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4.5 out of 5 mice
Reviewed Feb 20, 2009

No Macworld user reviews

Filed Under:

Games

Developer:
Cam-Hoan Ton-That

Age rating: 4+

Compatibility: Compatible with iPhone and iPod touch.
Requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later.

Macworld
» AppGuide

ExpandoCurrent Version: 5.0

GET IT

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Put a smile on your face today with Expando!

Expando is a fun challenging game for the iPhone. In Expando, you have to try to fill up the screen with smiley faces without hitting the red balls! Its fun, try it! This app is sex, sex sexy.

FEATURES:

* Auto saving games when you quit Expando
* Over 40 different backgrounds and 5 different music tracks
* Over 10 different variations (Easy/Medium/Hard/Instant Death and more!)
* Worldwide high scores powered by Feint (log in with Facebook/Twitter)

GAME MODES:

There are tons of different game modes for Expando.

* Easy
* Medium
* Hard
* Instant Death
* Fast
* No Space
* Zero Gravity
* No Tilt
* Super Bad
* Timed!

The variations are endless and you'll be smiling every day you play this game! Get it now!

RULES:

To finish the level, fill up 2/3rds of the screen with yellow smiley faces! Press and hold your finger to grow a smiley face. Let go of your finger when you are done growing the smiley face. Avoid the red balls while growing a smiley face, or you will lose a life.

Beware, you have a limited number of lives and balls.

REVIEWS:

"This is an addicting game that will keep you on your device for hours. I played for more than two hours today and it felt like 30 minutes. Outstanding! Worth four or five dollars... free is a total bonus. Thank you." -- RSGardner

"I LOVE this app!! The other day my kid was bored, so I looked for a free app to entertain the little guy. It's a great app and [it] entertained him for the next hour. In fact, this app is great for people of all ages. I started playing it, and then I understood why he loved the game. Well, you heard my opinion, so I say buy Expando!"

"So I was like "What's this happy face thing..." ... and so I downloaded it and started playing.... for over an hour! This game is my new obsession! My only complaint is no pause button" -- CoverGurl [ed you can actually pause, read below]

NOTES:

* You can press the lock button on the phone to pause (just unlock it and it will be paused)
* You can double tap the home button to play your own music (stop your own music)
* You can flick the mute button the the iPhone to turn off the popping sounds
* You can turn down the volume on the iPhone too

IS EXPANDO SPYWARE?

Expando is NOT spyware. We DO NOT track GPS information. Apple will ask for permission with every app if they want to get your location. We only track how many times you play a game for how long. Its all aggregate information, so we have no idea who you are individually, we just know the average amount of times everyone plays a game and for how long.

SUPPORT:

If you have any bugs, questions or comments please email: happyappyinc@gmail.com

Expando Screenshots

Expando Review

Trippy time-waster features big smiley faces

by Lex Friedman, Macworld.com

Expando, a $2 app from HappyAppy with a feature-limited free version also available, exploits the iPhone’s touch screen and accelerometer to create a silly, simple, and addictive game.

Put On a Happy Face: Expando builds on a simple premise with manic energy.

Gameplay is genuinely amusing, and trippy to describe: As you press your finger on the screen, a yellow smiley face begins to expand beneath it. The longer you keep your finger in place, the larger the face balloons. But if one of the tiny red dots that’s bouncing around the screen crashes into your happy face as it’s expanding, it pops. You need to grow enough faces to cover 67 percent of the screen to complete each level. If you run out of “lives” (the number of popped faces allowed), or “balls” (the maximum number of faces), you lose.

Though those evil red dots float all over, the happy faces you’re growing exhibit gravity. As you move your phone, they slide around. Tilting the phone can trap the red dots, giving you much-needed space to grow additional faces.

Ridiculous? Sure. But fun? Absolutely! Levels become increasingly manic with more and more popping red dots on the loose. The game features gorgeous backgrounds, and sports ten separate gameplay modes (e.g., “Easy,” “Timed,” “Instant Death,” “No Gravity”). You can continue your game if you get interrupted, and high scores are saved.

Expando is an easy game to learn, and when your friends see you playing, they’ll undoubtedly demand their own turn. The game’s inexpensive, enjoyable, and a great time-waster to boot.

Expando is compatible with any iPhone or iPod touch running the iPhone 2.x software update.

[Lex Friedman often makes happy faces of his own at http://lex.lexandlauren.com/ ]

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