Tide Merge

How to play

Slide your finger across the top of a sunlit tide pool and let a sea creature fall. When two of the same touch, they merge into the next creature up the ladder — a periwinkle becomes a cowrie, a cowrie becomes a hermit crab, and eleven creatures later you are trying to make a whale calf. How to play: drag anywhere across the pool to aim, release to drop. That is the whole control, and it works with one thumb. A merge can drop the pile into another merge, and another — a chain pays more at every step and plays a rising note each time. The run ends when a creature comes to rest above the dashed line near the top. Only resting counts, so a lively bounce never costs you the game. Five tides, and each one changes the water. Low Tide is still. The Rising Tide adds a current that pushes your drop sideways, so you learn to aim ahead of it. The Swell makes the water breathe — everything grows lighter and heavier on a slow rhythm you can time. Storm Surge sends a wave through the pool that shoves the whole pile, always with three seconds of warning. And in the Deep Calm the two smallest creatures stop sinking and float instead, cluttering the one place you need clear. There is no timer and nothing to buy. Play the endless pool, or take on today's tide — the same run of creatures for everyone in the world, with your own best to beat. Miss a day and nothing is lost.

Controls

• Drag anywhere across the pool to aim, release to drop
• Or just tap where you want the creature to fall
• Keyboard: left and right arrows to aim, Space to drop