colonyflow Level 99

Overview

Level 99 is a Normal seven-color stage built around an old television picture — a retro TV with a yellow frame and a colorful screen. Red is the largest area of the picture, followed by orange and brown in the middle layers, with green, blue and gray as the smaller accent colors and yellow as the outline, plus tiny trace colors scattered on top. The tiles are stacked in layers, so the clearing follows the TV from the outside in: green leaves first, then yellow, then red and orange, then brown and blue, and gray finishes at the bottom. With seven colors and a three-minute run, queue discipline and the speed-up button are the whole challenge.

• Difficulty: Regular (Normal)
• Estimated moves: 30–40 taps

Step-by-Step Solution

1. Open with green. Green is the outermost accent layer of the TV, so nothing underneath it can be carried away until it is gone. Tap the green tile and let the ants start the outer clear.
2. Move to yellow next. Yellow forms the TV frame and sits just inside the green layer. Clear it in one push so the frame starts disappearing and the colors beneath show through.
3. Work the red phase. Red is the screen and the largest area of the picture, so this is the long stretch of the level. Tap red, 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.
4. Work orange and brown next. These middle colors were covered by the brighter outer colors, so they become reachable one after another. Clear them one at a time in continuous pushes.
5. Clear the trace colors (black, cyan, pink, purple) as they are exposed. These small accents hide inside the TV, and the efficient play is to spend free queue slots on them immediately so they never block a slot during the long red push.
6. Finish with blue and gray. These are the bottom layers of the picture, so they only become reachable at the very end. Sweep them in bulk; since they are the final colors, it is safe to fill the queue and let the ants finish the board. The TV disappears completely and the level-complete overlay with five white input slots appears.

Strategy & Reasoning

The removal order is dictated by the layer geometry: green and yellow cover the TV, red and orange sit on the middle layers, and gray is the bottom layer, so the sequence green → yellow → red → orange → brown → blue → gray keeps the ants on reachable tiles. Red is the strategic bottleneck — it is the largest single area, and the correct play is to give it a long uninterrupted run while using spare queue slots for the small trace colors. With seven colors and only five queue slots, the worst mistake is pushing two large colors at once, which leaves no room for small colors and forces waiting. The efficient play is to alternate a main color with small trace colors so the ants are almost never idle, and to save Magnet and Lightning only for rescuing a jammed queue.

Tips & Common Mistakes

• Running red and orange at the same time jams the five slots and stalls the board. Finish the screen before starting the frame color.
• 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 such a long level wastes minutes. Keep the 2x speed active for the whole red phase.

Key Frames