When my nephew first got his Bop It Extreme as a gift in the 90s, all I could think was, "What is this bizarre contraption." The Bop It Extreme looked like a steering wheel, but it had a spring, spinning cog, twist top and a pullable lever sticking out of it. I couldn't believe that somebody actually paid money for this piece of abstract art, turned toy, and gave it to a child, under the auspices that it would be fun to play. But, being the helpful uncle that I was, that didn't stop me from imposing my uncle status so that I could "show him how to use it" and get the first play. The minute I put the batteries inside the Extreme, I was hooked. I couldn't get enough of that annoying voice who commanded me to bop, twist, pull, spin and flick one of the Extreme's five interactive parts.

Now, Bop It! has found its way to the iPhone and Touch in a new app from the handheld electronic game's original developer, Hasbro and EA Mobile. Obviously, since it's an app, the wild parts found on the handheld electronic game have been tossed out and replaced by digital avatars. So the gaming experience is immediately different. One of the great things about the Extreme's wheel design, was juggling it around in your hand to get to one of the four corners in time to flick, twist, pull or spin. It actually made you feel like you were holding this abstract steering wheel. The iPhone app supplants this experience by adding in X-Moves. Each X-Move utilizes the iPhone's built-in accelerometer to detect a motion. So, instead of actually flicking a spring, you can "flick" your iPhone or Touch. It's not the exact same feeling, but it definitely adds to the fun and overall gameplay.

The Bop It app comes with twelve different digital "parts" (or Bopjects) that you can interact with, some of which have to be unlocked first. These include the Bop, Twister, Puller, Spinner, Spring, Microphone, Bulb, Crank handle, Maraca, Nail, Brush Pad and Blobs. Each part has its own unique finger swipe motion. So when the in-game announcer says, "Bop it" or "Pull it," you must execute the correct motion. Several parts also utilize the X-Move, which gives gamers bonus points in the single player game. The Microphone is just like the bopper (the giant ball in the center that you tap like a car horn), but you can shout, "Yeah!" into the iPhone for an X-Move bonus. The Nail is the same, but without the X-Move bonus. Objects like the Spinner, Twister and Maracas share a similar side-to-side shaking motion for their X-Moves, while the Puller and the Spring will require you to either swing the iPhone towards or away from your body respectively.

Bop It as a single player game can get addictive fast and tiresome just as quickly. That's partially because the announcer can get annoying with his chastising comments. However, there are a few modes that help to shake up the pace. In single-player mode you can play Classic, Basic, Extreme or Blitz. The Classic and Basic modes show one game part on the screen at a time. In Classic mode the tempo gets faster over time, while in the Basic mode you earn bonus points for completing moves on the beat. Blitz is a time attack mode that is limited to 20 moves. It would have been nice if they let you change the number of moves you could play to. 20 flies by too quickly. Extreme mode is the most similar to the actual handheld game. In this mode you will see as many as 6 Bopjects on screen at a time. This mode can get crazy and will give gamers the most enjoyment.

Although Bop It was a single unit, it was also a multiplayer game. The iPhone app incorporates the group fun with four multiplayer activities: Pass It Basic, Head2Head, Blitz Challenge and Pass It Extreme. These work more or less like the single player mode, except the announcer tells you to "Pass It" to keep the competition going. The Blitz mode is once again the weakest mode with Blitz Challenge. X-Moves are tossed out the door since gamers share the same screen. The iPhone is split in half and you most only activate the Bopjects on your side of the screen. Both players share the Bop in the center.

Bop It will excite nostalgic fans with a simple but fun game. Since this game is command based, it's not a game that you can play in public. The announcer is irritating, especially when you miss a move. However, it's still great to flick and Bop your iPhone in private.

Final Score: B-