RetroHub games
Zipper
Close the loop, and the zone is yours.
Run along the sides: the zipper closes behind you.
Go all the way around a zone to close it.
Dodge the critters: one touch costs a life.
What is in the maze
The zipper pull
That is you. It only travels along the sides, from one crossing to the next. The ones at the top right are your lives: seven to start.
An open side
Zipper teeth. It is waiting to be run from one crossing to the other.
A closed side
A solid line. It closes behind the pull as it moves along.
A closed zone
All its sides are closed: it fills with its pattern, and it is yours for good.
The object
Four zones per maze hide one. Closing them scores 500 points, and the power.
The exit
The number at the end of a corridor: it is the maze it leads to.
The critter
Three per maze, a little slower than you. They undo nothing: they kill, and that is all.
The pale critter
During the power. Now it is your turn to eat it.
Closing the loop
Hold an arrow: the pull moves along the side, and the zipper closes behind it. Let go, and it stops at the next crossing. A direction asked for on the way waits for that crossing.
When every side of a zone is closed, it fills with its pattern and the amount scored is written on it. Size does not matter: a big zone is worth as much as a small one.
Running a closed side again opens it. Going back and forth along the same corridor undoes your work. Only the sides of a zone already closed stay put — and since neighbouring zones share their sides, the maze gets lighter as it fills up.
Hesitating costs nothing: turning back halfway along a side returns you to the crossing you came from without changing a thing. A side only flips once it has been run all the way.
The power
Closing a zone with an object gives ten seconds of power. The sides turn pale, so do the critters, a tune plays, and the bar says Now eat them.
Touch a pale critter: it disappears, scores 100 points, and only comes back a good while later. A second object during the power resets it to ten seconds.
The power does not go through the door: changing mazes ends it.
The critters
They wander the corridors as long as they cannot sense you. Get too close and they give chase: two crossings away on the first level, three on the second, four after that.
One time in three, they take the wrong turn, and lose you for a good while. That break gets shorter from one level to the next.
When you are caught, the screen closes from the top and the bottom, then opens again: everyone goes back to their start, and you have one life less. Your lines stay, and so do your points.
Four mazes, one world
Zipper's world has four mazes, each with its own colours, its picture in the middle and its objects. They meet at their exits: the number at the end of a corridor says where it leads. Each one keeps your work: what you closed there is still there when you come back.
The pull stops on an exit. To go through, let go of the arrow and press it again: running a corridor in one go never sends you to another maze by accident. You enter the next one from the opposite side, and its critters start again from their spot.
Finishing the level
A filled maze has no critters left: they vanish with the last zone, to a short fanfare. All that is left is to go and fill the others.
When all four are filled, the level is done and the game waits: ✓ for the next one. The mazes empty out, you keep your points and lives, and the critters sense you from further away.
The game only ends with your last life.
Controls
Phone and tablet
| ▲ ▼ ◀ ▶ | held, move along the sides |
| ✓ | go to the next level, or play again |
| ✱ | leave the game |
Computer
| ↑ ↓ ← → | held, move along the sides |
| Enter Space | go to the next level, or play again |
| Esc * | leave the game |
Television
| the arrows | held, move along the sides |
| OK | go to the next level, or play again |
| Back | leave the game |
Zipper is ranked: your final score goes to the masters' board, and the best one shows under the maze for the whole game.