how to play node_shift
one board, sixteen nodes, three colors. make every node the same color in as few clicks as you can.
the goal
the board is a 4x4 grid of nodes. each node has a color (red, blue, or white) and an arrow pointing up, right, down, or left. the puzzle is finished the moment all 16 nodes share one color. your score is the number of clicks it took.
every color is scored separately, so each daily puzzle is really three puzzles: the fewest clicks to finish all red, all blue, and all white.
clicking a node
- clicking a node turns it 90 degrees, clockwise by default. each click adds one to your click count.
- the switch button (↻) flips the turn direction between clockwise and counter-clockwise. switching is free: it does not count as a click.
- the node you click keeps its own color.
the chain effect
a click rarely turns just one node. after the clicked node turns, follow its new arrow to the neighboring node. that node also turns (in the same direction) and takes the color of the node you clicked. then follow its new arrow, and so on. this is the chain.
the chain keeps going until one of two things happens:
- an arrow points off the edge of the board, or
- the whole board is one color (the puzzle is solved and stops right there).
the boards below are playable. press ▶ to watch the example play out, or
click any node yourself (the ↻ switch flips the turn direction). the
clicked node gets a dashed outline and every node the chain visited gets a
solid outline. moves are written like the game's
solution codes: r for clockwise or l for
counter-clockwise, then the row letter and column number.
rA1 means "turn A1 clockwise".
clicks: 0
press ▶ to watch the example, or click any node to try it yourself.
rA1 chain: A1 → A2 → A3 → A4 (points off the board, chain stops)
direction matters
the same node turned the other way can do something completely different. turned counter-clockwise, A1 ends up pointing left, straight off the board, so nothing else changes.
clicks: 0
press ▶ to watch the example, or click any node to try it yourself.
lA1 chain: A1 (points off the board, chain stops)
the clicked color spreads, whatever it passes through
the chain paints every node it visits with the clicked node's color, no matter what color those nodes were. here a blue node is clicked, and the red nodes it runs through all turn blue.
clicks: 0
press ▶ to watch the example, or click any node to try it yourself.
rA1 chain: A1 → A2 → A3 → A4 (points off the board, chain stops)
nodes can be visited more than once
a chain can loop back onto a node it already turned. each visit turns that node again, so a node can spin more than once in a single click. here the chain goes around the top-left 2x2 square, then back around the other way, before A1 finally points off the board.
clicks: 0
press ▶ to watch the example, or click any node to try it yourself.
rA1 chain: A1 → A2 → B2 → B1 → A1 → B1 → B2 → A2 → A1 (points off the board, chain stops)
the chain stops the moment you win
as soon as every node shares one color the puzzle is solved, even if the last arrow points at another node. here A2 turns red and now points down at B2, but B2 never turns: the board is already all red.
clicks: 0
press ▶ to watch the example, or click any node to try it yourself.
rA1 chain: A1 → A2 (board is all red, chain stops)
scores
- your score for a color is your fewest clicks to finish the board in that color. top shows the best score anyone has posted for each color; you shows yours.
- every daily puzzle is solved by computer ahead of time, so the fewest clicks possible for each color is known. that number is shown next to the top and you scores as optimal. matching it is a perfect game, and the end-of-game screen celebrates it. (if a color shows a dash, its optimal isn't known.)
- undo takes back your last click (your count goes down by one), and reset starts the board over. hard_mode in settings turns undo off.
- a new puzzle comes out every day. every player gets the same board on the same date.
want to get better at it? read the strategy guide.