Qix (pronounced 'kicks') is an arcade game released by Taito America Corporation in 1981. The objective of Qix is to fence off, or claim, a supermajority of the playfield. At the start of each level, the playing field is a large, empty rectangle, containing the Qix—a stick-like entity that performs graceful but unpredictable motions within the confines of the rectangle. The game was ported to the contemporary Atari 5200 and Atari 8-bit computers, then was brought to a wide variety of systems in the late 1980s and early 1990s: Commodore 64 (1983 and 1989), DOS (1989), Amiga (1989) (graphically enhanced), Apple IIgs (1990), Game Boy (1990) (available on 3DS Virtual Console), Nintendo Entertainment System (1991), and Atari Lynx (1991).
The player controls a marker that can move around the edges of the rectangle. Holding down one of the draw buttons allows the marker to move into unclaimed territory and draw lines ('Stix') in an attempt to create a closed shape. If completed, the captured area (defined as the side opposite of where the Qix is) becomes filled in with a solid color and points are awarded. To complete a level, the player must claim 75% of the playfield (adjustable by the arcade operator to be between 50% and 90%).
The player's marker can move at two different speeds; areas drawn exclusively at the slower speed (orange-red on the screenshot shown) are worth double points. It cannot cross or backtrack along any Stix in progress.
A life is lost if the Qix touches any uncompleted Stix or if the marker is touched by any of the Sparx – enemies that traverse all playfield edges except uncompleted Stix. In addition, if the marker stops while drawing, a fuse will appear and burn along the uncompleted Stix toward the marker; if it reaches the marker, the player loses one life. The fuse disappears once the player moves the marker again. The player has no defenses against the enemies and must out-maneuver them in order to survive.
A meter at the top of the screen counts down to the release of additional Sparx, and the mutation of all Sparx into Super Sparx which can chase the marker along uncompleted Stix.
After the player completes two levels, the difficulty increases by the inclusion of multiple Qixes, additional Sparx, speed increases, and the eventual appearance of only Super Sparx. In levels with multiple Qixes, the player can also complete the level by splitting the playfield into two regions, each containing at least one Qix.
More details about this game can be found on
Wikipedia.org.
Find digital download of this game on
GOG
or
Steam.
Videogame Console:
This version of Qix was designed for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), which was an eight-bit video game console manufactured
by Nintendo in the years 1983 - 2003. In that time, it was the best-selling video game console for which more than 700 licensed games and a number of non-licensed
games were created. Worldwide, approximately 62 million units of this console were sold at approximately price $ 100 per unit. More information about the
NES console can be found here.
Recommended Game Controllers:
You can control this game easily by using the keyboard of your PC (see the table next to the game). However, for maximum gaming enjoyment, we strongly recommend using a USB gamepad that you simply plug into the USB port of your computer. If you do not have a gamepad, you can buy one of these NES controllers:
Available online emulators:
6 different online emulators are available for Qix. These emulators differ not only in the technology they use to emulate old games, but also in support of various game controllers, multiplayer mode, mobile phone touchscreen, emulation speed, absence or presence of embedded ads and in many other parameters. For
maximum gaming enjoyment, it's important to choose the right emulator, because on each PC and in different Internet browsers, the individual emulators behave differently. The basic
features of each emulator available for this game Qix are summarized in the following table:
If you like Qix you'll probably like also some of the similar games in the overview below. The games you see here
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This version of Qix was designed for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), which was an eight-bit video game console manufactured
by Nintendo in the years 1983 - 2003. In that time, it was the best-selling video game console for which more than 700 licensed games and a number of non-licensed
games were created. Worldwide, approximately 62 million units of this console were sold at approximately price $ 100 per unit. More information about the
NES console can be found 
