Christmas Float Connect

The link rule in Christmas Float Connect is the familiar one, a path between two identical Christmas items turning through no more than two right angles, but the board underneath it will not hold still. Everything else of this sort is in the full Christmas list.

On the floating levels, every removal is followed by movement. What is left can drift to the bottom, upward, to the left, to the right, in towards the centre, or split apart down the middle, and the pattern you had memorised a second ago is gone. That turns planning inside out: instead of clearing the pair with the cleanest route, you start asking what the remaining tiles will look like once they settle. GamesFine.com runs 27 levels on this idea, each closed by a clock that pays a bonus for an early finish. The line between two tiles decides the match in the Winter Connect board as well.

The frame is unusually tall for a link board at 1280 by 960, which gives the drifting stacks somewhere to travel. Delicious Food Connection is the nearest flat-board neighbour of this one here.

1. Find two identical Christmas items with a clear route between them.
2. Check the route turns twice at most, then click or tap each item in turn.
3. Watch where the leftover tiles drift once the pair is gone, since the floating levels rearrange the board after every clear.
4. Empty the level before the clock expires to take the bonus, then carry on through the 27 stages.

• Clear from the drift side — if a level pulls tiles to the bottom, work the bottom rows first, because everything above them is about to move anyway.
• Expect the split levels — a board that halves down the middle can open two easy lanes at once, so hold a stubborn pair back until after it splits.
• Trace before you click — two right angles is the ceiling in Christmas Float Connect, and a route needing a third simply refuses.
• Use the tall frame — at 1280 by 960 the grid is deep, and running your eye down a column finds pairs faster than sweeping across.