The board is full of arrows.
Each day’s board is a grid of 20 rows and 20 columns, and almost every square on it is part of an arrow. A typical board has between 80 and 100 of them.
An arrow is a shaft with a head on one end. Shafts are at least two squares long, run from square to square in straight lines, and can turn corners as often as they like. Arrows never overlap or cross. Now and then the board leaves a few squares empty.
Everyone playing the same date gets exactly the same board, so times can be compared fairly.
An arrow flies the way its head points.
Only the head decides direction. Look at the last straight piece of the shaft, the piece the head sits on, and carry on in that same direction. That is where the arrow is going: straight up, down, left or right.
Bends further back make no difference. An arrow that winds across half the board still leaves in a straight line from its head.
Tap an arrow to shoot it.
Tap or click anywhere on an arrow, on the shaft or on the head. If the arrow is free to go, it flies off the board, head first, with its shaft following around its own bends. The squares it covered are empty from then on.
You don’t have to wait for an arrow to finish flying before you take your next shot. If you’re playing with a keyboard, press Tab to move between arrows and Enter or Space to shoot.
The path to the edge must be open.
An arrow can leave only if every square in a straight line from its head to the edge of the board is empty. If any part of any other arrow is in that line, even the very tip of a tail at the far end, the arrow is blocked.
- Only the line ahead of the head is checked. Whatever is beside the arrow or behind it doesn’t matter.
- An arrow whose head is already on the edge and pointing outward is always free.
- Arrows don’t have to be next to each other to block. One arrow can block another from the far side of the board.
A bump adds five seconds.
If you tap a blocked arrow, it runs forward, bumps into whatever is in its way and returns to its place. Both arrows flash red, five seconds are added to your clock and the bump is counted on your result.
Nothing else happens. There are no lives to lose and the board doesn’t change, so you can keep playing after any number of bumps. It just gets expensive.
“Five seconds. Think of it as the fee for not looking.”
Zhao
You can’t get stuck.
Removing an arrow never blocks another one, it can only open up more paths. Any arrow that is free now will still be free later, so there is no wrong order and no move you’d need to undo.
Every board is built with a proven way to clear it, and at every moment until the end at least one arrow is free to go. If you can’t see a shot, there is one. It’s only a matter of finding it.
Clear the board to finish.
The puzzle ends the moment the last arrow leaves. The clock stops and your finishing time is recorded, including any bump penalties.
A hint shows you one free arrow.
If you’re stuck for a shot, ask for a hint and one free arrow lights up green for a moment. You still have to shoot it yourself.
A hint adds no time to the clock, but the number of hints you use is kept with your daily record.
Your time, streak and saved boards.
The clock starts when you press Start Game and runs until you finish. Your finishing time goes on the day’s board alongside everyone else’s, your best time is kept, and solving on consecutive days builds a streak.
- If you leave partway through, the arrows you’ve cleared, your time and your bumps are saved, so you can pick up where you left off.
- Reset puts every arrow back and clears your time and your bumps for that board.
- Recent days stay open. Use Previous and Next in the Game Panel to play a board you missed.