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## Instructions

### - The details -

> 1. The basics
> 2. The details
>    - Special pieces
>    - Scoring and levels
>    - Bonuses and combos
> 3. Title screen and settings
> 4. Keyboard interface controls

### Special pieces

Apart from the regular segments, there are several special pieces that each affects the game in its own way.

Droplet This turns into a cloud immediately upon placement, destroying anything beneath as well as occupying valuable space in the sky. Though a cloud may only be removed with the help of a star, a single star can remove up to five clouds at the same time. Place your droplets with this in mind.

Balloon
The balloon lifts any regular piece up and away from the game. Use this to get rid of badly placed pieces.
Rotator
This handy piece rotates any regular piece that is not a crossing 90 degrees in the direction pointed to by the arrows. Change direction by rotating the rotator.
Expander
Both ends of this piece extend as far as possible on placement, making it useful for quickly filling large gaps in a loop. For the purpose of bonuses an expander placed where it cannot expand is counted as a regular piece.
Morph
An indecisive blob that tries to turn into the most useful regular piece possible wherever you place it. Note that the Morph does not plan ahead. Beware of using it where you need it to be a particular piece and it is far from obvious which piece that is.
Frozen piece
This persistant piece comes in three temperatures and thaws into the next warmer type when used in a loop rather than disappearing as normal, eventually becoming a regular piece. With some housekeeping you can use this to your advantage and simultaneously make several identical loops by connecting frozen pieces only.
Steel piece
The most difficult piece to get rid of, the steel piece can only be removed in one of three ways: by using it in a loop of nothing but steel pieces, by clouding it with a droplet, or by using a star on it - something that could prove very rewarding. Does not normally appear on medium difficulty and lower.
Star
The most useful of the commonly appearing special pieces, the star will - depending on where you place it - remove clouds or segments, thaw frozen pieces, boost your score, or even grow a new lemon. While stars are usually plentiful, there can never be enough. Striking a good balance between all these options is a key factor for a successful game.
Mystery
With a dozen different effects ranging from the incredibly helpful to the downright disastrous, this rare piece can turn the tide of a game completely. If you are not a gambler, you might want to sacrifice a lemon just to avoid its effects, but then... who knows what you'll be missing.
Multiplier
If a multiplier piece is used in a loop, the entire loop score is multiplied by its value. If several multipliers are found in the same completed loop, they are added together before the score is multiplied. A x2 and a x3 in a loop will multiply its score by five.

Some incredibly rare and amazingly powerful specials are left for you to discover.

### Scoring and levels

The simple rule of scoring is: the bigger the loop, the higher the score. Quantity also matters. A few loops down the road, any given loop will have a higher base score than an earlier loop of the same size.

Levels go up based on placed segments and/or completed loops depending on your playing style, to ensure you get a smooth difficulty progression whether you go for quantity or quality in your loop making.

While the score you get from completing a loop is not directly affected by level, many bonus multipliers and additional scores are. For instance, the bonus received by sacrificing a star in empty sky increases with every level, and clearing the sky of loop segments at a higher level can be very rewarding.

As the levels go up, the time you get for each new segment is reduced. The appearing segments also become longer and more complex and there is a higher frequency of special pieces to contend with.

### Bonuses and combos

Certain loops and actions are particularly notable and get rewarded with special bonuses. These come in the form of a loop score multiplier that applies to the base score of the just created loop. Simultaneous or consecutive bonuses are even more valuable as they add to the current multiplier before it is applied. This is called a combo.

Example

First you make a really big loop, getting a x3.0 size bonus applied to its points value.

Loop score multiplier so far: 3.0.

With the very next piece you create another loop, adding a x0.5 speed bonus to the previous multiplier, for a total x3.5 speed combo.

Loop score multiplier so far: 3.5.

Finally you turn the remaining segment into a loop of the same shape and size as the last one, adding a combo made from a x2.5 clarity bonus and a x2.0 uniformity bonus to the multiplier, for a total loop score of eight times what that loop would have given alone!

The next loop you make is nothing special and so the multiplier is reset and you'll have to work your way up from x1.0 again.

Nearly twenty different kinds of bonuses may be awarded. With some luck and clever planning you can grow the multiplier indefinitely, getting insane points with each loop you make. This is the key to the really big scores.

Extra combo goodness for the advanced; if you have a loop score multiplier active and make another bonus-worthy loop which happens to include a multiplier piece, this piece too will add to the loop score multiplier.

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Next: Title screen and settings >>