Treasure Island

Buried pirate treasure is the premise of Treasure Island, and finding it means working through more than a hundred separate layouts.

TapLabGames keeps the barrier low, since the rules take a moment to learn, and puts the difficulty in the sheer number of boards. Each layout is a fresh arrangement of tiles to pair off, and the variety, rather than any single hard puzzle, is what carries the game. Pairs leave the stack the same way in the FGP board.

There is no clock. A layout can be left half-finished while you work out which pair to take, and when nothing obvious remains a hint or a shuffle will restart your reading of the board. The Dimensions block shares this board’s place in the catalogue.

The 1280-by-960 frame is one of the larger builds in this group, which is exactly why full screen pays: a hundred-plus layouts means a great deal of small tile art, and the pirate icons of coins, maps and barrels are drawn at a size a windowed view compresses. The Grand board sits beside this one among the layered boards.

1. Pick a layout and look over the arrangement before clicking.
2. Match two identical tiles to remove the pair.
3. Use a hint when the available pairs are not obvious.
4. Shuffle the remaining tiles if nothing can be paired.
5. Clear the layout to move on to the next of the hundred-plus boards.

• Read the shape of the layout — with over a hundred arrangements in Treasure Island, each one has its own awkward corner.
• Take the covered tiles first — pieces near the top of a stack unlock more than the ones sitting on the rim.
• No clock, so plan — an untimed board rewards working out an order before you commit to the first pair.
• Keep hints for the crowded layouts — the early boards are open, the later ones are not.
• Full screen the treasure art — coins and maps share a gold palette that needs size to separate.