How Arrow Escape works
Arrow Escape is a calm logic puzzle for Android phones, made by Sonicon Software. Each board is a grid of snake-like arrows. Tap one and it slides off the board if its way out is clear; a blocked tap bumps back and costs one of three hearts. Levels are endless, every board can be cleared, and there are no ads.
The rules live in the game's engine, which also builds and checks every board; the screens only draw what it reports.
The core rule
Each arrow is a path of cells with a pointed head. A tap sends it sliding along its own body and straight on past its head. If every cell on that exit path is empty, it leaves the board and plays a note. If not, it bumps back, the blocking arrow flashes, and one of three hearts is gone.
Stars and replays
Stars equal the hearts left when the board is cleared: three, two or one. Your highest star count is kept, and a replay only ever raises it. The level path's "under three stars" filter lists every cleared level you can still improve.
Levels and chapters
Chapter 1 is 20 hand-made boards that teach the game one idea at a time, and chapter 2's 20 boards teach locks and keys. From level 41 a seeded generator builds every level, so level N is the same board each time. There is no last level. Boards grow up to 12 by 16 cells.
Every 10th level is a bigger milestone board. Large boards pinch to zoom. Chapters that introduce a twist are named after it: Locks and keys, Thin ice, Turns, Portals.
Locks and keys
From level 21, an arrow can carry a lock bound to a key arrow. While the key is on the board, the locked arrow counts as blocked and tapping it costs a heart. When the key leaves, its locks open. One key can open several locks, and a key can itself be locked. Locks pair with keys by number.
Ice
From level 61, an iced arrow takes two taps. A tap while it is free cracks the ice: nothing moves and no heart is lost. The next tap releases it. A tap while it is blocked or locked is a normal bump, costs a heart, and leaves the ice whole. The first tap is free information, never a penalty.
Rotators
From level 101, a rotator is a cell that turns a sliding arrow a quarter turn, clockwise or counter-clockwise; the glyph in the well shows which. The arrow carries on in the new direction until it leaves the board. Its whole bent path must be clear, so an arrow on the bent leg blocks it.
Portals
From level 141, a portal is a pair of linked holes in the board's rim. An arrow that leaves through one re-enters at the other and carries on until it leaves the board. Both legs must be clear. Portal pairs are told apart by colour and by shape: disc, triangle, square or diamond.
Why every board can be cleared
The generator builds each board backwards, placing arrows so that removing them in reverse order always works, and an independent solver must clear the board before it is shown. Hand-made boards are solved when they load. No tap ever makes another arrow blocked, so every free tap is progress and there is no luck.
The game's tests generate the first 5,000 levels and check every one.
The Daily and the trophy calendar
The Daily is one seeded board per calendar date, the same for everyone on that date. It builds up over the week: no twists on Monday and Tuesday, locks on Wednesday, locks and ice on Thursday, ice and rotators on Friday, rotators and a portal pair on Saturday, and all four, lightly, on Sunday.
Clearing a Daily fills its day on the month's calendar. Days earlier in the current month can be caught up. A full month puts that month's trophy on the shelf. "Your Dailies" shows your own numbers: Dailies cleared, cleared on the first try, days played in a row and month trophies.
Coins, hints and the streak
Coins come from playing: levels, three-star runs, milestone boards, the Daily, month trophies and streak days, and even a lost attempt earns a few. They can't be bought and are spent only on hints, which point at an arrow to tap. Three free hints arrive each day, and you never hold more than three.
Clear at least one board a day and your streak grows; days 3, 7 and 30 are celebrated. Miss a day and the count quietly starts again, with your longest streak kept. No notifications, no countdowns.
Skins and board themes
There are six arrow skins (Gumdrop, Licorice, Marble, Crayon, Lacquer, Brass) and four board themes (Pegboard, Poolside, Berry, Felt). One of each is yours from the start. Each of the others unlocks at a stated milestone, such as 30 stars or a finished chapter, and the collection shows your progress. They never change the rules.
Sound, feel and settings
Light and dark themes follow your phone by default. Settings add a colour-blind palette, left-handed controls and reduced motion, which swaps fly-offs for quick fades and turns confetti off. TalkBack reads each arrow's position, direction, length and whether it is free. Sound, music and haptics switch off separately; the game is fully playable muted.
Inputs and limits
- Arrow Escape runs on Android phones with Android 8.0 or later. It is in English only.
- Progress stays on your phone. There is no cloud save, and the app turns off Android's cloud backup. Uninstalling the app, or clearing its data in Android settings, erases it.
- Don't count on progress moving to a new phone. On Android 12 and later, some phone makers' transfer tools may still copy it.
- There is no reset-progress button; Settings can show the tutorial again.
- Leaving a board part-way records nothing, and the board starts fresh next time.
- Catch-up is open for days of the current month.
- Three free hints arrive each day, and you never hold more than three. After that a hint costs coins.
- No leaderboards, cloud save, notifications or analytics.
More answers in the FAQ. Privacy: the Arrow Escape privacy policy.
Try the first chapter.
