How to play Spinnin!: rules, cascades and tips
Spinnin! is a block puzzle on a round board. The rules fit in one sentence, the strategy takes longer: fill a ring or a line to the center, and use what falls in to set up the next clear.
The board
The board is a set of rings around a glowing core. Each ring is cut into sectors, like slices of a pie, so every cell is a curved block. You start on five rings of eight sectors.
The basic rules
- Place a shape. Three shapes wait in the tray. Drag one onto the board where it fits. When all three are placed, three new ones arrive.
- Clear a ring. Fill a whole ring, all the way around, and it clears.
- Or clear a line. Fill a straight line from the core to the outer edge (one sector, every ring) and it clears too.
- Let it fall. When a ring clears, everything outside it falls one ring inward. If that completes another ring, it clears as well. That chain is a cascade.
- Game over comes when none of the shapes in the tray fits anywhere.
Stages and endless mode
The stage map gives each stage one goal, such as clearing a number of rings, clearing lines, making cascades, reaching a score or starting Fever, with a limited number of moves. Endless mode has no goal: play until the board locks and chase your best score.
Fever and combos
Clear something on three placements in a row and Fever starts. Your score climbs faster until a placement clears nothing. Cascades count, so one good drop can keep a streak alive.
Strategy tips
1. Build from the inside out
Inner rings have the fewest cells, so they close fastest, and clearing one makes every block above it fall. An inner clear moves more of the board than an outer one.
2. Stack the outside on purpose
Before you close an inner ring, look at the ring above it. If it is nearly full, the fall can fill the gap you leave and clear it too. Leave the gap where the falling blocks will land.
3. Keep one sector open
A sector that is empty from the core to the edge is your escape hatch: long straight shapes always fit there, and a few blocks turn it into a line clear.
4. Look at all three shapes first
Place the awkward shape while you still have room, and keep the small ones for tight spots. The order you place them in matters more than any single move.
5. Do not chase every clear
A quick single clear can scatter blocks into places that block a bigger cascade. When the board is calm, set up two rings at once.
6. Use Undo and Nuke at the right moment
Each game gives you a few uses of Undo and Nuke. Undo is best right after a placement that blocks your open sector. Nuke is a rescue for a board that is about to lock, not a way to score.
Quick answers
How do you clear blocks in Spinnin!?
Fill every cell of one ring all the way around, or every cell of one straight line from the center to the edge. That ring or line clears.
What happens after a ring clears?
Everything outside the cleared ring falls inward by one ring. Those falling blocks can complete another ring and clear again, which is a cascade.
Can you rotate pieces?
No. Each shape keeps the angle it comes with. Moving it around the board changes where it lands, so place it where its curve fits.
What is Fever?
Clear something on three placements in a row and Fever starts, which boosts your score until a placement clears nothing.
Is there a time limit?
No. Spinnin! has no timer. Stages have a move budget, and endless mode lasts until no shape fits.
Spinnin! is free on iPhone and iPad.
Download on theApp StoreAndroid version coming soon.