Drop & Grow

Drop and Grow is a gentle puzzle of falling animals. You drop them one at a time into a jar, and when two of the same kind touch, they merge into one bigger animal. Keep merging, keep the jar from filling up, and see how big an animal you can grow.

How to play

Round animals fall from the top of the jar. The next one waits in view so you can plan.

• On a phone or tablet: slide your finger along the top of the jar to aim, and lift your finger to drop the animal.
• On a computer: move the mouse to aim and click to drop. Or use the left and right arrow keys to aim, and Space or Enter to drop.

There is a short pause of under half a second between drops.

There are twelve kinds of animal, from small to large: ladybug, bee, chick, mouse, frog, bunny, cat, puppy, piglet, panda, bear and whale. When two animals of the same kind touch, they become one animal of the next kind up, and you score points for it. Bigger animals are worth more. When two whales meet, they vanish together for a bonus of 100 points.

The jar has a dashed line near the top. If any animal stays above that line for two seconds, the jar has overflowed and the game ends. A freshly dropped animal gets a moment to fall past the line, so a new drop never counts against you straight away.

Your best score on each level is kept on your device.

The levels

The level changes the width of the jar, which animals fall, and the space you have at the top.

• Easy: the widest jar, and only the four smallest animals fall.
• Medium: the standard jar, and five kinds fall.
• Hard: a narrower jar, and six kinds fall, so bigger animals arrive sooner.
• Expert: the narrowest jar, seven kinds fall, and the dashed line sits lower, which leaves less room at the top.

The project's own test with a computer player that thinks before each drop filled the jar after roughly 150 drops on Easy, 90 on Medium, 65 on Hard and 50 on Expert.

Today's game

There is a Medium game each day, where the animals fall in the same order for everyone. If you leave halfway, the jar is saved on your device.

Tips

1. Keep the small animals together on one side and the big animals on the bottom. Sorting the jar like this makes merges easy to reach.
2. Think about what will touch what. Before you let go, picture where the animal will land and which neighbor it will meet.
3. Make one big pile instead of many small ones. A jar with a clear low side and a high side gives you a place to put each new animal.
4. Do not drop onto the middle of the jar over and over. A tower there leaves no space to move around.
5. Merges can cause chain reactions. A merge that lands next to another matching animal will merge again. Set these up when you can.
6. Use the next animal shown. If the next one is the same kind as the one in your hand, you can drop them side by side to make a merge.
7. Slow down when the pile is near the dashed line. A careful drop can stop a merge from pushing animals over the edge.

Questions

What happens at the dashed line? If an animal rests above it for two seconds, the game ends.

Do I have to wait between drops? There is a short pause of about half a second.

Is there a way to clear the whole jar? Two whales that touch vanish together and give 100 points. Nothing else is removed.

Is my best score saved? Yes, on this device, separately for each level.