How to play Pix Pen: rules, scoring and tips for a low score

The rules

• Tap an empty square to place a block. Tap it again to take it away.
• Pixies bounce off walls and blocks. They never pass through them, so a closed doorway really is closed.
• Win by penning. You win as soon as every pixie is shut inside areas that add up to 15% of the board's open squares or less. Areas with no pixies in them don't count against you, however big they are.
• Don't block a pixie. Placing a block on top of a pixie traps it there, shaking. You can't win while any pixie is trapped, so take that block back off.

On small screens, press and hold to see where your block will go, slide to adjust, and let go to place it. Slide off the board to cancel.

Scoring: moves × seconds

Your score is the number of moves you made multiplied by the seconds it took. Like golf, lower is better. Placing and removing a block both count as moves.

Because the two multiply, you can't make up for one with the other cheaply. Solving in 20 moves and 30 seconds scores 600. Solving in 10 moves but 90 seconds scores 900. Speed and economy both matter.

Restarting the daily resets the board, but not your clock or your moves. So a restart puts the pixies back where they began, but it is not a fresh score.

Tips for a lower score

• Close doorways, not rooms. The board is a maze of rooms joined by gaps in the walls. One block in a doorway seals off a whole room. Building your own walls in open space costs far more moves.
• Look before you tap. A few seconds spent reading the board at the start usually saves more than it costs. Find the rooms the pixies are already crowded into.
• Shrink the pen, then wait. Seal off the empty parts of the board first. Pixies wander through doorways on their own, so the open area keeps getting less crowded as you close it down.
• Time your last block. The final doorway is often the one pixies keep bouncing through. Wait for the gap to be clear, then close it.
• Every move counts twice. A misplaced block costs you the move to place it and the move to take it back. If you're not sure, wait half a second rather than guess.
• Watch for shaking. If a pixie is shaking, you've blocked it. Find it and lift the block, or you'll wonder why you haven't won.

The daily board and leaderboard

Every day at midnight, your local time, there's a new board. Everyone's board and pixie paths for the day are identical, so scores are directly comparable.

When you win, the result card shows your place on the day's leaderboard, the top ten and the players around you. Winning runs are checked by replaying your taps on the day's board, so the scores on the board are real. You can set the name you show up as from the card.

Your progress on the daily is saved as you play, so a reload doesn't lose your clock. Solve days in a row to build a streak; with a free Thorstein Games account, your streak follows you to other devices.

Practice mode

Practice mode deals a brand-new random board each time, with no effect on your daily stats. It's the best way to learn how pixies move through doorways, and to try out a faster style without risking your daily score. You can also replay a daily board after you've solved it.

Questions