A sealed corridor is a dead move
A routing run where the ball's own path closes corridors, so the time you spend is decided by the order you choose. The fast line is simple: clear every single-entry pocket while it is open, then sweep the open area.
Clear the one-way branches before anything else
Clear single-entry pockets before the open floor
The fastest run opens with every pocket that has one way in, because each is one move away from being sealed. Paint those first, then sweep the open region that stays reachable from several directions, and the level clears without a single wasted route.
One input per move, decided before you tap
Tap, click or swipe the direction the active ball should take, one input per move. Decide which pocket you are heading into before committing, because a single direction choice opens or seals the path behind the ball, and a wrong one costs a full reroute.
Spend the opening on the riskiest pocket
Scan for the square with the fewest ways in and send the ball there on the opening moves. Painting the easy centre first is the classic time sink, because filling it early can seal the only route into a side pocket you still need.
A sealed corridor is your dead-move alarm
The run is healthy when every move leaves the remaining squares still reachable. The alarm is a move that closes a corridor with squares bare behind it, or a ball ending on the far side of a pocket it cannot return to, so stop and reorder at that point.
Undo to the seal, then repaint the pocket
If a square becomes impossible to reach, undo to the move that sealed its corridor and route the ball through that single-entry pocket first. Then return to the open area, keeping the entry to every remaining pocket alive until each one is painted.
Bank the closing rule between levels
Because the wall-sealing rule tends to repeat, a finished level is a free lesson for the next one: note which side of the ball the corridors closed on. The Level labels give you a clean break between runs to apply that rule on the fresh board.
Count the ways in before you move a single square
A quick scan of how many sides each region can be entered from tells you the whole order of the level. Any pocket with a single entry is urgent, and anything reachable from several directions can wait. Doing that count before the first move costs a few seconds and saves the reroute that a wrong opening would have cost you later.
The order matters more than the speed of the taps
Because the board only changes when the ball passes through, tapping faster does not cover ground faster. The time you control is the time you do not spend repainting, so a slower hand working the correct order will finish ahead of a fast hand that has to undo a seal. Plan the pocket, place the move, then move on.
Boxed-in balls and closed routes
What is the fastest level-clear order?
Single-entry pockets first, then the open region. Every one-way pocket is a risk, and the open area is reachable from many sides, so painting the pockets while their routes are still open prevents the re-routes that eat your time.
Why does a square become impossible to paint?
Its only way in ran behind a wall the ball already sealed, and the corridor does not reopen. The fix is order, not effort: hit each one-way pocket before the open space, and the impossible square never appears.
A ball got stuck, so restart or reorder?
Reorder first. An undo costs one step while a restart re-pays the whole board, so walk back to the move that sealed the corridor and route the trapped ball through its pocket first. Restart only when the undo path has clearly run out.
Is there any shortcut between levels?
Not a mechanical one, since the gesture and the boards stay similar. The transferable gain is the closing rule you learned on the previous level, so apply that rule on the opening scan of the next board and the first move comes out on time.
