colonyflow Level 25

Overview

Level 25 is a Hard five-color stage whose target picture is a pixel-art black cat wearing a red sweater: a cyan background grid behind the cat (about 51% of tiles), a red sweater on the cat (about 32%), blue outline (about 9%), orange accents (about 5%), and pink cheeks (about 4%), with tiny gray, green, black, brown and yellow trace accents. The goal is to clear every tile by tapping the number tiles at the bottom so ants carry each color away. Because the tiles are stacked, the cyan background must leave first, then the blue outline, with the red sweater, orange accents and pink cheeks finishing as the inner layers. This is a long level with many tiles, so queue discipline matters more than speed.

• Difficulty: Hard
• Estimated moves: 55–80 taps

Step-by-Step Solution

1. Start by tapping the cyan tile. Cyan is the background grid behind the cat and sits on the outermost layer, so it is reachable immediately. This is the largest single area on the board, so this is the long opening stretch. Keep the queue pointed at cyan in batches and use the 2x speed-up button in the top-right corner.
2. While the cyan carry is running, clear the tiny gray, green, black, brown and yellow trace tiles opportunistically. They become reachable as the background comes off; tapping them whenever a slot opens keeps the ants busy without blocking a slot.
3. Continue tapping cyan until most of the background is carried off. Do not switch to blue until the cyan is nearly gone; any leftover cyan keeps covering the cat and blocks the ants' path inward.
4. When cyan is mostly gone, tap the blue tile. Blue is the outline around the cat and was covered by the background, so it only becomes reachable now. Clear blue in one continuous push and keep an eye on the queue.
5. Next, tap the red tile. Red is the cat's sweater and is exposed only after the blue outline finishes. Sweep red in a moderate push, keeping spare slots free.
6. Then tap the orange tile. Orange forms small accents on the cat; it becomes reachable once red is gone. Clear orange in small batches.
7. Finish with the pink tile. Pink is the cat's cheeks — the innermost layer — so it is the last color to be exposed. Because it is final, the queue can safely be filled with pink to speed up the finish.
8. Keep the five-slot queue under active control: with five main colors plus many traces sharing five slots, push one main color plus at most one small color at a time, finish a color before starting the next, and never jam all five slots with mixed colors. If the queue jams, use the Magnet tool to pull the offending color.

Strategy & Reasoning

The level is built around the layered-stacking rule: a color that covers others must be carried away first, and the removal order measured in the solution video is cyan, blue, red, orange, pink, which matches the geometry of the cat on its background. Clearing the cyan background before blue matters because it sits on top; tapping blue first would leave that outline buried. The queue is the bottleneck — five main colors plus many trace accents share only five slots, and the worst mistake is pushing cyan and red at the same time, which leaves no room for the small traces and forces waiting. The efficient play is to alternate the huge cyan background carry with the small blue, orange and trace colors so the ants are almost never idle. The 2x speed-up button should be active for the long cyan background carry, since that single step accounts for most of the level's waiting time. On a Hard level, slowing down and clearing color by color in batches beats rushing mixed taps that jam the queue.

Tips & Common Mistakes

• Tapping the red sweater before the cyan background and blue outline are gone is the classic mistake. The sweater tiles are still covered, so the ants have no path to them; always clear the background first.
• Running cyan and red at the same time jams the five-slot queue and strands the small traces. Finish cyan completely before starting red.
• Rushing mixed taps on a Hard level is the most common failure: it fills the queue with unmatchable colors and stalls the ants. Clear one color at a time in batches.

Key Frames