25 December

Nothing on the board of 25 December is a tile pair. This is a sliding merge puzzle dressed for Advent, where every square holds a date and two matching dates fuse into the next one along. More of the same shape sits in the Seasonal section.

Movement is board-wide. A push sends every date sliding in one direction, by arrow key on a desktop or by swipe on a touchscreen, and identical dates that collide join together. The chain runs forward through the calendar, so each successful merge nudges you one day closer to the twenty-fifth, and the whole run becomes a question of whether the squares fill up before you get there. Lof Games hands you a shuffle and a regroup for when the grid jams, but both are limited in number, and spending one early on a board you could still untangle by hand is the usual mistake. The Xmasjong layout dresses the board for another time of year.

The frame keeps the entire calendar in view at once, and the same board answers to touch. Another seasonal board here is the Frosty Connection Quest layout.

1. Push the whole grid with an arrow key, or swipe if you are on a touchscreen.
2. Send two identical dates into each other so they merge into the next date along.
3. Keep merging forward through December, working towards the twenty-fifth.
4. Call on a shuffle or a regroup when the squares lock, remembering both run out.

• Pick one corner — keeping the highest dates of 25 December banked in a single corner holds the merge chain together instead of scattering large values.
• Push in two directions — alternating between two arrow keys preserves that corner, while a careless third direction breaks it open.
• Hold the shuffle back — the regroup and shuffle counters never refill, so keep them for a grid that is genuinely locked.
• Watch the early dates — the low December squares breed fastest and are what clog the board long before the twenty-fifth arrives.