colonyflow Level 61

Overview

Level 61 is a Normal five-color stage whose target picture is a pixel-art retro television: a red body (about 36% of tiles), a yellow top panel (about 27%), pink buttons (about 20%), orange details (about 11%), and a cyan screen (about 7%), with tiny blue, brown, gray and black 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 yellow top panel must leave first, then the pink buttons, with the red body, orange details and cyan screen finishing as the inner layers.

• Difficulty: Regular (Normal)
• Estimated moves: 20–35 taps

Step-by-Step Solution

1. Start by tapping the yellow tile. Yellow is the top panel of the TV and sits on the outermost layer, so it is reachable immediately. Clear it first so it never gets buried under the body.
2. Next, tap the pink tile. Pink is the buttons on the TV and sits on the same upper layer. Clear it in one push so the body opens up.
3. While the pink carry is running, clear the tiny blue, brown, gray and black trace tiles opportunistically. They become reachable as the top panel comes off; tapping them whenever a slot opens keeps the ants busy without blocking a slot.
4. When yellow and pink are mostly gone, tap the red tile. Red is the TV body and was covered by the top panel, so it only becomes reachable now. 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.
5. Next, tap the orange tile. Orange forms small details on the TV and is exposed only after red finishes. Sweep orange in a moderate push, keeping spare slots free.
6. Finish with the cyan tile. Cyan is the TV screen — the bottom layer — so it is the last color to be exposed. Because it is final, the queue can safely be filled with cyan 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 yellow, pink, red, orange, cyan, which matches the geometry of the retro TV. Clearing the yellow top panel before the pink buttons matters because it sits on top; tapping pink first would leave that panel buried. The queue is the bottleneck — five main colors plus trace accents share only five slots, and the worst mistake is pushing yellow and red at the same time, which leaves no room for the small traces and forces waiting. The efficient play is to alternate the large red body carry with the small yellow, pink and trace colors so the ants are almost never idle. The 2x speed-up button should be active for the long red body 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 cyan screen before the yellow top panel and red body are gone is the classic mistake. The screen tiles are still covered, so the ants have no path to them; always clear the panel and body first.
• Running yellow and red at the same time jams the five-slot queue and strands the small traces. Finish yellow completely before starting red.
• Ignoring the tiny blue, brown, gray 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