About Number Chains

A seven-by-seven board of tiles numbered 1 to 9. Link touching tiles — diagonals count — into a chain whose numbers change by the same step every time: up in ones like 2-3-4-5, down in twos like 9-7-5-3, up in threes, or not at all, like 6-6-6. Three tiles make a chain; there is no upper limit.

Play a chain and its tiles clear, the tiles above drop into the gaps, and new ones fall in from the top. Points climb steeply with length — 30 for three tiles, 80 for four, 150 for five, 240 for six — and a chain of six or more hands you an extra move. So the art is in seeing past the easy threes to the long chain that snakes across the board, and in noticing what the falling tiles set up next.

A game is twenty chains. The daily game starts everyone on the same board, and the same chains always bring the same new tiles, so scores compare fairly; free play deals a fresh board each time and can show you the longest chain when you're stuck.

Tips to win

• Look for long runs of the same number first: steps of nothing count
• Chains can bend and zigzag — they only need each tile to touch the last
• A step of two or three can link numbers that ones never would
• Clearing low on the board shakes up more tiles than clearing high