About Collapse

A wall of coloured blocks. Tap any group of two or more touching blocks of the same colour and it disappears; everything above it falls down to fill the gap, and if a whole column empties, the columns to its right slide across to close it. Every colour also carries a mark — a circle, triangle, square, diamond or star — so the board can be read without telling colours apart.

The score is in the size of the groups. A pair is worth two, but a group of ten is worth ninety, fifteen times a group of three, so the game is about holding back: clearing the small groups that stand between the big ones, so that they join into something worth taking. Clearing the whole board is worth a thousand on top, and every classic board is checked before it reaches you to be one that can be cleared completely — there is always a way, if you can find it.

Two ways to play. Classic is one board, no new blocks, until no groups are left. Rising starts half full and pushes a new row up from the bottom every few taps; keep the stack from reaching the top. The daily challenge is a classic board, the same for every player, ranked by score. Free play adds undo and three sizes, up to twelve columns in five colours.

Tips to win

• Do not take the biggest group you can see: take the small group that is keeping two big ones apart
• Work from the top down where you can — clearing low makes everything above it fall and shuffles your plans
• Count colours towards the end: a colour with a single block left can never be cleared, so do not strand one
• An emptied column pulls everything to its right across; that can join groups as well as split them