Lacquer Lane

What is Lacquer Lane?

Lacquer Lane is a nail salon game where every set of nails is a tiny painting. Each set is a short run of hands-on steps: you swipe to file, paint inside the nail, hold under the lamp, trace a French tip, tap on polka dots and drag gems into place. Every step gets a grade, and the finished hand comes out with one to three stars and a camera flash.

Around that sits the business. Coins and reputation from your open days buy better tools, more chairs, a team, decor and bigger places to work, and new designs open up as your reputation grows. There are 64 designs in the book, from Classic Red and Ballet Nude to Galaxy, Holographic Chrome and ten signature sets that regulars teach you. It plays free in the browser on a phone, tablet or computer, with no download.

How to play an open day

Guests sit at the top of the screen with a picture card over their heads showing the design they want. Small badges on the card mean extra work: trim (cut the nails shorter first), pedi (a pedicure, so you paint toes) and x2 (a full set, both hands). The bar along the bottom of the card is their patience. Tap a guest to start their set, or tap the work mat to start on whoever is closest to walking out.

The set happens on the big mat in the middle, one step at a time, with the step name and a short hint at the bottom. When the last step is done you see the finished hand, the guest pays, and coins fly up to your total. When they leave, tap the empty station to tidy it (a receptionist does this for you later).

An open day lasts 2 minutes 45 seconds. Then the doors close: no new guests come in, and the day ends when everyone still sitting has been served. If a guest runs out of patience they walk out and your happy streak resets.

The guest you are working on never loses patience, and everyone else loses it at about half speed while you work. So once you start a set, there's no need to rush it. From reputation 3 a rush hour can hit partway through the day (guests arrive twice as fast and tip 20% more), and some days start with an event: a rainy day with patient guests, prom night, a wedding party, a glitter sale, a photo shoot, a weekend crowd or a kids' birthday party.

The nail steps

Every design is built from the same set of moves, so what you learn on Classic Red carries over to Galaxy. Each step is graded Perfect, Great, Good or Oops. The first time you meet a step a little white hand shows the motion, and it comes back if you stop for a few seconds.

Controls on phone and computer

On a phone or tablet everything is swipes, taps and holds with one finger. On a computer the mouse works like a finger, and the whole game also plays with the keyboard: hold or tap Space or Enter for the current step, press 1 to 6 to pick a guest, Space between sets to start on the next guest, and Esc to pause. Keyboard tracing, painting and tapping steps are steady but top out at Great, so the mouse or a finger is the way to Perfect.

Stars, tips and prices

Your step grades are averaged. A high average gives three stars, a middling one two, and anything lower one star. A one star set sells for 30% less and a three star set for 30% more. Tips go up with stars, shrink the longer the guest waited, and grow with your happy streak. Hit a streak of 3, 5, 8, 12, 16 or 20 happy guests and you get a hot streak bonus on top.

Plenty of small things stack on the base price:

• Trending design: one design on the menu sells for double today, marked Trending in the design book.
• Style of the day: one category (Classics, French, Nail Art, Glam, Fruit and Sweets, or Sky and Garden) sells for 20% more today, the same for everyone.
• Location favorites: each place has categories its guests love, worth an extra 20%.
• Season: seasonal designs follow the real calendar and sell for 20% more while they're in season.
• Shape: almond and coffin nails add 10%, stiletto (from reputation 12) adds 20%.
• Bigger jobs: pedicures pay 30% more, full sets 60% more, and a design from your lookbook 30% more.
• Mastery: three star a design 3, 8 and 15 times for bronze, silver and gold mastery, worth up to 35% on that design.

Design Studio and Free Design

The Design Studio is the calm mode. Pick any design you've unlocked and paint it with no guests and no clock. It pays half price, but three star sets still count toward mastery and some daily goals, so it's the place to practice a tricky design before a guest asks for it.

