IssenHow to play & tips

What kind of game is it?

A pair of tightly closed fusuma sliding doors stands before you. Press Draw to reveal the seam between them. Your goal is to trace that seam in one downward cut, from the top frame to the bottom sill, without lifting your finger.

How to play

Place your finger or stylus at the top frame and follow the seam to the sill in a single stroke. You have three Lives. Touching the paper of either door with your blade costs one life.

Each match has five rounds. Cut through all five to clear the match and unlock the next difficulty. You start at Beginner, and higher difficulties are more challenging.

How scoring works

Your score depends on Accuracy and speed. A straight, quick cut along the center of the seam earns more points. Taking aim and cutting in one go often makes a cleaner line than tracing slowly and hesitantly.

Daily Challenge and rankings

In Daily Challenge, everyone gets the same sequence of doors for the same difficulty on the same date in Japan Standard Time. Try it as a daily test of your skill.

If you join the rankings, you can compare records with other players in today’s challenge or in the best scores for each difficulty. Joining is optional; you can keep playing without it.

Tips

• Before cutting, look at the top and bottom of the seam and picture a straight line between them.
• Moving your whole arm smoothly downward, rather than just your fingertip, can help keep your line steady.
• When you are running low on Lives, put accuracy before speed.

A note from the creator

I wanted to capture the tension of cutting through everything in a moment of focus, using just one finger. Enjoy a quiet match with ink-painted doors and Japanese-style background music. The game is available in nine languages: Japanese, English, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Korean, Spanish, French, German, and Portuguese.