Curio Corner

What is Curio Corner?

Curio Corner is our take on the shelf sort puzzle. A wooden wall of cubbies stands behind the shop counter, and every cubby holds a front row of little curios: teddy bears, teacups, books, cupcakes, tulips, trumpets and plenty more. Behind the front row there are often more rows waiting. Your job is to empty the whole wall by packing every curio away in threes.

There's no clock and no lives. Take as long as you like over a move. Most walls take a minute or two, and stars come from finishing in few moves. It's free and runs in the browser on a phone, tablet or computer, with nothing to download.

All 120 curios are drawn with a clear outline of their own, and two curios that look alike never share a wall, so you can tell them apart at a glance even on a small phone.

How to play

Drag any curio from the front row of a cubby and drop it on another cubby that has a free spot. If you'd rather tap, tap the curio and then tap the cubby. Only front curios move, and dropping a curio back into its own cubby isn't a move.

When three identical curios stand in the same front row, a ribbon wraps them and a gift box flies down to the counter. That's a pack. When a cubby's front row is empty, the next row behind it slides forward.

Reading the shelves

The row right behind the front shows as soft shadows, so you can see the shapes of what's coming. Little brass dots on top of a cubby count the rows after that. Emptying a cubby with shadows behind it is often the best move on the wall, because it brings new curios into play.

Getting stuck

If every cubby is full and no useful move is left, a calm card offers a way on: a free Put back (once per level), Undo, a Spare Crate, or a restart (on the Daily Shop we ask first, because ending today's run posts your points). Nothing is lost and nothing costs anything.

Stars and par

Every wall has a par, the fewest moves we found to clear it, so three stars means planning a little ahead. The top bar shows your moves next to par and the stars you'd get right now.

Your total stars are your score on the all-time Stars leaderboard. Replaying a level can raise its stars but never lowers them.

Orders at the counter

Two order cards are pinned to the counter on every wall, each showing one curio. Pack that curio and the order is filled for 100 bonus points and coins for the Street. Pack an order's curio before any other trio and the card shines gold, which pays extra coins and puts a gold copy of that curio in your album.

The six shops

There are 320 levels in six shops along Thimble Lane. Each shop brings its own house rule, always with a gentle level to meet it first. About one level in five is labelled Tricky, and the one after it is a breather.

• Toy Shop (levels 1 to 40): plain shelves, then rows behind from level 4 and deeper shelves from level 13. From level 25 the wind-up crate drops three new curios into empty spots every 6 moves. Its counter shows how many moves are left.
• Bookshop (41 to 96): locked cubbies with brass bars and a padlock. Pack three brass keys anywhere and the next lock opens. Later, keys hide in the back rows and some walls have two locks.
• Sweet Shop (97 to 152): glass domes. A curio under a dome can't move until a trio packs in its own cubby or a cubby right next to it.
• Tea Shop (153 to 208): the shop cat naps on one cubby, which can't be used while she's there. Every 4 moves she pads to the cubby marked with paw prints, and the number by the paws counts down.
• Flower Stall (209 to 264): wide cubbies hold four curios (three alike still pack, the fourth spot is breathing room) and narrow cubbies hold only two.
• Music Box Shop (265 to 320): the Display Window cubby glows gold and every trio packed there scores double points. The last walls mix every rule together.

The Street and the album

Coins from orders restore the shop fronts on Thimble Lane: fresh paint, an awning, a window display, then extras like string lights, a reading bench, a cat bed, lanterns and a bicycle. Each front has five pieces. When a front is fully restored and you've cleared its last level, the next shop opens. Coins are only ever earned in play.

Every curio you meet goes into the Curio Album, 20 to a shop. Gold orders add a shiny copy. Completing a whole shop page pays one Undo, one Dust Off and one Spare Crate.

Helpers

Helpers are earned in play and only used when you tap them. Nothing is ever sold.

The light bulb shows one good move. Hints are free and only appear when you ask. Restart is always free too.

Daily Shop and leaderboards

The Daily Shop is one wall with two orders, the same for everyone on the UTC day. Each day leans on a different shop's rule in turn, so one day has the crate and another has the cat. Your first run of the day is the one that counts and goes to the Daily leaderboard. Replays are practice, and a second tab can't post a second score.

Finish the Daily Shop on back-to-back days to build a streak. One missed day each week is a rest day that bends the streak instead of breaking it. Three new daily goals appear at midnight UTC, and each pays one helper the first time you finish it.

Every week there's also Market Day: a big wall shaped like a heart, a star, a teapot or a little house. It isn't a leaderboard. Clear it for a stamp, a Dust Off and a Spare Crate.

Controls (phone and computer)

Tips and strategy

• Look at the shadows before you move. If a pair is sitting in front and the third one is waiting in a back row, empty that cubby first so the third steps forward.
• Keep one cubby with room in it. A wall with no free spot is where most stuck moments start.
• Don't split a pair. Moving one of two matching curios away from its partner usually costs you two moves later.
• Pack the order curios first when you can. A gold order pays more coins and goes into the album shiny.
• Chains score well in the Daily Shop. Set up two cubbies that each need one more curio, then pack them on back-to-back moves.
• On crate walls, count down with the crate. Leave empty spots where a drop won't break up your pairs.
• The cat only blocks a cubby, it never moves curios. Plan to finish the cubby she's heading for before she arrives.
• Dust Off is best on a cubby whose back rows hide the last curio of a pair you're holding.

Questions