Winter Connect

Winter Connect is a link board rather than a stack. Two identical tiles disappear when a line can be run between them, and that line is allowed exactly two turns — a third bend means the pair is not legal, however plainly the two faces match.

The clock is the opponent. Lof Games built the 2022 version around keeping up with it: the field has to be emptied before time runs out, and every second spent tracing a route you cannot use is one you do not get back. Difficulty climbs as the levels do, with denser fields and tighter margins. For a board of the same kind, see the Hats Connect grid.

Because this is a connect layout, the middle of the board is where the trouble is. Tiles in the centre are hemmed in on all sides, and the advice that ships with the game is to open the centre first so the routes stay available. Hints exist for a stalled field and are best kept for the harder levels. The Connect shelf holds the rest of the group.

The snow-lit artwork runs on an 800 by 450 stage that takes taps as well as clicks, and the full screen toggle makes the two-turn routes far easier to trace than they are at native size. Connect Animals : Onet Kyodai replaces the tile art and leaves the path rule alone.

1. Spot two identical winter tiles on the field.
2. Trace the line between them and count the corners — two turns is the limit.
3. Check nothing still standing sits on that route.
4. Click both tiles to clear the pair.
5. Empty the field before the countdown ends to move on.

• Open the centre — the tiles boxed in at the middle are the ones that strand you at the end of a level.
• Count corners before you commit — a route with three bends looks fine and is not.
• Take the pair you see — hunting a better match is expensive when the clock is this tight.
• Keep hints for the late levels — the early fields are open enough to solve by eye.
• Play it enlarged — full screen makes a two-turn path across a crowded field visible in one look.