Clean! Special Tiles: How to Play Around Each One

As you know, we have three puzzles on the hexagonal grid so far: Hex Minesweeper, Hex Sense and Clean!. And while the gameplay of hexagonal Minesweeper and Hex Sense is similar, Clean! game stands out because its gameplay is different from the minesweeper logic.

Clean! has a very simple idea: change the colors of hex tiles, connect three or more tiles of the same color so that they disappear, keep doing so and eventually clear the whole board. As you get further into the game, special tiles start appearing and each of them changes the way to win the level.

There are four special tiles in Clean!: layered tiles, locked tiles, skull tiles and bombs.

We already explained the basic rules of these tiles in our How to play Clean! guide. And here we would like to describe what is the best strategy and way of thinking about the tiles to win the level fast.

Layered tiles: think about the future

A layered tile looks like a normal tile, but it needs to be cleared more than once. The number of layers defines the number of “cleans” this tile requires. One successful match does not always mean that the space is immediately free. You need to plan for what happens after the first clear.

Look at the tiles around the layered tile before you make your move. Check that after you make the move and take off one layer from the tile, you are not left with a field with a separated group of one or two tiles. Layered tiles are especially interesting near the end of a level. When there are only a few tiles left, every remaining layer matters.

Strategy: Treat a layered tile as a tile that is going to stay in its position longer than a normal tile. Plan your next move before clearing its current layer.

Locked tiles: work around them

Locked tiles cannot be changed. They always keep their initial color. You cannot tap them and cycle their color. They also ignore color changes from neighboring groups. That means a locked tile becomes a fixed point on the board.

Look at the tiles around it. The surrounding tiles can still be changed, so your job is to create the right color group around the tile with locked color. The important thing is not to treat a locked tile as a tile you need to remove immediately. Maybe it will take several moves to get the surrounding tiles to the right color.

Strategy: Look at the locked tile’s neighbors and plan your matches around it.

Skull tiles: remove the source of the problem

Skull tiles, or as we sometimes call them “spawners”, create new tiles while they remain on the board. This is our favourite type of tile.

With this type of tile the board is no longer stable. It is impossible to predict where the skull will spawn the next tile. If you make too many moves without removing the skull, the board can increase because on every move skull tiles are spawning more tiles.

Nine times out of ten it’s best to get rid of skulls as fast as possible. One time out of ten a different match can clear a large group and make it easier to deal with the skull afterwards.

Strategy: Clear the source and the board becomes easier to control. Make removing the skull a priority.

Bombs: don’t forget the clock

Bombs introduce another kind of pressure.

Unlike normal tiles, a bomb has a countdown of moves until it explodes. So you can’t spend unlimited time rearranging the board.

This makes bombs very different from the other special tiles. With a layered or locked tile, the main challenge is finding the right solution. With a bomb, it’s even more urgent than with skull tiles. You need to get rid of them as fast as you can.

Before tapping, check whether your move helps you get closer to clearing the bomb. A move that looks good because it creates a match may still be a bad move if it uses up another turn without solving the dangerous part of the board.

Strategy: Clean the bomb tiles as fast as possible. Count your moves.

And don’t forget the most important Clean! rule: never leave one or two ordinary tiles isolated. A move can look successful because it clears a large group, but if it leaves a small group that can no longer become three, the level is lost.

Do you have your favourite special tile in Clean! Or maybe you want to suggest another type of special tile? Or maybe you think that we should add some special tiles to the hexagonal Minesweeper or some of our other games? Let us know in our Discord channel!