Burn the Rope

Burn the Rope is a puzzle game where the player controls the fire ember named Wickman. As the title implies, he needs to burn pieces of rope to complete levels all shown on a single screen. The starting position on the rope can be determined by the player and then he follows the rope to scorch it. The player has to control the direction of the fire to line it up with the direction of the rope as Wickman can only burn upwards. If it is not lined up correctly, the fire will halt and eventually die out. On mobile devices this is done by rotating the device. The Vita version uses the same control mechanism, but adds the ability to guide the fire through any of the two touch screens, or the one at the back can be used for pinching to enable zooming. The Wii version has a completely control mechanism as the entire stage is rotated in clockwise or counterclockwise circles through the Nunchuk's analog stick.

When the rope forks, Wickman splits up into two separate fires. The player can either follow one fire or try to guide both by quickly switching the rotation in turns before one burns out. There is also the ability to speed up the burning process. The player is rated based on the amount of rope that was burned and is rewarded with a bronze, silver or gold medal. The total percentage is also shown. Other gameplay elements include ants on the rope that can be burned to change the flame's colour. They provide additional points but sometimes coloured pieces of rope can only be burned when the flame has the same colour. When a firebug is burned, it creates an explosion that burns everything within a fixed radius. Beetles provide additional points when they are burned with a flame of the same colour. When an electric bug is burned, it lights its electric partner elsewhere on the rope and starts a new fire. Spiders create silk bridges when burned and water bugs put out flames when they are touched by it.

The Android version contains 7 sets of 16 levels per set accessible from the Wickman's Cottage map screen. After each level the next one is opened up and completing an entire set opens up the next one. In addition there are two level packs of 30 levels each. A third option is the "puzzle of the day" section. It contains levels drawn as concept art by players and sent to the developers, who convert the best ones to in-game levels. The Vita version has the same collection of 7x16 levels, but the 60 remaining ones are unlocked as an eighth world after completing the initial ones.

Both the Android and the iPhone commercial versions come with in-game advertisements. Ads are displayed at the bottom of the screens and from time to time there are ads that fill the entire screen like a pop-up. For the iPhone version users can pay to remove them. Those two platforms also offer a free-to-play version. The content is identical, but the game requires flames to open up and unlock new levels. Specific levels can be unlocked through flames earned throughout gameplay. Additional flames can be bought through microtransactions in packs of 2,000, 4,000 or 6,000, but there are also some initiatives to receive free flames by downloading and playing other games. For a fixed price the game can be upgraded for both platforms to remove the flames required to open up levels. For the iPad, Symbian and Windows Phone versions there is no free-to-play release.