How to play Clean! - match colors, clear the board

If you like color puzzle games where one tap can make you win or lose the game, Clean! is probably for you. It is a free hex puzzle that you can play instantly in the browser with no download. You tap colorful tiles on a hexagonal board, the tile changes its color and you proceed until the whole playing field is clean.

What I love about Clean! is the gap between how simple the rules sound and how much strategy is actually needed to win. Every tap changes one tile’s color and every connected neighbor of the same color changes with it. When three or more matching tiles touch, they disappear. Sometimes the board can collapse in a single move, or one wrong tap can leave a pair of tiles stranded with no way to match them again. In this guide I will walk you through the Clean core rules, the special tiles that show up later in the game and the Daily Challenge mode.

The core loop: tap, spread, pop

Each level starts with a board of hex tiles in three colors in a unique layout. Tap any tile to cycle its color: red → yellow → green → red → … and so on in a loop. Every adjacent tile that currently shares that same color cycles too, so color spreads through connected groups. When three or more tiles of the same color are connected that group disappears from the board. You win when the board is empty.

The problem is when there are only one or two tiles left separated. In this case level is lost because there is no way to make 3 tiles of the same color. In this case you can restart the level or use the Undo button which will take you back to the last winnable state.

Tap a tile to cycle its color through connected neighbors - match three or more to pop them.

Controls and what to watch for

I am not even sure that we need to talk about controls because it can’t be simpler. Clean! works with a single tap or click on a tile. There is also no timer on regular levels, or at least not yet. In the team we were thinking about adding a timer but then decided not to, because it feels a bit like a penalty for thinking. Which we decided is not what we want for a calm puzzle game. But on the other hand, maybe we want to reward quick thinkers for how fast they solve the puzzle. We might change this, but for now, Clean! is one of the most relaxing logic puzzles in our catalog.

My best advice is to think before you tap but also don’t think too hard because mistakes are not final and having fun popping tiles while playing the game is the most important thing.

The game also has a tutorial which walks you through the game step by step, starting from the levels where you can win with just one tap and not be able to lose.

Special tiles that change the puzzle

Don’t be fooled by the easy first levels. As the game progresses puzzles are getting harder and harder. We introduce new tile types that have some additional behaviour.

Here are all the different tile types that we have in our puzzle:

Layered tiles need more than one clear - every pop removes one layer, then you match and pop them again.

Locked tiles do not respond to taps and color changes from neighboring groups. Because of this, your best strategy with them is to adjust the colors of the tiles surrounding them to create a match.

Skull tiles (we also call them spawners) add a new tile every turn they survive. My advice is to clear them early or the board fills up - which doesn’t mean that you will lose the game, just more tiles to clean.

Bomb tiles count down on every tap anywhere. If the counter hits zero before you pop the bomb, it explodes and the level is over.

Layered, locked, skull, and bomb tiles each need a different plan - learn them in the campaign.

Daily Challenge: same rules, rising pressure

Once you progress far enough in the main levels, the Daily Challenge gets unlocked. This mode gives you a unique daily puzzle every 24 hours which is the same for every player.

Daily mode has the same color changing rules as the main game, but every tap spawns new tiles in the empty places near the existing tiles. It works exactly as if there were skull tiles there, except there isn’t and the game will keep adding new tiles until it reaches the state where it can’t add them anymore. However, when you clear any tile in this mode, it is cleared permanently and no new tiles will spawn there. You can even cut off large chunks of the field. This simple rule makes winning not only possible but also not that hard for most players.

What do you think about it? Try Clean! puzzle game yourself. And let us know how you like it. Join our Discord server and share any questions, comments or feedback with us.