How to play

1. Choose a board on the start screen. You begin with 10×10 in five colours, and the daily board (14×14, six colours) can be picked from here at any time.
2. Tap a colour button and the tide turns that colour. Number keys play that colour directly (1 to 7 on the 18×18 board, up to the colour count elsewhere), or pick with the left and right Arrow keys and press Enter.
3. You cannot pick the tide's current colour, so no move is wasted. Flood the whole board before your moves reach zero to clear it; otherwise the board is lost.
4. 10×10 allows 25 moves, 12×12 allows 35 and 14×14 allows 38. After those, the 14×14 par challenge and the 18×18 seven-colour board set each limit at that board's par plus a few moves.
5. Clearing a board opens the next one. Use Hint (H) when stuck, or Restart (R) for a fresh board. On a gamepad, use the D-pad and A, Y for a hint and B to restart.

Strategy tips

• The colour that spreads furthest right now is not always best. Opening a narrow path toward a big distant patch first lets you swallow it in one move later.
• Your score is 300, plus 25 per cell along one side of the board, plus 45 for each move left. On any board, every move saved is points.
• On the first three boards, finishing with a quarter of the limit left earns three stars and two or more left earns two. On 10×10 that means 7 moves to spare for three stars.
• A hint plays the colour that spreads furthest this turn and uses up a move. You get three per board, and using even one caps you at two stars, so save them if you are chasing three.
• Every colour also carries a shape such as ●, ▲ or ■. When two colours look alike, tell them apart by shape.

Common questions