Guides

Strategy, techniques and the workings behind the games on Lynxy: how the puzzles are built, why they are fair, and what helps you win them. Each game also has its own how-to-play page with the rules and controls.

• SudokuHow a Sudoku with exactly one solution is madeWhat happens in the second between pressing New game and seeing the grid: building a full solution, removing clues in symmetric pairs and checking after every step that only one answer is left.
• SudokuSudoku solving techniques, from singles to X-WingThe handful of techniques that solve almost every Sudoku: naked and hidden singles, pointing pairs, naked pairs and the X-Wing, with diagrams and the order to look for them.
• MinesweeperMinesweeper patterns: 1-1, 1-2, 1-2-1 and 1-2-2-1Four number patterns that solve most of a Minesweeper board without counting, why the first click on Lynxy is always safe, and what to do when a guess really is the only move.
• SolitaireWhy every Solitaire deal on Lynxy can be wonNot every Klondike deal can be won. How a solver plays thousands of deals, replays each win under the game's own rules and keeps only those - plus what that means for Draw 1 and Draw 3 strategy.
• MahjongMahjong Solitaire: how a deal that can always be cleared is builtWhy a randomly shuffled Mahjong Solitaire layout can be lost before the first move, how Lynxy builds every deal backwards so it can always be cleared, and how to play the levels that hide which tiles are blocked.
• Harvest HollowHarvest Hollow by the numbers: which crops actually payProfit per plot per minute and experience per minute for every crop in Harvest Hollow, worked out from the game's own data - and what the numbers say about when to plant what.
• Star ProspectorStar Prospector: a trader's guide to the fifteen systemsWhich minerals pay, which planet to sell them to, what to upgrade first and how to handle suns and pirates - the numbers behind Star Prospector's economy, from the game's own data.
• Gem CascadeHow par works in Gem Cascade, and how to get three starsA bot played every designed level forty times to set par. How stars, scoring, cascades and the Gem Rush work, which special gem combinations matter and how to finish under par.
• Lily LeapEvery Lily Leap level has a route home: what the solver foundHow a solver checks that every Lily Leap level can be finished on one life, its results for all twenty levels, and what they mean for the clock, the babies on logs and your stars.
• Nova BricksNova Bricks power-ups ranked, and the stages that need themHow often each of the nine capsules drops, which ones are worth chasing, the hardest stages counted brick by brick, and the two checks every stage passes before release.
• Block DropBlock Drop: the 7-bag, hold and lock delay explainedWhy you never wait more than 12 pieces for the long piece, how hold and the half-second lock delay work, how fast each stage falls and why four lines at once pay twice.
• Maria and the Missing CoderBuilding a platformer where every enemy can be stompedHow Maria and the Missing Coder's maps are checked with a jump graph built from the real jump distances, the design rules the tests taught us, the boss that walked off the map, and how to beat both bosses.
• Pipe FlowHow Pipe Flow boards are grown, and where to start solving themEvery Pipe Flow board is grown as a tree from the tap and then scrambled. What 6,000 generated boards look like, why edge pieces solve themselves and the rules that hold in every solution.
• Lynx RunLynx Run by the numbers: speed, obstacles and shieldsHow fast the lynx runs at every distance, how often each obstacle appears, why the second jump costs time, how diving works, and the difference between the berry shield and the blue one.
• Puffer ReefPuffer Reef: what one tap does, and how to swim deepOne tap lifts the puffer 58 units. How that fits the gaps from the shallows to the Midnight Trench, where to swim in a gap, how the reefs speed up and how hearts and pearls work.
• Memory MatchHow many moves is a good Memory Match score?We simulated hundreds of thousands of games with perfect and imperfect memory. What a flawless player scores on 8, 12 and 18 pairs, how much forgetting costs and how to remember more cards.
• SnakeSnake strategy on a 17 × 17 fieldSpeeds, points and why the bonus star is easiest to catch on Hard, how to keep a long snake alive, and why a perfect never-losing game is impossible on Lynxy's field.
• Behind the scenesSixteen browser games without a game engineHow the games on Lynxy are made in plain HTML, CSS and JavaScript: graphics drawn in code, sound synthesised in the browser, a solver or bot behind almost every game, and small lessons from real phones.