The most memorable experience I’ve ever had with a captcha, those ‘lil online tests you have to complete to prove you aren’t a bot trying to DDOS someone’s blog, was being shown a puzzle grid that used images of the building I was currently sitting in. It was a moment that would be written off as too ‘on-the-nose’ in an episode of Black Mirror. That intimidation tactic will be tough to beat but a free new game from Paper Hat Projects is going to have a go at it anyway.
CaptchaWare, a ‘totally normal captcha game’ blends the agony of proving your humanity to a robot on a web page with the manic ecstasy of WarioWare’s fast-paced micro-games. Before gaining access to this mysterious site, you’ll have all of your web browsing faculties tested, from correctly identifying fire hydrants, simple math, and agreeing to the terms of service, to devilish riddles, grass touching, and proper art appreciation.
Survive 20 consecutive captchas, each with increasing hostility and reflex demands, to claim your prize of showing you’re a real human being. The fun and fancy of CaptchaWare suggests that even the internet’s most agonizing rituals can become a little more whimsical by making them incomprehensibly fast, instead of routinely harvesting our user metrics for lord knows what purposes. Even if that means sweating through your shirt on whether those two pixels of a bicycle tire overlapping to a neighboring square constitutes clicking it.
CaptchaWare can be played for free on Paper Hat Project’s Itch.io page.