This text will walk you through some of the levels of the Domino game. It explains how to approach a level and provides useful tips and tricks. It is recommended that you read this whole walkthrough before playing the game (unless of course you like the challenge of discovering the tricks yourself). Note, that if a certain level is used in this walkthrough to present a tip, this does not mean the tip can not be useful in earlier levels. The controls are not explained here, so if you don't know them already you should at least read the Short Reference (accessible from the Help menu).
This is the easiest possible level. Remember that to solve a level, all blocks with green sides (called "green blocks", regardless of the pattern on top) must be connected to another block. Two kinds of blocks can be connected to a green block. The freely available tiles have a red block that can be connected to a green block, but they always have at least one new green block, which means that adding a freely available tile can never finish a level. In order to finish a level you have to attach blue bonus blocks to the green blocks. In Level 1 this is very easy because the start tile already provides a blue bonus block that has the same pattern (a solid cyan rectangle) on top as the only green block. To solve the level, just attach this blue block to the green block.
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Attaching the blue block to the green block solves the level. |
This level is more difficult than the first. The start tile provides two blue bonus blocks but neither has the same pattern as the green block. This means that you can't finish this level right away. You need to use freely available tiles first. If you look at the two bonus blocks you will notice that one of them has a pattern that is split horizontally in two rectangles. The bottom rectangle has the same pattern (a solid cyan rectangle) as the green block. This is an important clue to look out for. Whenever an available bonus block has a lower half that has the same pattern as a green block, you can use a Complexifier tile as shown in the following picture. Notice that only a pattern in the lower half of a bonus block provides this clue. If a pattern in the upper half of a bonus block corresponds to the pattern on a green block, this does not help at all.
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Attaching a Complexifier creates a green block that the split bonus block can be attached to. |
After attaching a Complexifier it looks like no progress has been made at first. Instead of one green block, you now have two that you need to connect. However, one of these green blocks can be finished right away. The most important property of the Complexifier is that it takes the pattern on the green block it is attached to (here: the solid cyan rectangle) and puts it in the lower half of one of the new green blocks. This is why you have to look out for bonus blocks whose lower half corresponds to a green block.
The next step is straightforward. You attach the bonus block whose lower half contains the cyan rectangle to the green block of the Complexifier whose lower half contains the cyan rectangle. This works because the upper half of the Complexifier's green block is gray, meaning it is a wildcard rectangle that will match anything.
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After using the Complexifier, one of the bonus blocks can be used. |
Notice how attaching the bonus block has not only changed the wildcard rectangle in the pattern of the first green block, but also in the second block's pattern. Whenever a gray wildcard rectangle is matched, all rectangles with the same shade of gray will assume the same pattern. Finishing the level is easy now. The pattern on the only unconnected green block remaining (a dark blue rectangle) is the same as that on the as yet unused bonus block, so it can be attached to the green block.
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The other bonus block finishes the level. |
This level introduces the color red. It is special because it is the only non-wildcard color that occurs in a freely available tile, the Redness Inducer. Whenever you encounter a pattern with red in it, this is a hint that you may need the Redness Inducer. An interesting property of the Redness Inducer is that it can be attached to any pattern and its green block is independent of the pattern it is attached to.
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The color red is a hint that you should use a Redness Inducer here. |
You could easily finish the level now by attaching the bonus block with the solid red rectangle pattern to the green block of the Redness Inducer. However, before you do this you should learn about another interesting property of the Redness Inducer. Not only does it attach to anything, it can be used to just give you a bonus block without changing the patterns you have to finish. To achieve this, you first attach a Complexifier to the Redness Inducer and then immediately attach the bonus block provided by the Redness Inducer to that branch of the Complexifier that has the split pattern.
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A Redness Inducer combined with a Complexifier can give you a bonus block without changing the branch it is attached to. |
Look at the result of this combination. The one branch of the Complexifier is already finished with a bonus block. The only green block that still has to be finished is the other branch of the Complexifier. Interestingly, it has exactly the same pattern (a solid cyan rectangle) as the block that you initially attached the Redness Inducer to. So this combination of Redness Inducer and Complexifier has not changed the green blocks that you have to finish. But it has given you another bonus block, the block with the cyan/red split pattern. So you have won something without losing anything.
