A dark tile in TileTurn is not necessarily the tile you should press. A tap changes a group of cells, so the useful question is: which whole group needs to change? Start with the cross around a candidate tile, then account for the current mode. The boards below are constructed teaching examples, not captured Daily layouts or promised solutions to a numbered level.
Open TileTurn and begin with the Starter pack to study a small Classic board. There are seven packs and 140 levels; all packs are available, while levels within each pack unlock in order. You can tap a tile or use the normal keyboard focus and activation of its button.
Three modes, one first-step shape
| Mode | Effect | Goal |
|---|---|---|
| Classic | Toggle the selected tile and its orthogonal neighbors | Every tile ON ● |
| Cascade | The same cross, then newly ON tiles toggle their neighbors | Every tile ON ● |
| Spectrum | Advance the cross: ○ → ◆ → ✓ → ○ | Every tile green ✓ |
“Orthogonal” means up, down, left, and right. Diagonal cells are not part of the first cross. On a 3×3 board, tapping the center affects five cells, an edge position affects four, and a corner affects three. Cells outside the board do not wrap around to the other side.
A Classic board that finishes in one tap
Use rows A–C from top to bottom and columns 1–3 from left to right. Here ● is ON and ○ is OFF. Before choosing, list the dark cells: A2, B1, B2, B3, and C2. Together they form exactly the cross around B2.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | ● | ○ | ● |
| B | ○ | ○ | ○ |
| C | ● | ○ | ● |
- Choose B2 as the candidate, even though several other tiles are also dark.
- Check its entire effect: B2, A2, C2, B1, B3.
- Every affected cell is OFF, so each becomes ON.
- The four already-ON corners are outside the cross and stay ON.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | ● | ● | ● |
| B | ● | ● | ● |
| C | ● | ● | ● |
The tempting wrong move is A1 because it touches two dark cells. It turns A2 and B1 ON, but also turns A1 OFF; B2, B3, and C2 remain OFF. The count of lit cells rises from four to five, yet the board is not solved. The better decision on this board is B2, which matches all five cells that need changing. This demonstrates why a larger lit count after one move is not, by itself, proof of a good plan.
Why a diagonal sometimes changes in Cascade
Cascade first applies the same cross. After 300 milliseconds, only cells that changed from OFF to ON in that first step send a pulse to their own orthogonal neighbors. A pulse does not toggle its source cell, and it does not start an unlimited chain of further pulses.
Consider a separate 4×4 teaching board with every tile ON except B1. Tap B2. In the first cross, only B1 changes from OFF to ON; B2, A2, B3, and C2 turn OFF. B1 then pulses to A1, C1, and B2. A1 and C1 turn OFF, while B2 returns ON. A1 and C1 are diagonally placed relative to the original tap, but changed through B1's second step. There is no separate diagonal-tap mode.
Overlaps also matter. If both A2 and B1 were OFF before that same B2 tap, both would become pulse sources. A1 would receive one toggle from each: two toggles cancel, leaving its original state unchanged. Before tapping, mark the first-step sources and count how many pulses reach a shared neighbor. A preview can show involved cells without implying every highlighted cell ends in a different state.
Spectrum needs three states, not an ON/OFF guess
Spectrum uses ○ dark → ◆ blue → ✓ green → ○ dark. A blue cell needs one advance to reach green; a dark cell needs two. A green cell touched by the cross becomes dark. Counting only the selected cell misses those neighboring changes. In Classic, tapping the same location twice restores its board effect; in Spectrum it takes three taps. Do not assume that cancellation rule for Cascade, whose pulse sources depend on the current board.
Compare ideas with Undo and a realistic move target
Use free Undo to return to the previous board when comparing two candidates. Repeatedly tapping to reverse a move adds moves and, in Cascade, may not restore the original state at all. Wait for the two-step animation to finish before judging a Cascade result.
The displayed move target comes from how the puzzle was constructed; it is not a proof of the fewest possible moves. Finish at or below it for three stars, within two extra moves for two stars, and otherwise complete the board for one. The score also rewards efficiency and adds a 20% no-hint bonus before any pack-completion bonus. These are game targets, not evidence that another solution cannot be shorter.
Check the cross without guessing
In the first 3×3 Classic example, would tapping B2 change A1? In Spectrum, how many advances take an initially dark cell to green?
Show the answers
No: A1 is diagonal to B2 and outside its Classic cross. A dark Spectrum cell needs two advances, ○ → ◆ → ✓. Those answers describe cell effects; a complete Spectrum plan must still account for all neighboring cells changed by each tap.