About Pencil Rescue

A sheet of notebook paper, a pencil with only so much lead, and a problem. Draw lines anywhere you like, then press Go: your lines turn solid and the physics takes over. On most pages, marbles drop from a pipe one after another and roll along whatever they land on — slope your lines so enough of them end up in the jar, and keep them away from the red spikes that pop them. On others, rocks start raining down on a sleeping puppy, and you have a few seconds of drawing to build a shelter strong enough that none of them touch it.

Lines can't pass through the wooden walls or into the hatched areas, and the ink runs out, so a few well-placed strokes beat a page of scribble. If a run goes wrong your lines stay put: change them and try again. Marbles roll and knock into each other, rocks bounce and tumble, and every page has been solved by computer before you see it, so there is always a way.

Thirty levels add walls, spikes and no-ink zones as they go, with stars for using little ink and a hint that shows one way through. The daily puzzle is the same for everyone: try as often as you like, and your first success is ranked by the ink it took.

Tips to win

• Catch the marbles right under the pipe and send them down a gentle slope
• End your line just short of the jar: marbles fly off the end
• A roof needs to reach past the puppy on both sides — rocks bounce
• Rocks thrown from the side need a wall, not just a roof