Format: iPhone
Developer: Backflip Studios
Direct App Store link
 
It's easy to assume that the appeal of games lies purely with the fact that they can take you anywhere. The iTunes App Store has a habit of trampling on that assumption, however. Comfortably installed in the number one spot on the list of most popular free apps, Paper Toss, by Boulder, Colorado-based Backflip Studios, won't send you out into an ancient land felling corrupt kings and destroying cursed baubles, and it won't fire you deep into space, to take on murderous aliens bent on eliminating humanity. It doesn't even feature an explosive climax on the rolling decks of the Titanic. Instead, this sturdy world-beater dramatically illustrates the high-stakes spectacle of bored office staff repeatedly lobbing a lump of crumpled paper into a bin. And that’s it. Even when the air’s filled with the taunts and cheers of your co-workers, and a shifting arrangement of desktop fans forces you to calibrate your throws with care, Backflip’s game doesn't boast much in the way of dynamic action - you don't even get to crumple up the paper yourself. None of that matters, though. The end result is oddly delightful.
 
There's certainly no accusing the game's designers of delusions of grandeur. Paper Toss was built by a five-man team over the space of two weeks, following a suggestion made at the bi-weekly pitch meeting. "About half our folks loved it, and the other half hated it," says CEO Julian Farrior. "If nothing else, we knew we had a game with a strong sense of humour. So to date, we've released Ragdoll Blaster, a game where you fire dolls at a target to solve puzzles, and another where you throw paper into a trash can. This clearly isn't brain surgery - we try not to take ourselves too seriously."
 

That said, there is a method behind the madness: by giving Paper Toss away for free, Backflip ensures that the widest possible audience sees the link for its paid app, modestly wedged in the corner of the start menu. It's a simple strategy, and it appears to be working, too. "We saw about 4.5 million downloads in three weeks, with usage topping 35 million total sessions, and an average session length of about seven minutes,î says Farrior. ìWe saw about 800,000 clicks through, and in that same period, saw Ragdoll Blaster climb within the top 50 Paid Apps too."
 
Beyond providing a generous means of spreading advertising messages, Paper Toss, in its careful banality, offers a real insight into the casual market itself - a market where the game's air of inconsequential familiarity is an asset, attracting an audience so often intimidated by the complex fantasies filling the shelves of shops. People understand Paper Toss the minute they hear the title: there's no tricky mechanics to learn, and no convoluted lore to memorise (although lore from the Paper Toss universe could easily give Elder Scrolls a run for its money). And yet, even with such a slight remit, games often retain a peculiar ability to surprise, and Backflip's chirpy title still manages to disappear swiftly down the ludic rabbit hole. With your score going up on the virtual whiteboard while your own desktop phone goes unanswered, Paper Toss offers nothing less than a productivity-shredding digital simulation of real-world time-wasting.