How to Play a Color Puzzle Game

To play a gradient color puzzle game, swap the scattered tiles until the colors form a smooth transition across the board. In TINT: Hue Puzzle, tiles marked with a dot stay fixed and show you where the other colors belong. This walkthrough takes you from opening the first board to completing its six movable tiles.

1. Open Sunrise, Level 1

Tap Start if the opening screen appears, then choose the tile labeled 1 under Sunrise. Check that the game screen says Sunrise and Level 1. This is the first chapter board, separate from the Daily Harmony card on the home screen. A moving white circle demonstrates a swap before your first completion; touching a tile dismisses it. The number at the upper right starts at zero and counts your swaps. The lightbulb below the board is Hint, and the circular arrow is Restart.

2. Find the fixed frame

The first board has four columns and five rows: 20 tiles in total. Its entire outside border is pinned, including all four corners. Look for the small dot at the center of each fixed tile. That leaves six movable tiles in the middle, arranged as two columns by three rows. The corners run from yellow at the upper left to pink at the upper right, with coral at the lower left and purple at the lower right. Leave the dotted tiles alone. Their colors are already in place, so the border gives you a finished reference around the shuffled center.

3. Make your first swap with two taps

Choose an undotted tile in the middle and tap it once. A white outline marks your selection. Then tap a different undotted tile: the two exchange positions, and the move counter increases by one. You do not need an empty square, and the tiles do not have to touch each other. To cancel before swapping, tap the selected tile again. If you spot a center tile that looks too purple near the warm left border, try exchanging it with a warmer center tile farther right. Check whether the transition looks smoother afterward.

4. Try dragging instead

You can also press a movable tile, drag it onto another movable tile, and release. The target tile takes the starting tile's place; the rest of the board stays where it was. A target highlight appears over a valid destination while you drag. Aim inside the tile you want to exchange with. Releasing outside the board or over a pinned tile returns the dragged tile to its starting position without a swap. Use whichever control feels clearer: dragging and two taps perform the same action.

5. Work through the six center positions

Count rows from the top and columns from the left. Your open positions are columns 2 and 3 in rows 2, 3, and 4. Start with row 2 and compare its two center tiles with the fixed colors at that row's left and right ends. Place the warmer candidate toward the left and the pinker candidate toward the right, then check their relationship to the fixed row above. Repeat for rows 3 and 4, where the right side becomes more purple. Also look down each center column: a tile should fit between its neighbors above and below, as well as beside them.

6. Read the feedback after a move

When a swap puts a tile in its correct position, that tile briefly grows and settles back. This is a placement cue, but it does not pin the tile: you can still move it again. After each exchange, check both positions that changed. One may now fit while the other still needs work. If you want to reverse your last swap immediately, exchange the same two tiles again; that adds another move. TINT has no separate Undo button. Keep your attention on the six center positions rather than trying to rearrange the finished border.

7. Use the lightbulb if you get stuck

Tap the lightbulb when you cannot decide what to move next. The hint exchanges a misplaced tile with the tile occupying its correct position, putting at least one tile where it belongs. Watch which two positions change, then compare the placed tile with its neighbors before continuing. It makes one swap rather than displaying a solution preview or giving a written explanation. After use, the button shows a countdown and becomes available again after 45 seconds. That countdown is a wait for another hint, not a deadline for solving the board.

8. Finish the gradient and continue

Keep swapping until all six center tiles are in their intended positions. Completion is detected automatically; there is no Submit button to press. After the completion animation, a result card says Harmony! and shows your move count and stars. Chapter levels award up to three stars according to the number of swaps. On Sunrise Level 1, five or fewer swaps earn three stars, six to eight earn two, and more than eight earn one. Any completed result unlocks Level 2. Choose Next level to continue or Back to levels to return to the chapter list.

9. Know what Restart and Back do

Use the circular arrow when you want to begin the level again. Restart resets the move counter and shuffles the movable tiles afresh; it does not restore the exact arrangement you first saw. The pinned frame and target gradient stay the same. The back arrow returns to the level list. Opening the level again also starts a newly shuffled board, so Back is not a pause-and-resume control. Completed stars are saved on the device, and replaying keeps your better star result. An unfinished board and its move count are not saved for a later session.