With the advent of the iPhone OS and the existence of the iPhone Developer Program, we’ve been hearing some amazing stories about the people behind the apps.  What’s great about the App Store is that it puts big game development companies on the same playing field with smaller start-ups.  In a sense, this levels the playing field.

A great example of a start-up that is gaining some attention is Crystal Springs Software. Comprised of a husband and wife team, Crystal Springs Software has released a simple dice app called iZilch that has recently been featured in the iTunes Staff Favorites spot light.

iZilch pits you against the iPhone AI in a head-to-head dice competition.  Six dice are presented for every turn.  Press the Roll Dice button or shake the device to begin your turn.  Pick and drag dice the scoring area.  Continue rolling or click Stay to end your turn and let the device take over.  Dice combinations accrue points as outline in the instructions screen (see image).  Failure to score points during your turn causes you to Zilch (hence the name).

Our team enjoyed messing around with iZilch and we’re glad to see it gaining a measure of attention in the App Store.  We wish the application had a little more of a “wow” factor to amuse our senses.  As it is, iZilch comes off fairly starightforward in terms of design presentation.

Wishing the best to Ken Anderson and Janice Flint over at Crystal Springs Software.  We’re looking forward to more titles from this developer.

Crystal Springs Software has provided the gameplay video below.

iZilch gets our AppSmile 3-Dimple rating: