You find yourself as a small cell in the vast world of a petri dish. Swiftly and smoothly drifting along, you consume and absorb other colorful, tiny cells, and your mass slowly increases. Eventually, you get used to the feeling of collecting these specimens and begin to find it strangely calming. Continuing your seemingly simple spree, you turn around to see a large, looming bacterium. Humongous in size, it inches toward you with malicious intent. Welcome to “Agar.io,” an MMO (massive multiplayer online) strategy game created by Matheus Valadares for the PC and mobile devices.

Initially released last April, “Agar.io” was developed as a browser game. After immediate success with hundreds of thousands of players worldwide, the creator made “Agar.io” compatible with mobile devices for iOS and Android in a downloadable app.

The concept is simple, which makes this game fun to play; it requires little skill. The objective is to be the largest cell in the game and obtain the first spot on the top-ten leader board shown in the right-hand corner of the screen. When players start, they are automatically transported into the game, usually with thousands of other players already competing.

Each participant controls a small cell that can be named. A cell may look like what it is named after based on preloaded terms in the system. For example, if you name your cell “Canada,” it may have the design of the Canadian flag on it. You move your cell (with your mouse on PC and finger on a mobile device) into small dots generated on the map, commonly referred to as pellets, which will increase your mass. As your cell grows, you will be able to “eat” other players that have joined more recently and that are smaller than you. Basically, you must absorb any pellets and any player-controlled bacterium you can while avoiding viruses (or using them to your advantage), and by sometimes splitting yourself (with the spacebar on PC or tapping on-screen buttons on a mobile device) to shoot yourself to an escape route or to push you toward a cell you can eat.

Although there is no background soundtrack, the graphics and interesting gameplay make up for it. The graphics are straightforward yet visually pleasing. Seeing tons of colorful, cartoon-like dots moving around on a white, gridded background, along with the smooth movement of your cell across the screen, looks alluring. No matter how plain the game may seem to the eye, “Agar.io” is really fun, especially when playing with friends.

The components, such as the concept and graphics, come together to create an addicting, thought-provoking game. This popular indie game continues to be played by many internationally. All it requires is typing “agar.io” in the address bar on the PC and you are good to go; no download is necessary, unless you want to play on a mobile device. You’ll be sure to get absorbed in this game, just don’t get absorbed by other cells!