How to Play Lines: Tap the Arrows Out of the Shape
The rules of Lines, Puzzle Picnic's arrow puzzle. Read a line's lane, tap the ones that are free, and clear a small shape move by move without a mistake.
Lines is an arrow puzzle: a shape packed with coloured lines, each with an arrow on its head. Tap a line and it slides out of the shape, head first, the way its arrow points, with its body following. It only leaves when nothing stands in front of its arrow all the way to the edge. Tapping a blocked line counts as a mistake. Clear every line to finish. The skill is in choosing the order.
This guide is for complete beginners. It covers the rules as Puzzle Picnic teaches them, how to read a line, a small puzzle solved move by move, and what the hints and tools do.
The rules of Lines
Lines has one goal and one action. The goal is to clear the shape. The action is a tap on a line. Everything else follows from where each line's arrow points.
| Rule | What it means |
|---|---|
| Every line has an arrow | The arrow sits on one end of the line, its head, and shows the only way the line can leave |
| Tap a line to free it | The line slides out head first, the way the arrow points, and its body follows along behind like a train |
| The way must be clear | The line only leaves when no other line stands anywhere in front of its arrow, all the way to the edge |
| A blocked tap is a mistake | If something is in the way, the line stays put and the tap counts as a mistake |
| Clear the shape | The puzzle is solved when every line has left |
A line can be bent, with several turns along its body, but when it leaves, the head goes straight on in the arrow's direction and the rest of the line follows the path the head took. So the only squares that matter for a tap are the ones directly in front of the arrow.
Reading a line: head, body and lane
Every Lines decision comes down to one look: from the arrowhead, straight ahead to the edge. Call that row or column of squares the line's lane. If the lane is empty, the line can go. If any part of another line sits in the lane, even far away at the other side of the shape, it cannot go yet.
A few details make reading lanes quicker:
- Only other lines block. Empty squares never stop a line, and neither does the outside of the shape. A lane that runs off the edge of a heart or a star is clear once no line sits in it.
- A line never blocks itself. In Puzzle Picnic a line's own body never sits in its lane, so you only need to look for other lines there.
- The body does not matter for the tap. However long or twisted a line is, the body follows the head out. A long line with a clear lane leaves as easily as a short one.
- Any part of a line blocks. It does not matter whether the line in the lane is crossing it with its head, its middle or its tail.
The diagrams in this guide write each line as a letter. A letter with an arrow, like A>, is that line's head and points the way it leaves. A letter with - or | is a straight piece of its body, and + is a bend.
This guide calls squares by row and column: R2C3 is row 2 from the top, column 3 from the left.
Your first puzzle, move by move
This small square shape has nine lines and no empty squares. Real Lines puzzles are bigger and come in other shapes, but the method is the same: find the free lines, tap them, look again.
Start by reading every lane. You do not have to remember them all; the point is to see which lines are waiting on which.
| Line | Arrow points | First line in its lane | Free at the start? |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | Right | B | No |
| B | Right | None: its head is at the edge | Yes |
| C | Up | A | No |
| D | Right | E | No |
| E | Down | F | No |
| F | Left | G | No |
| G | Left | None: its head is at the edge | Yes |
| H | Left | C | No |
| I | Left | C | No |
- Tap B and G. Both have their heads at the edge, pointing out. Nothing can be in front of them.
- Tap A and F. With B gone, A's lane along the top row is empty. With G gone, F's lane along the bottom row is empty.
- Tap C and E. A was the only line in C's lane, and F was the only line in E's lane.
- Tap D, H and I. With E gone, D's lane is clear. With C gone, the left column is empty, so H and I can both slide out to the left.
That is the whole puzzle: four rounds, nine taps, no mistakes. Notice the two separate chains. One runs along the top and down the left: B, then A, then C, then H and I. The other runs along the bottom and up the right: G, then F, then E, then D. Most bigger puzzles are many chains like these, woven together.
When a line is blocked
Tapping a line with something in its lane counts as a mistake, and the line stays where it is. In Puzzle Picnic the line you tapped flashes red and nudges towards the line in its way, which is outlined in dashed red, and the game tells you another line is in the way. That flash is useful: it shows you exactly which line has to go first.
A mistake does not end the puzzle. You can carry on and finish, but the solve no longer counts as clean. A clean solve is one with no mistakes, no hints and no power-ups, and it earns more points for your picnic.
Three habits keep mistakes rare:
- Follow the arrow all the way. The most common mistake is checking the first few squares and missing a line near the far edge.
