Arrow puzzle games

What is an arrow puzzle?

An arrow puzzle fills a board with arrows. Every arrow wants to leave the board the way it points, and it can only go if nothing is in its way. Each arrow you clear opens the path for others, so a board that looks like a hopeless tangle slowly turns into empty space. It's a puzzle about order, not speed.

People also call them tap away puzzles, arrow escape puzzles or unblock puzzles. In Arrowmere the arrows are long strokes of ink on a painter's canvas, and some of them bend, so you follow each arrow's own trail out rather than a straight line.

How to play Arrowmere

1. Tap an arrow. It slides along its own body and off the canvas the way its head points.
2. If another arrow is in the way, it slides up to it, bumps, and goes back home. Nothing is lost, but bumps cost stars.
3. Clear every arrow to finish the canvas and see the painting.
4. Stuck? Glimmer shows one arrow that's free to go right now, and Clear View lights up every free arrow for a few seconds.

Taking an arrow away only ever frees space, so a canvas can never get stuck. Every canvas is built backward from an empty board and checked by a solver, so every one can be cleared with three stars.

Why we'd pick it

• No lives, no timers. A bump only affects your stars. You can always keep going.
• A new idea in every place. 200 canvases in ten places around a lake, each adding a twist: bends, signposts, locks with keys, gates and tunnels. After that, the Open Studio gives you fresh canvases for as long as you like.
• A painting for every win. Each canvas hides a picture, and every 10 stars paints a piece of the lakeside village back into color.
• Helpers are earned, never sold. Your first clear of the day, daily goals and finishing a place all pay helpers.
• The same board for everyone. The Daily Canvas changes at midnight UTC and has its own leaderboard.

Arrow puzzle tips

• Start at the edges. Arrows near the rim that point outward are usually free.
• Follow the head, not the tail. Trace the path in front of the arrowhead all the way to the rim before you tap.
• When an arrow bumps, look at what stopped it. That's the arrow to free next.
• On lock canvases, find the key first. Sending the key arrow out opens its lock.
• Turn on Look first if you like to be careful. The first tap shows the way out and the second tap sends it.

More puzzles about clearing a path

If the arrow idea clicks for you, these scratch the same itch. Dock Jam is a sliding block puzzle where you shuffle boats until the ferry can get out. Wool Gates sends each flock of sheep out through the gate of its color. Toybox Bolts has you unscrew plates in the right order and sort the bolts by color, and Puffin Lift sends a crowd of puffins out to fill balloons three of a kind. For lines you draw yourself, try Ink Bridge. See all our puzzle games for more.

Questions