Arrow puzzle games: how to find the right order

Arrow puzzles, also sold as arrow escape or tap away games, are one of the newer puzzle shelves on the store, and the rule fits in one line. Each arrow points one way. Tap it, and it slides off the board in that direction, if nothing is in the way.

That makes every tap either free or a mistake. There is no clever trick hidden in a single move. The puzzle is the order. Here is how to read it.

The rule

• Each arrow points up, down, left or right.
• Tapping an arrow sends it along its direction.
• If every cell between its head and the edge of the board is empty, it leaves the board.
• If anything is in the way, it bumps and comes back. Most games count that as a miss, a lost life or a lost heart.
• The level is clear when every arrow is gone.

Some games use arrows longer than one cell, or arrows that bend. The rule stays the same: only the path from the head to the edge matters.

Why there is always a way out

In a well-made level, every arrow can eventually leave. A common way to build levels guarantees it: the generator places arrows one at a time and never lets a new arrow's path cross an arrow that is already there. Removing them in reverse order then always works.

That has a useful consequence. Removing an arrow never makes the board worse. It only clears paths. You cannot trap yourself with a successful tap. The only thing a wrong tap costs you is a miss.

Six habits for big boards

• Start at the edges. An arrow on the border pointing outward has nothing in its way. Clear those first, they are free.
• Trace the lane before you tap. Follow the arrow's direction cell by cell to the edge. If anything is there, do not tap. It takes a second and saves a miss.
• Look for queues. A line of arrows all pointing the same way toward an open edge leaves front to back. Clear the front one and the rest can follow.
• Find the arrow everyone waits for. Often one arrow sits across many lanes, and freeing it unlocks half the board. Ask which arrow blocks the most others, and work toward it.
• Work backwards when stuck. Pick an arrow you cannot move and note what blocks it. Then note what blocks those. The chain always ends at an arrow that is free.
• Slow down on your last miss. With one miss left, only tap arrows whose whole lane you have checked.

What makes a board hard

Size is only part of it. A big board full of short, independent lanes is easy. What makes a level hard is depth: how many arrows have to leave before a given arrow can. A board where most arrows wait on two or three others asks you to plan several moves ahead, even when it looks sparse.

Long arrows add difficulty in a second way. An arrow three cells long blocks three cells of every lane that crosses it, so one long arrow can hold up a whole corner of the board. When you look for the arrow everyone waits for, start with the long ones.

Misses are information

A bump shows you exactly which arrow is in the way: the arrow slides up to it and bounces back. Most players take a miss as a penalty and move on. Use it instead. The blocker is now the arrow to free next.

It is also why games in this genre have misses at all. Since a successful tap never hurts, without a penalty you could tap at random until the board was empty. A small number of misses turns it back into a puzzle.

Hearts, timers and retries

This is where arrow puzzles differ most. In many of them, misses are hearts that also work as lives across levels. Run out and you wait, watch an ad or pay to keep going. Some add a timer, so a careful player loses to the clock.

A fair version resets misses on every level, and a failed level restarts the same board right away. You keep what you learned about it. Check the store page for "lives" or "energy", and the reviews for "wait" and "hearts".

Our arrow puzzle

Hopvera's arrow puzzle is called Scootle. It is in development and not in the store yet.

Each arrow is straight, one to three cells long, and points one of four ways. Every direction has its own color, and the arrow shape always shows the direction too. There are 1,000 levels, growing from a 3x3 first board to large, crowded ones, and every level is solvable by construction. You get three misses per level. Run out and the same board comes back, free, with no wait. The game saves after every tap and works offline. The first release has no ads and no purchases.

There is no undo, on purpose. A successful slide is never a mistake, so there is nothing to take back.

More on games that fit into a few spare minutes: what to look for in a game for short breaks. Or contact us.