Player guide
How to play Little Way Home
You choose the orders. They do the walking.
Everything you need to clear the tablet in Little Way Home, from your first tap to the Extreme boards.
The goal
A dark glass tablet on the lagoon floor holds a picture made of glossy colored blocks: a strawberry, a rubber duck, an owl and many more. Your job is to clear the whole tablet. Every block you clear is carried home by a little crab, and when the last block is gone and every crab is home, you win.
Each win brings a cheering crab celebration and gold coins for every level you clear for the first time.
Queues and pockets
Below the tablet, numbered orders wait in queues. Each order is a color and a count. Tap the order at the front of a queue and it drops into one of your five pockets.
- Tap a front orderOnly the front order of a queue can go. The two behind it show what is coming.
- It drops into a pocketIt slides onto the shelf, into the first of your five pockets that is free.
- Out hop the crabsEach crab that leaves takes one off the count. At zero the pocket is free again.
An order stays in its pocket while the crabs fetch its blocks. When its count is used up, the pocket empties and is ready for the next order. Five pockets is not a lot, so choose which order to tap with care.
How crabs reach blocks
Once an order is in a pocket, out hop the crabs from their burrow, one after another, to pull free the matching blocks they can reach and carry them home.
A crab can reach a block when it touches the edge of the board, or open floor that is connected to the edge. Blocks buried deeper have to wait. Every block you take opens a path to the next, and what the crabs can reach updates after every pickup, so the order you pick matters.
Special orders
As the levels grow, some orders come with a twist.
Linked orders
Linked orders are joined by a bar in the queue and must load together, so you need a free pocket for each of them at the same time.
Padlocked orders
A padlocked order waits for its key block, a block on the board marked in gold. Once a crab collects that block, the padlock opens and the order can load.
Masked orders
Masked orders show a question mark below the front row and keep their color secret. They reveal their color and count when they reach the front of the queue.
Out of room and Make room
If every pocket fills with colors the crabs cannot reach, and no front order can load, you are out of room. Running out of room costs the level's heart, and you can try again or head home.
When one more pocket would let the level go on, Make room offers it for coins. Buy it and the same attempt carries on, with every block and order right where you left them.
Hearts
Each level is played on a heart. Clear the level and the heart comes straight back. Spent hearts refill over time, one every 30 minutes, up to five.
Tools when you are stuck
Three tools sit beside the burrow, ready for a tricky board. Use the ones you own, or spend coins on them.
- Put back a pod
- Tap a loaded pocket to send its unfinished order back to the front of its queue.
- Shuffle orders
- Rearrange the orders that are waiting in the queues.
- Clear a color
- Pick a color to clear its remaining blocks and orders from the board.
- Make room
- When you are out of room, spend coins on one more pocket and carry on.
Difficulty tiers
100 levels in five tiers. Every level is checked to be winnable and graded by hand, so each one is a fair puzzle with a way through.
Easy
Gentle boards to learn how orders, pockets and crabs work together.
Medium
Bigger pictures that ask you to plan a few orders ahead.
Hard
Trickier boards where the order you pick matters even more.
Super Hard
Tight boards that reward careful planning.
Extreme
The toughest boards in the game.
Tips from the burrow
Seven habits that help you clear the trickier boards.
- Look before you tap. Check which colors the crabs can already reach before you load an order.
- Keep a pocket free when you can. An open pocket gives you room to react to what the next pickup uncovers.
- Watch the edges. Blocks touching the edge of the board or open floor are the ones crabs can reach first.
- Plan for linked orders. They load together, so make sure you have room for both before you tap.
- Free the key early. A padlocked order cannot load until a crab collects its key block, so go after that block first.
- Take your time. There is no timer, so think as long as you like before each order.
- Save your tools for a real jam. Put back a pod, Shuffle orders and Clear a color can turn a stuck board around.
Ready for level 1?
Little Way Home is coming soon to the App Store. Get an email the moment it is out.
Questions about a tricky board? Our Support page has answers, and a form to write to us.