Free Design lets you make your own: pick a base color, a finish (glossy, matte, jelly, pearl, glitter, chrome, holo or cat eye), a shape, and up to three art layers, then choose whether the art goes on every nail, the ring finger, every other nail or ring and index. Paint it in the studio and save it to your lookbook. Guests sometimes ask for lookbook designs and pay 30% more. The lookbook holds 10 designs, 16 with the Photo Corner and 24 once Felix the photographer is fully trained.

For whole open days without a clock, turn on Relaxed studio in More, Settings (or from the pause menu). Guests never walk out and the day ends after a set number of guests. Prices and tips are a bit lower in exchange.

Daily Challenge and leaderboards

The Daily Challenge is the same open day for everyone today: the same guests in the same order, five designs, four seats and 2 minutes 30 seconds on the clock, with standard tools so nobody has an upgrade edge. Your score is the coins you earn, plus 10 for every three star set, plus 50 if nobody walks out. It goes on the daily leaderboard and keeps your day streak alive. Your first Daily of the day also pays real coins into your studio; replays are for a better score only.

There's a second board for studio rating, which is your total reputation. Sign in on the site to keep your studio on your account and play it on any device.

Growing your studio

Every star you earn adds reputation, and reputation levels go up to 50. Levels unlock designs, tools and places, and each one gives a skill point.

• Gear: seven tools with three tiers each. Art Brushes, the Shimmer Kit and the Gem Box unlock whole groups of designs. Higher tiers widen the windows on their steps, and some do work for you: the UV lamp dries color while you work, the electric file buffs, the one-coat formula cuts a color coat, and the airbrush blends ombre and lays the base coat.
• Studio: extra chairs, a nail art bar, a lamp wall, pedicure spa chairs, a photo corner, a waiting lounge, a VIP room and a backstage bar. Most add a seat, and you can see each one appear in the studio.
• Team: Noor the receptionist (more patience, tidies stations), Benny the junior tech (files and base coats), Zola the art specialist (does art steps) and Felix the photographer (bigger tips on three star sets). Your team also earns coins while you're away, up to two hours' worth.
• Decor: floors, walls, lights, plants, signs, mirrors and seats. Each piece raises your decor score, which adds patience and tips.
• Skills: Steady Hand, Detail Work, Color Sense, Speed, Charm, Upsell and Quick Dry. Skills only ever make steps more forgiving or pay more.

The long game

Once the big buys are done, three things keep your coins busy. Renovations give each location up to five stars, each worth 6% on prices there plus a reputation boost. Masterclasses (from reputation 16) trade coins for an extra skill point, and each costs more than the last. From reputation 24 you can book a Press night for your next open day: a photographer and a famous visitor are sure to come, every set earns 2.5 times the reputation and tips are 50% higher.

Regulars

Some guests have names and stories: Ivy the teen in a band, Nana Pearl, June with twelve minutes before a presentation, Bea the nervous bride and more. They show a gold star and their name. Give a regular a two or three star set and they remember you. After five happy visits they teach you their signature design, like Ivy's Bolt or Nana's Pearls, which you can't get any other way. New regulars turn up as you open new locations.

Tips and strategy

• Paint in slow, overlapping strokes from the cuticle to the tip. The coat finishes on its own as soon as every nail is covered, so there's no need to scrub.
• Spills only count when the brush lands well away from a nail. Brushing a little over the edge is fine because the polish stays inside the nail.
• For the lamp, watch the needle, not the hand. The green zone sits a little differently each time, so don't let go on a count.
• When filing, short quick swipes give you more control near the end of the bar than long sweeps.
• On trace steps, start right on the yellow dot. If you lift early near the end of a line, it still counts.
• Buy Art Brushes early. They open French tips, dots, stripes and stencils, which is most of the design book.
• Hire Noor before you fill the studio with chairs. Tidying stations by hand eats time on a busy day.
• Pick up the Trending design whenever a guest asks for it. Double price makes it the best set of the day.
• Practice a new art step in the Design Studio before guests start asking for it. Half price beats a one star set and a walkout.
• Finish all three daily goals for a bonus skill point. Over a few weeks that adds up to several extra skill levels.

Questions