Tangled Tunes: Arrow Puzzle

Tangled Tunes is a calm arrow puzzle where solving makes music.

Long, winding strings block each other on a quiet board. Tap a free string and it rings, then slides out through its arrow. Clear the strings and they play a hidden song, note by note, in whatever order you pick. Clear the board and hear what you played.

If you enjoy arrow puzzles and untangle games, this is one you can hear.

HOW IT PLAYS

Press a string and it lifts and glows. Let go and it rings, then slides off the board.
A string is stuck while another string sits in front of its arrow, so free that one first.
Whichever free string you pick, the notes come in the song's order, so the melody always comes out right.
A few quiet strings add only a soft low note, and the board is clear when they have gone too.
Swipe across the board to strum the strings, just for the sound of it.
Later boards add strings you can pull from either end, and tied strings that leave together. Some boards take a shape, like a heart, a tree or a ship.

Plain logic you can always see, with no luck and no tricks. Every board can be solved. A stuck pull costs a heart but never a note, and Try again is always free.

SONGS, PHRASE BY PHRASE

Each level plays part of a song, and its name stays hidden while you solve. When the board is clear, the music plays back in its real rhythm over soft chords, with a burst of light on every note, and you find out what you played. Meet the song again and the next part follows, until you know it whole. Grand levels put whole songs on one big shaped board.

60 classic and folk melodies, all public domain and in our own arrangements, among them Für Elise, Ode to Joy, Clair de Lune, Canon in D, The Blue Danube, Swan Lake, The Entertainer, Greensleeves, Amazing Grace and Sakura Sakura.

THE SONGBOOK

Every song you meet joins your Songbook, phrase by phrase. Play back what you have heard on any instrument you own, see which songs you know whole, and share a song card.

THE DAILY SONG

One new song a day, the same for every player. Stamp the calendar, keep a streak going, and fill a month for its trophy. An optional reminder nudges you only when the day's song is still waiting.

SIX INSTRUMENTS, FIVE LOOKS

Play on a warm harp, a bright harp or a kalimba from the start, and add a celesta, a piano and a marimba. Choose a look: Candle, Clay and Ink are free, and Sakura and Desert Dusk wait in the Shop.

COINS AND THE SHOP

Tangled Tunes is free to play, and every level can be finished without paying. You earn coins as you play: for every new level you win, more for a clean win, every song you finish and every Daily Song. Spend them on a hint after the three free hints each day, on keeping a board after your last heart, or on new instruments and looks.

The Shop sells extras for money, if you want them: the Starter Pack (the celesta and 2,000 coins, once per player), the Supporter Pack (piano, marimba, Sakura and Desert Dusk together), single instruments and looks, and coin packs. Every item is bought directly: no random rewards, no subscriptions, no energy, no timers. Purchases go through Google Play and can be restored.

There are no ads and no tracking, and there is no account to make. The puzzles play offline; only the Shop needs a connection.

CALM BY DESIGN

No timers and no countdowns. Take as long as you need.
Recorded instruments over a soft pad of chords that follows your playing.
Soft haptics: a light tick as you press, a gentle pluck as it rings.
Hint makes a free string glow. Ways out shows where every string would leave the board.
Reduce motion, tools on the left, and a hard mode that hides the arrows.

Put on headphones, take a breath, and let the music come out of the puzzle.

CREDITS

Instrument samples: VSCO 2 Community Edition, the Versilian Community Sample Library (VCSL) and the University of Iowa Electronic Music Studios. Celesta samples: pjcohen on Freesound, CC BY 4.0, edited.