How to play Blackbox, the infuriating iPhone puzzle game that just won Apple's Design Award

Some smartphone games require little more than opposable thumbs and a pulse. 

Others, like Blackbox, require so much wit and creativity that you'll either end up feeling frustrated or incredibly proud of yourself. 

Blackbox is a puzzle game for iPhone that was just awarded one of Apple's prestigious Design Awards, which honor the best new apps, the ones Apple thinks are especially useful or beautiful.

Blackbox was among this year's 12 winners, which Apple announced at its annual developer conference this week.

Blackbox presents you with small challenges that you have to complete by doing everything except touch the screen. Each challenge ends when you "turn on the lights," meaning the small, brightly-colored squares (called lights) change from empty to filled. To do this, you have to use your phone's other sensors, features and functions to trigger the puzzle.  

If that sounds confusing, it is. Blackbox is hard - I mean really hard - but equally rewarding. Here's how it works.