The beginner guide worked out Level 16 link by link, because that board has only one possible route. Most boards after it have several. Level 29 has 16 different routes from the ring to the star, so at some point nothing more is certain and you have to choose. That is fine, and this guide shows how to choose without getting stuck. Three new hints come up along the way.
Level 29. Thirty-two blocks, the ring at the bottom and the star just above and to the right of it.
First, the beginner hints
Blocks with only two neighbours, the ring and the star with one neighbour each, and one block whose neighbour became full. That is as far as the beginner hints go.
If you have not read the beginner guide, the short version: every block in the middle of the line has two links, the ring and the star have one, a block with only two neighbours uses both, and a full block takes no more links.
Hint 1: At a fork, pick a way and keep going
The second block in the top row can still go down or right (white dashes). Nothing on the board decides it, and both ways can be finished. We go down.
When no block is certain any more, the board has more than one answer. Pick a block with just two ways left, choose one, and carry on with the hints. Every choice makes new blocks full, so the hints start working again straight away.
Right away: the block to its right lost its left neighbour, which is now full, so it goes right and down.
We solved the first 500 levels of the game with these hints. At the forks we met, either way could still be finished 3,672 times out of 3,682. So choose without worrying, and if a board ever does get stuck, drag back to your last fork and take the other way.
Hint 2: Never close a loop
This piece of line runs from the block on the left edge, over the top-left corner and back down. Its two ends sit side by side. Joining them would make a closed loop, so that link is out (red X).
A loop can never be part of the answer, because the line would go round and round without reaching the other blocks. Whenever both ends of one piece of line end up next to each other, cross out the link between them.
Now the block on the left edge has only one way left: down.
Hint 3: Try a link and see if it breaks
The second block in the third row has three neighbours. Suppose it does not go down. Then it has to go up and left (red dashes), and that joins both ends of the same piece into a loop. So it must go down.
When a block has three ways, try leaving one out, or try using one, and follow what is forced just a step or two. If you run into a loop, a block with no way out, or the ring meeting the star too early, that try was wrong and the opposite is certain. You can do this in your head without drawing anything.
Back to the hints
Another fork: the fourth block in the top row can go down or right. Both can be finished. We go down again.After that it is only the beginner hints and Hint 2. Three more loops get crossed out along the way.Hint 3 once more. If this block does not go right, it has to go up and down (red dashes). That joins the line from the ring to the line from the star, with the eight blocks on the right still empty. So it goes right.The last fork: the block above can go down or right, and both work. We take down.The last two links follow from the beginner hints.Solved: all 32 blocks on one line. Choose differently at the forks and you get one of the other routes.
Habits for bigger boards
Use the beginner hints until nothing more is certain.
Cross out loops as soon as both ends of a piece sit next to each other.
Before choosing, test the block with three ways: does leaving one link out close a loop or join the ring to the star early?
At a real fork, choose and keep going. Remember where you chose.
Stuck after a choice? Drag back to the fork instead of starting over.
Block Link The JoyPlus Soft Planning Team