- Look for parts of lines, not heads. A lane is blocked by any piece of another line, including a tail or a bend that is easy to overlook.
- When unsure, tap a line you are sure of. While any lines remain, at least one of them can go. Clearing a certain one changes the picture and may answer your question.
In the first puzzle above, tapping D at the very start would be a mistake: the top of line E sits in D's lane at R2C5.
Shapes and levels
Every Lines puzzle is a shape packed with lines, and the shape gets bigger at each level. Easy is 11 squares across, Medium 15, Hard 19 and Expert 23, with longer, more tangled lines at each level. The shapes include a heart, a star, a circle, a diamond, a house and a square.
| Level | Shape size | What changes |
|---|---|---|
| Easy | 11 squares across | Short lines, many free lines to start with |
| Medium | 15 squares across | Longer lines, more lines waiting on each other |
| Hard | 19 squares across | Long, bent lines and longer chains |
| Expert | 23 squares across | The longest, most tangled lines |
On a heart or a star the edge of the shape is not a straight line, so lanes can be short. A line near the point of a star may have only a square or two between its arrow and open space. Lines near the outline are often the first to go for exactly that reason. Solving big Lines puzzles covers the larger levels in detail.
Puzzle Picnic's one daily puzzle, the same for everyone, rotates through the six games, so every sixth day it is a Medium Lines shape. Any Lines puzzle can also be shared with a friend as a link, so they get the exact same shape.
Hints, undo and power-ups
Lines has a hint, an Undo button and three power-ups, and all of them are optional. You get three free hints a day. A hint lights up a line that can go now, with a green glow, so it is the gentlest way to get moving again on a big shape.
Undo brings back the last line you freed. Hints and mistakes stay counted, so Undo is for trying a different order, not for erasing a slip.
The power-ups come from a shared stock that refills a little every day:
- Grid shows every line's way out until the next line leaves: green lanes are clear, red ones run into another line.
- Hammer smashes any line you tap, even a blocked one.
- Magnet pulls up to three lines out for you.
Any solve that uses a hint or a power-up is marked as assisted rather than clean. That is the only cost. If you are learning, the Grid is a good teacher: it shows you, all at once, which lanes you would have had to check by eye.
Lines and other arrow puzzles
Lines belongs to a family of tap-away arrow puzzles, where you clear a board by removing pieces in an order that lets each one escape. Many arrow games in the app stores use the same core rule. One, for example, describes it as an arrow that moves only when its way ahead is clear, and takes away a life for a blocked tap, with a limited number of lives per level (App Store: Arrow Puzzle - Tap Away Game).
Lines keeps the rule and drops the pressure. A blocked tap is counted as a mistake and that is all: there are no lives to run out of, and no timer either. And the pieces are bent lines packed into a drawn shape, so the puzzle looks like a picture that comes apart.
The older ancestor is pick-up sticks. In Mikado, players take sticks one at a time from a jumbled pile without moving the others, and a turn ends when another stick moves (Wikipedia: Mikado)). Lines turns that dexterity game into a logic one: instead of a steady hand, you need to see which stick is on top. Arrow and untangle puzzles explained looks at the genre more closely.
Frequently asked questions
What happens if I tap a line that is blocked?
The line stays put and the tap counts as a mistake. In Puzzle Picnic the tapped line flashes red and nudges towards the line in its way, which is shown in dashed red. You can carry on; the solve just will not count as clean.
Can a line be blocked by its own body?
No. In Puzzle Picnic a line's own body never sits in front of its arrow, so its lane never contains itself. Only other lines can block it.
Does it matter which free line I tap first?
Not for finishing. Every line that is free will stay free until you tap it, because lines only ever leave the shape. Tapping any free line never makes the puzzle harder, so you can clear free lines in any order and then look again.
How do I know which line to tap first?
Start at the edges. Lines with their heads at the outline, pointing outwards, are free. Then look at the lines that were waiting on those. If you are stuck, a hint lights up a line that can go now.
Is Lines the same as other arrow escape games?
The core rule is the same: a piece can only leave when its way ahead is clear. Lines uses bent lines packed into drawn shapes, counts a blocked tap as a mistake where some arrow games take a life, and has no timer pressing you.
Where to go next
Play a few Easy shapes and say each lane out loud before you tap, until checking it becomes automatic. Then read Lines strategy for chains, keystone lines and how to plan a whole shape, and order is the puzzle for the idea of dependencies behind it. Every Lines guide is on the Lines topic page. When you are ready, a fresh shape is waiting on the Lines page.