How to play Cordwright

A visual guide · Untangle your first cord frame

Your goal

Swap two charms. Let the cords settle clear.

Choose two brass charms to exchange their positions. Each charm takes all its attached cords along. Clear every crossing, then keep building your workshop for as long as you like. There is no clock or move limit.

The board diagrams show one six-socket lesson. The other diagrams are simplified examples. They are separate from your live board; other layouts can vary. Any crossing-free arrangement works.

01Follow the charm, remember the socket

A carries its whole cord bundle

In this illustrated lesson, A sits at socket 5 and connects to B and F. Selecting A outlines its charm and emphasizes both cords. Letters move with their charms; the small socket numbers stay in place.

Click or tap one charm, then another. They swap immediately. Choose the selected charm again, or press Escape with focus in the game, to cancel for free.
Tab and Shift Tab reach the charm buttons and controls. Enter or Space activates a focused button. With focus in the game, keys 1 to 9 choose the available numbered sockets.
Selection is free. Every completed swap counts, including a swap that adds crossings or reverses your previous move. Open Cord list to read each connection and crossing pair.

02Look for the X, not the shared charm

Crossing and meeting are different

A–B and C–D cross strictly inside both cords, so they count once. A–B and A–C meet at their shared charm A, which is allowed. Coral cords also use dark dashes and X markers; the Crossings counter counts pairs of cords.

A charm at a junction is fine. Your goal is zero proper crossing pairs. Several pairs can cross at the same place and still count separately. Try selecting a charm to inspect its attached cords before choosing a swap.

03Make the first clear, then choose Next

Swap sockets 3 and 5 in this example

Choose D at socket 3 and A at socket 5, in either order. Their complete bundles move, all five cords become clear, and this one-swap example earns 390 points. The fixed numbers 3 and 5 stay at their sockets.

All cords clear! resolves this frame and awards its points once. It keeps your run open. Choose Next Frame to get another tangle with the same total score and a fresh swap count.

The lesson has six sockets. Later frames grow to eight, then nine. From frame 7 onward, nine-socket frames with 10 to 12 cords keep returning; there is no last frame.
You can temporarily make a tangle worse. Swap the same pair again to reverse it, at the cost of another swap. There is no failure from taking extra moves.

04Earn points, recover and Bank when ready

A clear reward with a gentle efficiency bonus

A clear earns 200 + 20 × cords + max(0, 100 − 10 × swaps). Five cords in one swap give 390. Nine cords in two swaps give 460; in four swaps, 440. At ten or more swaps, the bonus is zero and the full clear-and-cord reward remains.

A frame finishes; the workshop continues

Clear or confirmed Skip resolves only the current frame. Next Frame keeps your earned points and continues. Bank is also available while playing and is the only action that ends the whole run.

Skip Frame asks “Skip this frame for zero points?” Keep playing cancels for free. Confirming Skip adds no points for this frame and keeps everything you already earned.
Bank keeps your awarded points. An unfinished frame adds nothing. You can Bank with zero points too. There is no partial-crossing reward or penalty that removes earlier points.
Play Again starts a fresh run. Menu returns to the games. Your workshop can wait while you read this guide; closing it returns to the same frame and selection.

Play Cordwright