colonyflow Level 9

Overview

Level 9 is a Normal two-color stage whose target picture is a pixel-art avocado: a large green outer body (about 55% of tiles), a pale yellow flesh layer inside (about 45%), and a brown pit at the center, with tiny brown, orange, red, gray and cyan trace accents around the edges. 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 pale yellow flesh layer must leave first, then the large green body, with the brown pit finishing as the innermost layer.

• Difficulty: Regular (Normal)
• Estimated moves: 20–30 taps

Step-by-Step Solution

1. Start by tapping the yellow tile. Yellow forms the pale flesh layer inside the avocado and sits on the top layer, so it is reachable immediately. Tap it and let the ants march to the inner edge and begin carrying the yellow squares away.
2. While the yellow carry is running, clear the tiny brown, orange, red, gray and cyan trace tiles opportunistically. They become reachable as the flesh layer comes off; tapping them whenever a slot opens keeps the ants busy without blocking a slot.
3. Continue tapping yellow until the whole flesh layer is carried off. Do not switch to green until most of the yellow is gone; any leftover yellow keeps covering the green body and blocks the ants' path inward.
4. Next, tap the green tile. Green is the avocado's outer body — the largest single area on the board — so this is the long stretch of the level. Keep the queue pointed at green in one continuous push and use the 2x speed-up button in the top-right corner to shorten the wait.
5. Do not start a new color while the green carry is running. With only two main colors, the queue rarely jams, but the habit to build here is to finish green completely before touching the brown pit.
6. Finish with the brown pit. Brown is the innermost tile at the center of the avocado, so it only becomes reachable once the green body is fully cleared. Clear it in one tap to complete the level.
7. Keep the five-slot queue under active control: push one main 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 a clean two-layer puzzle: the yellow flesh physically covers the green body, which in turn covers the brown pit, so the removal order measured in the solution video is yellow first, then green, with brown finishing last. Tapping the green body at the start would waste ants on tiles that are still buried under the yellow flesh. With only two main colors the queue is rarely the bottleneck, but the efficient pattern is to clear all of the yellow — including the small trace accents — before committing the queue to the large green body, so the ants are never split between two layers. The 2x speed-up button should be active for the long green carry, since that single step accounts for most of the level's waiting time. If the queue ever 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 green body before the yellow flesh is gone is the classic mistake. The green tiles are still covered, so the ants have no path to them; always clear yellow first.
• Running yellow and green at the same time splits the ants and can strand the small trace accents. Finish yellow completely before starting the green push.
• Ignoring the tiny brown, orange, red, gray and cyan 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