The Garage48 competition traditionally produces a variety of strange cell phone games, albeit ones with distinct commercial potential. After all, people are thirsting for virtual entertainment that may be somewhat lowbrow but crinkles the corners of their mouth. 

Last year’s Tartu Garage48 resulted in the ultimate anti-game – Smashr, which measured how fast players could smash their phones against the ground, and determined who was Chuck Norris or Rowan Atkinson, as it were. This January’s Helsinki Garage48 brought Blow’em – “The game that does not suck” – into existence.

“Have you ever wanted to smash a tomato on one’s face?” ask the developers. “Or lacked the courage to express your feelings for a sweetheart? Now is your time to act, no need to pretend! This is a chance to express yourself! We empower you to Blow’em!”

The point of this somewhat silly mobile game is that it gives you the power to blow a tomato into the face of your friend or foe (provided their visage is on the screen courtesy of the built-in cam or a saved image). The person who “gets it” later sees the video of themselves getting hit by the fruit. It can then be sent out across the social media.

Touchscreen has something to do with it still

The question immediately comes up – how on earth does the touchscreen respond to blowing – but actually it has nothing to do with the screen. The telephone responds to the sound that reaches the microphone. Blow’em can incidentally only be used in telephones with touchscreens.

The weapon of choice doesn’t have to be a tomato. There are there options – Retarded Tomato, Angry Egg (that you’ll feel the stench, long-distance) and Deep Throat (helps build the bridge for a sustained relationship.) You get the point.

The game is the brainchild of an international team consisting of Vladimir Grigor, Jaak Laineste, Hannu Leinonen, Liis Peetermann, Kalev Külaase, Evija Zauere and Ilze Pētersone. All of the team members were newcomers to game development.

Android and iPhone release coming soon

Jaak Laineste says they plan to release the game for Android and iPhone users in the near future. The goal is simple: million download status. “We are currently testing a beta version and the official release will be any day now,” he says. The development process is slow and steady, as all of the team members have their day jobs to attend to. But it really is a hobby for the team.

“It seems that real projects cannot really evolve out of Garage48, as first of all there is no financing to make it a full-time affair. An even more crucial problem is that everyone have their day jobs and they’re not going to quit overnight. If some did — some don’t even have work right now – the likelihood of assembling the requisite staff would be extremely low. Thus it is like a one-night stand – a one-off, fun project and the simpler and the less need for follow-up, the better,” says Laineste, who works for Nutiteq for his own livelihood.