colonyflow Level 42

Overview

Level 42 is a Normal five-color stage whose target picture is a pixel-art yellow face with glasses: a red background panel (about 53% of tiles), orange accents (about 15%), a yellow face (about 15%), pink details (about 9%), and brown hair (about 8%), with tiny blue, gray, cyan and black trace details. 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 red background must leave first, then the pink details, with the orange accents, yellow face and brown hair finishing as the inner layers.

• Difficulty: Regular (Normal)
• Estimated moves: 25–40 taps

Step-by-Step Solution

1. Start by tapping the red tile. Red is the background panel behind the face 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 red in batches and use the 2x speed-up button in the top-right corner to shorten the wait.
2. Next, tap the pink tile. Pink forms small details on the face and sits on the same upper layer. Clear it in one push so the edge opens up.
3. While the pink carry is running, clear the tiny blue, gray, cyan and black 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.
4. When red and pink are mostly gone, tap the orange tile. Orange forms the small accent around the face and was covered by the background, so it only becomes reachable now. Keep the queue pointed at orange in one continuous push and keep an eye on the queue.
5. Next, tap the yellow tile. Yellow is the face itself and is exposed only after orange finishes. Sweep yellow in a moderate push, keeping spare slots free.
6. Finish with the brown tile. Brown is the hair on top of the face — the bottom layer — so it is the last color to be exposed. Because it is final, the queue can safely be filled with brown to speed up the finish.
7. Keep the five-slot queue under active control: with five main colors plus trace accents 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.

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 red, pink, orange, yellow, brown, which matches the geometry of the face. Clearing the red background before the yellow face matters because it sits on top; tapping yellow first would leave that face buried. The queue is the bottleneck — five main colors plus trace accents share only five slots, and the worst mistake is pushing red and yellow at the same time, which leaves no room for the small traces and forces waiting. The efficient play is to alternate the large red background carry with the small pink, orange and trace colors so the ants are almost never idle. The 2x speed-up button should be active for the long red background carry, since that single step accounts for most of the level's waiting time. If the queue jams, the Magnet tool pulls one whole color out of the line, while the Eraser is reserved for a single stuck tile.

Tips & Common Mistakes

• Tapping the yellow face before the red background and pink details are gone is the classic mistake. The face tiles are still covered, so the ants have no path to them; always clear the background first.
• Running red and yellow at the same time jams the five-slot queue and strands the small traces. Finish red completely before starting yellow.
• Ignoring the tiny blue, gray, cyan and black traces leaves slots blocked for no reason. Clear them opportunistically whenever a slot is free, instead of saving them all to the end.

Key Frames