Quirky App of The Day: Kissing Contest
by Kathryn Zane
April 21, 2012
To begin, I would like to point out that this game is best played without smashing actual lips onto the screen. While I've seen my fair share of kissing contest apps in the App Store that utilize this strategy, this Kissing Contest app does not. Not only does it make for easier gameplay to use your fingers, it's probably more hygienic as well. Kissing Contest isn't a game of kissing as much as it is a game of aim and judgement.
The point of the game is to tap the red lips with great dental hygiene as they grow larger on your screen. The pink lips that seem as if they haven't seen a toothbrush in five years are best avoided. It's basically instinct to not touch something that looks sick or dirty. In this case, instinct proves useful. Touching the unhealthy mouth will result in a deduction of points. Since Kissing Contest isn't scored like a golf game, it's best to just avoid losing points.
The longer you hold your touch on the red lips, the more points you gain. There's more than one set of lips that comes at you at a time. You could just touch one pair for all 50 points, but if you miss six other sets of lips, then you didn't really do yourself any favors. The best strategy I found was to have my fingers contort in ridiculous ways in order to get as many pairs of lips for as long as I could. This strategy lasted as long as my finger joints could stand it. Since I have no flexibility in my fingers, it wasn't for very long. I'm guessing that gymnasts and guitar players will probably fare better than I did.
The game comes with three free "bonus tools." There are five of each to begin with. The first tool is an additional 30 seconds of gameplay. The second tool freezes the lips on the screen so that they don't disappear until you can get them. The third tool kisses the lips for you. These last two tools also last for 30 seconds. However, if you use them all, they don't replenish once you start a new game. You have to buy a package of them from the App Store. So, if you're going to use them, be wise in how you do so. Also, I'm interested in hearing user opinions on games that have in-app purchases like this one. Even if you bought the game, you would still have to buy additional boosts. Is that fair, since you already bought the game?
Kissing Contest is a universal app available in the App Store for the awesome price of FREE!
