How to play & tips

Crumb Colony is a free ant pixel puzzle game: tap color boxes in the tray to release ants of that color, and they eat the pixel picture from the outside in and carry it back to the nest. Here are all the rules and the best strategies.

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The basics

Send ants Tap a colored box in the front row of the tray. It drops into a nest slot and that many ants of its color set off, one after another.

Outside in Ants can only bite blocks that are exposed: on the edge of the picture, or next to a cell that has already been eaten. Inner colors appear only after the outer layers are gone.

Don't jam the nest There are only 5 slots. A color that can't be eaten yet keeps its slot busy. If every slot is full and nothing can move, the level is lost.

Boosters Extra Slot adds a sixth slot; Grab takes any box from the tray; Machine Gun blasts any 3×3 area of the picture; UFO lifts one slot's color straight out of the picture. Each booster costs you a star.

Mechanics

Locks & Keys

Golden keys are buried in the picture. When the ants clear around one, it flies out and opens the frontmost lock in the tray.
A locked box at the front blocks its whole column. Send the colors that dig toward the key first.

Ice

Frozen blocks take two bites: the first ant cracks the ice (and carries a chunk home), the second carries the block away.
The numbers on the boxes already count that extra bite.

Spider Web

A spider web covers part of the picture and nobody can bite the blocks underneath.
The green leaf-covered box holds soldier ants: in a slot, red soldiers carrying leaves go and cut the silk. The number on the spider is how many bites are left.
The edge of the web must be exposed first so they can reach it. At 0 the spider runs away.

Chained Boxes

Two boxes joined by a line are chained: you can only take them when both are in the front row. Tap either one and both move into slots, so keep two slots free.
To reach them you often have to take the boxes in front of them first.
In the slots they stay together: the one that finishes first waits with a tick, and they leave only when both are done.

Number Blocks

A big block with a number needs many bites from ants of its color; the number is how many are left, and several ants can bite at once.
It can be bitten as soon as any side is exposed, and disappears at 0. The numbers on the boxes already include these bites.

Difficulty Curve

From this chapter on, each level puts its pressure in a different phase: hard opening, hard middle, hard ending, waves, or tight all the way.
The small curve at the top left is this level's rhythm; the white dot shows how far you've eaten. The red stretch is where the nest jams most easily, so free up slots before you get there.

Tips to win

• Count the colors on the outer ring of the picture first, then check whether the front row of the tray has them.
• Always keep one slot free for a box that blocks the front row but can't be eaten yet.
• The back rows matter more than the front: pick a column by what is stacked underneath.
• Chained boxes need two free slots, so make room before they reach the front.
• Don't rush to use boosters. Extra Slot and Grab are the cheapest fixes; save the gun and the UFO for real jams.
• 2× or 3× speed only makes the ants walk faster; it never makes a level harder.

FAQ