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How to play Fusegrain

A visual guide · Connect your first four symbols

Your goal

Connect four. Make room for more.

Guide falling pairs into groups of four or more matching tiles. Clears open gaps, tiles fall, and another group can make a chain. Keep the top entrance open to continue your run.

CONNECT FOUR · LEAVE ROOM ABOVESOLID PAIR · HOLLOW LANDING

These are simplified teaching diagrams using the game's original square symbols. Your live well fills its available field; some examples crop the lower rows.

01Guide your first pair

  • Select Start. The linked pair enters the two center cells at the top. NEXT shows the following pair, so leave a little room for it.
  • Use Left and Right, or A and D, with the well focused. Up or W turns clockwise. Space drops the pair straight to its hollow landing and locks it immediately.
  • Mouse and touch use the separate move, Turn and Drop buttons. Holding a move repeats; Turn and Drop need a fresh press. The well itself has no tap or drag controls.
  • The corner bracket marks the pivot. Turn moves its partner around it while both symbols stay upright. If a turn will not fit, move sideways to make room.

Turn around the pivot

TURN THE PAIR · SYMBOLS STAY UPRIGHTRIGHTDOWNLEFTUPCORNER BRACKET = PIVOT
The satellite goes right, down, left, then up. The pair may shift one column to fit a turn; it cannot jump vertically through a stack.

02Match families along their edges

Count the marks

THREE FAMILIES · THREE SYMBOLSONETWOTHREEMATCH FOUR TILES OF THE SAME FAMILY
Orange has one mark, cyan two, lilac three. Four tiles of one family make a group, whatever the number of ivory marks.
  • Matching tiles connect through shared left, right, top or bottom edges. Diagonal corners do not connect. A group can bend into an L or T; it need not be a straight line.
  • Every group of at least four clears in the same pass. Two separate four-tile groups found together clear eight tiles for 80 points in pass one. They do not count as a two-step chain.

03Read the landing, then the fall

A pair can split after locking

LAND TOGETHER · THEN FALL APART1 · RIGID LANDING2 · LOCK AND SETTLEEACH COLUMN SETTLES BEFORE THE SCAN
The hollow outline shows the rigid Drop position. After locking, each tile settles within its own column before groups are checked. The cyan tile can fall farther than its partner.
  • Gravity also brings the linked pair down one row at a time. On the ground it has 450ms total to move or turn before locking.
  • Moving off the ground suspends that grace; it does not refill it. Once the pair locks, held controls stop affecting play. Release them, then press again for the next pair.
  • Tiles already in each column keep their order while settling. Look at the gaps under both tiles when planning a clear.

04Let the next clear grow your chain

Four, then four: 40 + 80 = 120

EDGES CONNECT · GAPS BUILD CHAINS1 · ORANGE+402 · CYAN+803 · OPEN120 TOTAL10 × TILES × PASS · MULTIPLIER CAPS AT 8SIMULTANEOUS GROUPS = ONE PASS
In this cropped example, orange clears first. Falling cyan tiles form a new group and clear in pass two. The second clear is a chain because it appears after the first fall.
  • Each pass earns 10 × cleared tiles × pass number. The multiplier stops at 8; BEST CHAIN still records longer chains.
  • Points arrive as a group begins its 160ms highlight. It then disappears, tiles settle for 120ms, and the well checks again. The next pair waits until every pass finishes.
  • Moves and drops wait during resolution. Press freshly after the next pair appears. Placing a pair or dropping it adds no points by itself.

05Keep the entrance clear, or bank your run

The sixth pace keeps going

ENDLESS PAIRS · SIX PACES0–11 PAIRS900ms / ROW12–23 PAIRS780ms / ROW24–35 PAIRS660ms / ROW36–47 PAIRS560ms / ROW48–59 PAIRS480ms / ROW60+ PAIRS420ms / ROWKEEP BOTH ENTRANCE CELLS OPENBANK KEEPS POINTS ALREADY EARNED
Pace changes after every 12 resolved pairs and settles at 420ms per row from pair 60. There is no final pace or run timer.
  • A run ends if the next pair cannot enter its two top cells after all clears and falls finish. Another occupied top cell alone does not end the run; a clear can still rescue the entrance.
  • Stop & Bank finishes whenever you like, including while paused or clearing. It keeps points already awarded and adds no unfinished-clear bonus. The result screen offers Play Again for a fresh well or Menu to browse games.
  • Select Pause or press P with the well focused. Escape pauses. After leaving the field, changing size or opening help, select Resume to continue. Release held controls before pressing again.

Visual Guide freezes the board, NEXT and active timers. Close with Escape or Back to Game. A running game stays parked for deliberate Resume afterward; a manually paused game stays paused, and a ready game still waits for Start.

Play Fusegrain