Apps for daredevil drivers, doodling

READY to unleash that speed demon in you?

Rider puts you in charge of a car that’s revving to go down racetracks that defy gravity and aren’t shy about letting you crash.

The controls for Rider are simple: Tap to accelerate, and hold your finger down on the screen to execute a flip. Flips are for more than just style points.

Sometimes you need to take a spin to advance to the next part of the track. Be prepared for frequent vehicle crashes, as landing even slightly askew sends your vehicle flying into bits and pieces. But don’t worry, you get more than one chance to tackle the track.

Fancy flips will help you earn more points, but they also raise your chances of falling to pieces once you hit the ground. Figuring out the right balance as you go through the track is the main goal of the game.

Overall, Rider isn’t exactly relaxing, but it is fun and a good way to pass the time as long as you’re not postponing more important tasks. Also, keep the disappointment of crashing to yourself. — Free, for Android and iOS. If there’s one thing that you can learn from New Pixels, it’s that you don’t always have to think outside the box to make cool art. New Pixels presents you with a grid - the size can be of your choosing - a handful of patterns and colours. Tapping on a colour and pattern, then a grid square, fills in each square accordingly. Put it all together, and you may be amazed at the art you can create.

Need some inspiration? New Pixels also lets users flip through a gallery of work others have submitted to the app. You can even tap on it to import it to your own grid to modify a picture or as a guide to figure out how to stretch your skills even further.

Free, for iOS. — Washington Post