the percentage of area covered by that box. For example, if you create a box that claims 1% of the total area, then points scored would be 250 X 1 or 250 points. This area fills in with blue.

NOTE : The above points may not be exact since the game rounds off the percentages to whole numbers for display but calculates them using decimal percentages.

You also get bonus points for going above the 75% Threshold. Any percentage above the 75% Threshold is multiplied by 1000 to determine your bonus points.

During the split Qix screens, if you successfully split the Qix's into their own compartments, you will get a multiplier bonus that is applied to points scored when you are making boxes. For example, if you had a 250 points and the multiplier was 3X, you now have 750 points. This multiplier increments by one every time you successfully split the Qix's. Of course, when you do this, you don't get the bonus points (if you had any).

- TIPS AND TRICKS -

[ArcadeBoss]

Good stuff there. I learned some things.

Added some of that to the game notes, thanks.

[Prosbsbll8]

Good to know all that stuff. I didn't really get the point of Qix

[DjMartinez]

im new at the whole arcadeboss thign, and I wanted to say that "Qix" is a very hard game. Those fuses get on my nerves!

[ArcadeBoss]

Yeah, you gotta keep on moving at times to keep them at bay.

[nitestalker]

first couple of levels are easy after that i die pretty quick. they start chasin you down

[fitty]

This is really helpful I really suck at quix and cant even get passed level 1

[Sinalma13]

Thanks this helped me understand the game better, I really suck at Qix

[badderb]

Never been to level three lol

[akwiss1013]

EDITED because I copied and pasted another member's post as my own. I'm not capable of original content.

[akwiss1013]

Never been to level three or two

[ICBM]

Probably haven't played the game either.
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[coolguy68]

Qix is a pretty fun game but not one of my favorites