Strawberry Thief: The Game!

I make no secret of the fact that Strawberry Thief is my favourite of all of William Morris' designs.  Despite its continual use on biscuit tins, tea-towels and all manner of kitchen paraphernalia, I find it endlessly fresh and intriguing.  Imagine how excited I was therefore when I read there would be a computer game based on the design...

Sophia George has taken the complex visual of the design with its entwined shoots and flowers and speckled thieving birds with fruit plucked in their beaks. Sophia, a Bafta-winning games designer was invited by the Victoria and Albert Museum to adapt one of their designs for a game and her choice was Strawberry Thief, the 1883 design from Morris.

Scene from the game

The game revolves around being a little bird who flies over a canvas uncovering the design for Strawberry Thief.  You are guided by little flowers to find beautiful clumps of strawberries which you steal, unleashing bursts of petals and butterflies.  There are different levels which show more and more of the design.  The beautiful complexity of the floral entanglement is vivid and populated by insects and animated flowers and fruit.  It is gorgeous to look at, calming and wonderful to play and even fabulous to listen to, with music provided by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.

It is a relaxing addition to any iPad, and makes you feel smug while playing a game because it is so unashamedly arty.  Even though it is such marvellous quality that I wouldn't have objected to paying for it, the game is available free of charge for download.

I hope this is such a success that further Pre-Raphaelite games are made - you could help the knight through the brambles in Burne-Jones Briar Rose, or help Rossetti keep all his animals alive...

To download the game, follow the link from here.