How to play Lagoon Lineup

What a tile match puzzle is

A tile match puzzle starts with a pile of tiles stacked in layers, each tile showing a picture. You pick tiles off the top of the pile into a short tray, and as soon as the tray holds three tiles with the same picture, those three disappear. Clear every tile from the pile and you win. Fill the tray with no three alike and you lose.

It looks like a game of spotting pictures, but it is really a game of space. The tray is small, so every tile you pick must either finish a three, start one you can finish soon, or uncover something useful. A tile picked for no reason is a place in the tray you will miss later.

Playing Lagoon Lineup on AllFun

AllFun Lagoon Lineup is a sea-themed tile match game with 24 kinds of treasure, from a starfish and a scallop to a pufferfish, a nautilus and a treasure chest. Each pile is laid out as a shape, such as a heart, a crown or a little boat. Tap a free tile to send it to the tray.

The 160 levels run through eight waters of 20, from Sunny Shallows and Kelp Forest to Coral Gardens, Pearl Lagoon, the Sunken Galleon, Moonlit Reef, the Glowing Deep and Abyss Lights. The first level has nine tiles of three kinds; later piles stack well over a hundred. Each level is built from a real clearing order and checked again by a solver. Other calm puzzles are gathered on the puzzle games page.

The rules

• Free or covered: a tile with any tile above it, even overlapping by a corner, is dimmed and cannot be picked.
• The tray: seven places. Tiles of the same kind sit next to each other in it.
• Threes pop: the moment a third tile of a kind arrives, all three leave the tray.
• Win: the pile, the tray and the holding row are all empty.
• Out of space: the tray is full and nothing in it makes a three.

Helpers

Undo sends the last tile back to the pile. Pop-out lifts the first three tiles of the tray into a holding row of three stacks, where the top of each stack can be picked again later. Shuffle deals the treasures left on the pile again, and the new deal is checked so the level can still be cleared. +1 slot gives the tray an eighth place for the rest of the level. You get one of each free in every level.

Stars

Clearing the level is one star. A second star is for never having more than five tiles in the tray at once. The third is for finishing within the level's time, which allows about two seconds a tile plus fifteen.

A method that keeps the tray clear

1. Finish before you start. If the tray holds two of a kind and a third is free on the pile, take it first. A finished three frees two places.
2. Count what is visible. Before you start a new kind, check that you can see at least two more of it, free or about to be freed.
3. Keep the number of kinds low. With seven places, three different pairs and one single tile is already a dangerous tray. Try to hold no more than three kinds at a time.
4. Dig where the pile is deepest. A tile that covers four others is worth more than one sitting alone at the edge, even if both are the same kind.
5. Plan the last twenty tiles. Near the end, every tile left on the pile is known. Count each kind and pick in an order that never leaves a single orphan in the tray.
6. Use Pop-out early. Lifting three tiles while you still have room gives you time to find their partners.

Tile match FAQ