How to play

Everything the game does not stop to explain. Nothing here is a spoiler — it is the machinery, not the story.

The loop

Tap a generator to spend energy and drop an item. Drag two identical items together to make one of the next level up. Spend what you make on requests, and on the lakou.

That is the whole game. Everything else is a reason to keep doing it.

Orders and requests are not the same thing

Requests come from Man Odette, Rico and Camille. There are forty of them, they are written, they arrive in order, and each one happens once. Many are locked behind a restored site: the story only moves when the lakou does. They are the reason the game has an ending.

Orders are the loop. Three at a time — more once you have earned or bought slots — and the moment you fill one, another takes its place. They never run out. What they ask for follows your level, so they stay just ahead of where you are, and what they pay follows what the item is worth.

Short version: a request is a scene, an order is a job.

Energy

Every generator tap costs energy, and energy comes back on its own — one point every two minutes, up to your cap. Restoring the sanitary block raises the cap. A full refill costs gems, and it is rarely the best thing to spend them on.

The counter beside the bolt is the time until the next point.

The lakou

Eleven sites, two stages each. Restoring one costs items and coins — the card shows both — and gives back two things: a step in the story, and something that changes the board itself.

Five sites hand over a new generator, and those start higher up their chain than the ones you begin with. Four others change a rule: more energy, a bigger basket, another order slot, faster recharges. Restoring is not decoration. It is how the board gets better.

What coins are for

Coins pay for the renovation. Every stage costs materials and money — the card shows how much, in red when the money is what is missing.

They also buy materials: when an order is one item short, the shop sells low-level items for coins. Three a day, and each one costs double the last, because it is a rescue and not a way to play.

The basket

The basket in the corner holds items off the board. It is small, and it is earned — restoring the granary makes it bigger, and gems make it bigger still. Use it when the board is tight and you are one square from being stuck.

When the board fills up

It will. Three ways out, in order of how much they cost you:

Merge something, anything — every merge frees a square. Sell an item you will not need (tap it, then sell). Or put one in the basket.

If you are truly stuck, Zaza's bell merges with whatever you set it beside. It costs gems, and it is offered at the moment you need it.

Events

An event runs for a few days and scores what you were doing anyway — merging, delivering, restoring. Milestones pay out as you pass them. Nothing is lost if you ignore one; you simply do not collect.

Gems

Gems buy time, not power. A full energy refill, a generator that comes back now instead of in seven minutes, a permanent basket slot, a fourth order, or Zaza's bell.

The daily streak gives you gems for free, and seven days of it is worth more than one refill.

Three things worth knowing

Do not sell everything you cannot use. Half of what looks useless is two merges from an order.

Empty generators are not broken. They come back. The number under them is the wait.

Your save lives on your phone. There is no account, and no way to move it to another device.