Because this Inducer/Complexifier combination is so powerful, you may want to create acustom tile for it and add it to your freely available tiles and possibly even save it via the Tile menu. See the Short Reference or Complete Manual (accessible from the Help menu) on how to create custom tiles. See the Complete Manual for a description of the Tile menu.
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The Redness Inducer/Complexifier combination can be compressed into a custom tile that will just give you a bonus block without changing the branch you attach it to. |
Now that you've learned about the properties of the Redness Inducer, either detach the unneeded Complexifier or attach a new Redness Inducer. Then use the bonus block with the solid red pattern to finish the level.
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After attaching the Redness Inducer, the level is easily solved. |
When level 2 was discussed, you were told to look out for bonus blocks whose lower half pattern corresponds to the pattern of a green block, because this indicates that you should use a Complexifier. As a matter of fact this is only a special case of a more general rule. Whenever you encounter a bonus block that has in its lower right corner a pattern that corresponds to the pattern of a green block, you can use a Complexifier cascade to make use of this bonus block. If you look at level 22, you'll see that one of the two initially available bonus blocks has in its lower right corner a yellow rectangle. This fits with the green block whose pattern is a yellow rectangle. Attach a cascade of 3 complexifiers as shown in the next picture.
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Attaching 3 Complexifiers creates a green block that the bonus block with the yellow rectangle in the bottom right corner can be attached to. |
Now attach the bonus block with the yellow corner to the split branch of the 3rd Complexifier to finish it. The remaining branches of the 1st and 2nd Complexifier can be finished using the unhealthy green bonus block, which leaves only one remaining green block to be finished. Note, that this is not the case for all Complexifier cascades. Sometimes, a Complexifier cascade creates as many new branches as it has Complexifiers.
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3 branches can be finished with bonus blocks. |
Because there's no obvious way to finish the remaining branch, it is a good idea to use Simplifiers on it.
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After attaching two Simplifiers, the level is almost solved. |
After attaching two Simplifiers, all that remains is to attach the bonus block provided by the first Simplifier.
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The bonus block provided by the first Simplifier solves the level. |
This level looks simple but without the right trick you could work on it for hours without solving it. If you remember what you learned about the Complexifier in the walkthrough of levels 2 and 22, you would typically start by attaching a Complexifier, so that you can use the bonus square.
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Most people will begin this level with a Complexifier and the bonus block. |
The next logical step is to use a Simplifier.
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The next logical step is to use a Simplifier. |
Another Simplifier can not be attached, so the choice is between a Complexifier and a Redness Inducer. The Complexifier would result in a green block with a split pattern that has magenta in its lower half. However, the only available bonus block that has magenta in its pattern has it in the upper half, and there exists no combination of tiles that can bring a pattern from the upper half into the lower half. So attaching a Complexifier does not make sense here. This leaves the Redness Inducer as the only choice.
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Only a Redness Inducer makes sense as the next step. |
It is obvious that attaching another Redness Inducer is not helpful, so a Complexifier is the only sensible choice now.
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Now a Complexifier is the only sensible choice. |
The next obvious move would be to attach the only available bonus block with red in the lower half of its pattern to the split green block of the Complexifier. This corresponds to the trick described in the walkthrough for level 3. Unfortunately, it would not achieve anything. Even worse, no matter what tiles you attach you will not be able to finish the level. This is because one crucial bonus block is missing. You can see this if you attach the bonus block with the solid cyan rectangle pattern to the Complexifier.
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Attaching the bonus block with the cyan rectangle pattern gives a clue. |
If you had a bonus block with a cyan upper half and a red lower half, you could finish the level right away. But you don't have this block and there is no way to get such a block by attaching more tiles. However, if you think back to the Redness Inducer/Complexifier combination trick explained in the walkthrough for level 3, you will see that you could have gained such a block at the very beginning of the level.
In order to insert the Redness Inducer/Complexifier combination at the beginning, detach all the tiles you have placed. They will be transformed into a custom tile. Store this custom tile somewhere on the board (don't forget that you have to press Ctrl to drop a tile without it being connected to another tile), then attach the Redness Inducer Complexifier combination to the start tile.
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Detach all tiles placed so far and store the custom tile on the board, then attach the Redness Inducer/Complexifier combination to the start tile. |
Now that you have gained the desired bonus block with the cyan upper half and the red lower half, attach the custom tile (which corresponds to the detached tiles) and the 2 remaining bonus blocks to finish the level.
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Reattach the detached part and finish the level with the appropriate bonus blocks. |