A great logo transcends language and lodges itself firmly into our minds by stealth. They are among the most ubiquitous and instantly recognisable symbols of our times.
Not content with taking over our shopping malls, magazines and TV screens, it seems that logos are now taking over our mobile phones.
Games where you have to recognise a corporate logo or typeface have become incredibly popular.
Perhaps, playing these games make us think about logos and their individual characteristics for the first time. It’s like a memory game, but we didn’t realise we were consciously remembering these things in the first place.
Or maybe that’s just me and illustrates how terribly susceptible I am to advertising!
Whatever it may be, here’s a round up of our favourite free logo games in the Marketplace for your Nokia Lumia.
Logos Quiz
A nice feature of Logos Quiz is that you get to learn some nice trivia about the companies involved with the hints.
As you progress through the levels, logos can become partially obscured to make it more difficult. You need to solve a minimum number of logos on a level before you can progress to the next one.
Some of the logos are instantly recognisable but others may require you to jog your brain just a little. There is also an online leader board. There are over 600 logos for you to ponder.
Remember Logos
Remember Logos is a little more challenging because the logos appear to have been cheekily altered to make you think twice. It’s like encountering a market stall full of counterfeit merchandise.
Again, there are levels that you need to progress through that get harder and harder.
Best of all though, is another game in the same app called Remember Slogans. I found this much more difficult and as a result, much more fun. I’m lovin’ it, perhaps?
Despite all these games being about the power of logos in our minds, they all have really boring names.
In this case though, I can forgive Logo Quiz because it has by far the nicest user interface. There is a slick animation between each screen as you click through each logo and it has clearly been heavily influenced by the Windows Phone operating system. It also has the best sound effects.
As with the other games, there are hints available and several levels for you to progress through.
A nice variation on the theme, Soccer Badges is the logo quiz for football fans.
There are over 140 club and national badges from all over the world to test even the most fanatical follower of the beautiful game.
I was very impressed that I could type in ‘psg’ for Paris Saint-Germain and ‘barca’ for Barcelona, which can only mean that it was created by someone who knows their football.
You can also reset the app to and it keeps your statistics in the background.
Seriously, what’s with these ultra bland names? Is it an internal joke among games developers?
Logos Quiz 8 (don’t try looking for the other seven) is notable for having a multiplayer mode for up to 6 players. Each person/team has 60 seconds to identify as many of the logos as possible.
For some reason, I found the time attack mode fairly difficult. Or maybe I just got all the difficult ones.
There are plenty of other logo games in the Marketplace even though many of them are very similar. Do you have a favourite one? Let us know in the comments below.
Image credit: Annie Mole