colonyflow Level 117

Overview

Level 117 is a short Normal three-color stage built around a chick picture — a small green and yellow bird on a pink background. Pink covers three quarters of the board as the background, brown is the middle layer, and red is the small outline accent, with tiny trace colors scattered on top. The tiles are stacked in layers, so the clearing follows the chick from the outside in: brown leaves first, then pink, and red finishes at the bottom. With only three main colors, this is one of the simplest levels in the range — the whole job is one long pink push with queue discipline.

• Difficulty: Regular (Normal)
• Estimated moves: 10–20 taps

Step-by-Step Solution

1. Open with brown. Brown is the outermost layer of the chick picture, so nothing underneath it can be carried away until it is gone. Tap the brown tile and let the ants start the short outer clear.
2. Move to pink next. Pink is the background and covers three quarters of the board, so this is the long stretch of the level. Tap pink, use the 2x speed-up button to shorten the repeated waiting, and keep the queue from filling with any second color while the ants run.
3. Work the red phase. Red tiles were covered by the pink background, so they only become reachable in the middle of the level. Clear red in one continuous push and keep an eye on the queue.
4. Clear the trace colors (black, orange) as they are exposed. These small accents hide inside the chick, and the efficient play is to spend free queue slots on them immediately so they never block a slot during the long pink push.
5. Watch the board approach the cleared state: as the last red tiles are carried away, the chick disappears completely and the level-complete overlay with five white input slots appears, confirming the finish.

Strategy & Reasoning

The removal order is dictated by the layer geometry: brown covers the outer frame, pink sits on the background layer, and red is the bottom outline, so the sequence brown → pink → red keeps the ants on reachable tiles. Pink is the strategic bottleneck — it is three quarters of the board, and the correct play is to give it a long uninterrupted run while using spare queue slots for the small trace colors. Running pink and red at the same time fills the five slots and stalls the ants. The speed-up button should stay active for the whole pink phase, and tools like Magnet and Lightning exist only to rescue a jammed queue.

Tips & Common Mistakes

• Running pink and red at the same time jams the five slots and stalls the board. Finish the background before starting the outline.
• Ignoring the small trace colors until the queue is full leaves an unmatchable tile blocking the line. Clear every exposed accent immediately with a free slot.
• Forgetting the speed-up button on the long pink phase wastes time. Keep the 2x speed active for the whole background clear.

Key Frames