Cut the Rope

Om Nom first appeared on iOS on October 4, 2010, in a game made by ZeptoLab, a studio founded by brothers Semyon and Efim Voinov. Cut the Rope sold its first million copies in nine days, which publisher Chillingo said was the fastest any iOS game had reached that mark, and an Android version followed in June 2011.

What Is Cut the Rope

A piece of candy hangs from one or more ropes, and Om Nom, a small green monster, waits somewhere below or beside it with his mouth open. Swiping across a rope cuts it, so the candy swings or falls, and your goal is to get it into his mouth. Each level has three stars placed along possible paths. Stars are not required to finish, though you need enough of them to open later boxes, and collecting all three usually means finding the one cutting order the designers had in mind.

How Each Cut the Rope Box Adds A New Idea

Levels come in themed boxes, and the original game grew to 17 of them with 25 levels each. Each box introduces something new, and the first few show how carefully the difficulty is built:

1. Cardboard Box teaches cutting, bubbles that float the candy upward, and spikes
2. Fabric Box adds air cushions that blow the candy sideways and spiders that crawl along ropes to steal it
3. Foil Box brings movable rope hooks and electric sparks
4. Magic Box introduces hats that teleport the candy
5. Gift Box uses wheels that wind rope in or out
6. Cosmic Box lets you flip gravity

Later boxes add bouncing platforms, rotating blades, bees that carry the candy along a path, steam valves, lanterns that work like portals and a mouse that drags the candy around. Most stuck levels open up once you stop cutting first and instead watch how the candy swings for a few seconds.

Cut the Rope Collected Awards Early

Critics liked how the game taught each mechanic without text. It won Best Handheld Game at the Game Developers Choice Awards for 2010, an Apple Design Award in 2011 and a BAFTA in 2011, making it the first iOS game to win in that handheld category. Om Nom became ZeptoLab’s mascot, and his design was reportedly modelled on a two-year-old child.

From Experiments To The Current Cut the Rope Listing

ZeptoLab followed up with Cut the Rope: Experiments in 2011 and Cut the Rope 2 in 2013, and Om Nom later got his own spin-offs and an animated series. On Android, the game now lives under ZeptoLab UK Limited as Cut the Rope, free to install with ads and in-app purchases. The current listing describes hundreds of levels organised in boxes, adds limited-time events such as races against other players, plays offline and has more than 100 million downloads.

Does Cut the Rope Suit Children And Adults?

It suits both, which is part of why it lasted. Early boxes are gentle enough for young children, since there is no reading and failure costs only a second, while later boxes demand timing and planning that challenge adults. Players often praise the charm and the steady pace of new ideas, and the most common complaints are about ads between levels and prompts to buy hints. It runs well on any current Android phone, and a tablet makes the precise late-game cuts easier.