After being released in 1978, the classic memory game Simon went relatively unchanged for about 36 years until Simon Swipe came along back in 2014. It updated the game’s familiar button tapping with swipe gestures similar to what a smartphone uses. But, there’s yet another new version of Simon that doesn’t want to be touched at all.
Simon Air, available in spring for $US20 ($28), now just requires players to pass their hands over the light-up coloured arches to repeat a pattern. It might sound like a lazier approach to an already lazy game, but the motion sensing capabilities actually open up other gameplay options like requiring players to activate multiple lights at the same time to complete a pattern.
There are even special swoop moves where players have to quickly activate multiple lights by running their hand across all of them in sequence, and teamwork is now encouraged, which is a big change since Simon has always been kind of a solitary challenge.
[Hasbro]