Paintlings

Paintlings is a cosy drop-and-merge puzzle. Drop little paint blobs into the box: when two of the same colour touch, they merge into the next one up and splash their colour across the wall behind. Keep the pile below the top and work your way up to the rainbow paintling.

Three ways to play

• Start - the classic game. Chain merges for combo points and beat your best.
• Zen mode - no score and no game over. Merging earns washes that clear a whole colour out of the box.
• Daily Challenge - once a day, everyone gets the same pieces (new at midnight UTC). Go for the highest score and share your art; one go a day, so keep your streak going.

Paint as you play

• Every merge splashes paint on the wall. Pick a brush - Blob, Splash, Spray, Streaks, Drips or Mix - in pastel or vibrant colours from the brush button in the corner of the game screen, and pause or hide the paint with the switch under it.
• Save your painting whenever you like: just the paint, or with the pieces, the box and your character, on light or dark paper.

Make it yours

• Choose the background, the box, the character who drops the pieces, and the paintlings' look: Classic, Glossy, Watercolour, Patterns (every size has its own pattern, so you don't have to tell them apart by colour), or Slimes.
• Three relaxed music tracks, with music and sound volume controls.
• The pieces tremble as the pile nears the top; turn that off in Options if you'd rather they didn't.
• Your best scores, streak and settings are kept in your browser.

Paintlings Deluxe

Paintlings Deluxe is the same game with lots more ways to make it yours, as a download for Windows and Android.  It costs $3, or more if you'd like to support the game; one purchase gets both downloads, and future Deluxe updates are included.

• 5 more paintling looks: Animals (chick to whale), Planets (Pluto to the Sun), Sports balls (ping-pong ball to beach ball), Sweets (gumball to rainbow cake) and Sea creatures (plankton to rainbow pufferfish).
• 8 backgrounds: Nebula, Deep Space, Moonlit Hills, Starry Swirls, Sunny Stadium, Night Match, Sea Sunset and Retro Sunset.
• 5 boxes: Space Capsule, Toy Crate, Neon Sign, Neon Tubes and Glass Jar.
• 5 characters: Orbit, Mochi the cat, Tinker the tin robot, Cupcake and Inky the octopus.
• 3 brushes and 4 palettes for the paint on the wall: Neon, Confetti and Bloom brushes, and Neon, Earth, Ink and Sunset colours.
• Bigger paintings: saved at twice the width and height of the free game's, in your Pictures folder.

Deluxe only changes how the game looks. The pieces, physics, scoring and Daily Challenge are the same as in the free game.

Not sure yet? In the free game, open Customize and tap anything marked Deluxe to see it in the preview; the brush button's Paint panel shows a picture of each Deluxe brush and colour.

• Windows: Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit), about 120 MB. Plays with mouse, keyboard or gamepad.

• Android: Android 8.0 or newer on a 64-bit phone, about 60 MB. Download the .apk on your phone, open it, and allow your browser (or Files app) to install apps when Android asks. It isn't on Google Play. Plays with touch or a gamepad.

Scores and settings from the browser game don't carry over to the download.

Controls

• Mouse: move to aim, click to drop
• Touch: drag to aim, double-tap to drop
• Keyboard: arrow keys or A/D to aim, Space to drop, Esc or P to pause, C to pause or hide the paint, V for brushes and colours; in Zen, W picks a colour to wash and Space washes it
• Gamepad: stick to aim, A / Cross to drop, Start / Options to pause, X / Square to pause or hide the paint, RB / R1 for brushes and colours; in Zen, Y / Triangle picks a colour and A / Cross washes it
• Menus: d-pad or arrow keys to move, A / Cross or Enter to choose, B / Circle or Esc to go back
• Zen wash with the mouse or touch: the wash button, then a colour

The free game plays in the browser on desktop and phones (best in portrait); Paintlings Deluxe is a Windows download.

Credits

• UI art, sound effects, piece and character faces, characters' hands and the Animals look: Kenney (CC0)
• Music: "Cozy Puzzle" by MintoDog (OpenGameArt, CC0)
• Font: Fredoka (SIL Open Font License)
• Made with Unity