CORDON — FACT SHEET

GAME: Cordon
DEVELOPER: Michal Fanta, a one-person studio in the Czech Republic
RELEASED: 11 October 2026. Version 1.1 with the game for two: 27 October 2026.
PLATFORMS: iPhone and iPad (iOS 17 or later), Mac (macOS 14 or later)
PRICE: Free. Game for Two: a one-time in-app purchase, US$1.99; the first game for two is free.
GENRE: Arcade, territory capture (the genre QIX started in 1981)
SIZE: About 2 MB
AGE RATING: 4+
LANGUAGES: English, Czech, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese
CONTROLS: Touch screen, keyboard, game controller
GAME CENTER: All-time and daily leaderboards, 20 achievements, games for two over the internet
NONE OF THESE: Ads, tracking, an account
APP STORE: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6816928495
WEBSITE: https://cordon.xfanta.com
PRESS CONTACT: cordon@xfanta.com

ABOUT THE GAME

Build walls out from the edge, trap the swirl and claim 80 % of the field before it cuts your line.

Cordon is an arcade game for Mac, iPhone and iPad. You move along the edge of the field and build walls out into the open. Close a wall and the side without the swirl is yours. Claim 80 % of the field to clear the level; every percent more is a bonus.

Timing is everything. A multiplier swings from ×1 to ×25 and back, and a wall closed at the top is worth many times more. Meanwhile the swirl spins through the open field and costs you a life if it touches a wall you haven't finished, worms crawl along the edges of your territory, and if you stop while building, a fuse burns along the wall after you.

Further in come a spark that bounces off the walls like a billiard ball, a black hole whose gravity bends your walls, and swirls that split in two. Pickups help: a shield, double points, frozen swirls, slow worms, diagonal walls, extra speed, and worms that build walls for you.

It looks and sounds like the early eighties: 320 × 200 pixels, chiptune music with a different piece for each of the first ten levels, and a switch to the four colours of an IBM PC's CGA card.

THE GAME FOR TWO

New in version 1.1. Two players build walls in the same field and claim it together; when two walls under construction meet, they close as one. Play on one Mac's keyboard, on two devices side by side, or over the internet with Game Center.

Each device gets its first game for two free. After that it is a one-time in-app purchase for all of a player's devices, and a friend who has it can invite you for free.

FEATURES

- Mac, iPhone and iPad: touch, keyboard or a game controller, which rumbles as your walls close
- A game for two on one keyboard, side by side or over the internet
- A tutorial that teaches everything in the first game
- Easy, Normal and Hard, each with its own high score table
- Game Center: all-time and daily leaderboards and 20 achievements
- Online high scores with arcade-style name entry
- A picture of your result, ready to share
- Nine languages, Japanese, Korean and Chinese included, all in pixel type
- No account, no ads, no tracking

ABOUT THE DEVELOPER

Cordon is made by Michal Fanta, a developer from the Czech Republic who also makes apps for Mac, iPhone and iPad, among them Preview3D and PreviewMD. The game's code, pixel art, music and sounds are his own, and so is the 5×7 font of its score line; its menus are set in Fusion Pixel Font by TakWolf (SIL OFL 1.1).

You may use the screenshots, videos, logo and icon on this page in articles and videos about Cordon.
