Rotate Rings Game

How to play Rotate Rings

To play Rotate Rings, rotate the rings until each gap slips free of everything holding it. Every board is a cluster of coloured rings hooked together, and each ring has a gap cut into it. A ring drops once nothing holds it, and the level is clear when the board is empty.

1. Drag a ring to turn it. It clicks round in twelve notches, clockwise or anticlockwise.
2. Bring the gap to a link. Where two rings cross they are linked. When either ring’s gap reaches that spot, the link opens.
3. Let it drop. A ring with nothing left holding it falls off the board.
4. Clear every ring. Empty the board to finish the level, then try again for par.

Controls

• Mouse: press on a ring and drag it round. The ring follows your pointer one notch at a time.
• Touch: drag a ring with your finger, or tap a ring to select it and use the turn buttons under the board.
• Keyboard: click the board or tab to it. The up and down arrows choose a ring and the left and right arrows turn it. Z undoes, R restarts and H shows a hint.

The full screen button in the corner gives you the biggest board, which helps on a phone.

Pieces: pins, studs, bolts, padlocks and double gaps

Rotate Rings Game has six kinds of piece. They arrive one at a time, each with a short tip on the board the first time you see it, and later levels mix them together.

Rotate Rings walkthrough: level 21 in 6 turns

Level 21 shows how the pieces work together. It has seven rings, two silver pins, studs on three rings, a bolted violet ring and a blue ring padlocked until two rings drop. Par is 6 turns, and this is one way to hit it.

1. Coral, one notch clockwise. The coral ring has a double gap, so a single notch brings one gap to its link with the mint ring.
2. Mint, four notches clockwise. The gap opens the link with the pink ring. Nothing holds the mint ring any more, so it drops.
3. Pink, four notches clockwise. Only the pink ring’s own gap can clear its pin. Once it does, the pink ring drops. That makes two drops, so the padlock on the blue ring opens.
4. Blue, nine notches clockwise in one go. On the way round the gap opens the link with the coral ring, then slips off the pin, and the blue ring drops.
5. Amber, nine notches clockwise. One long turn opens the links with the lime, violet and coral rings in that order. The coral and amber rings drop together.
6. Lime, five notches anticlockwise. The last link opens and the lime ring drops. The bolted violet ring is now held by nothing, so it drops too and the board is clear.

The bolted ring never needed a turn, and the blue and amber turns each opened more than one link. Long turns that do several jobs are how you match par on the bigger boards.

Rotate Rings levels: what each stage brings

The 60 levels fall into four stages. Boards grow by about one ring per stage, and par rises with them.

Par never goes above 7 turns, even on nine-ring boards, because one long turn can open several links at once.

Rotate Rings tips and strategy

The quickest way through a Rotate Rings level is to open the free outer rings first, then make every turn free as many links as it can.

Start at the edge

Before you touch anything, look for rings with only one link. They usually sit on the outside of the cluster, and dropping them early takes holds off the rings behind them.

Check the studs before you drag

A stud can’t pass a closed link, so see which way each stud would travel. If the short way round runs a stud into a link, go the long way, or open that link from the other ring first.

Make each turn count

Only switching rings costs a turn. Keep turning the same ring as far as it needs to go, even all the way round, and let its gap open every link it passes.

Count drops for the padlocks

A padlocked ring waits for a number of rings to drop, and any ring counts. Clear the easy rings first and the lock is often open before you need that ring.

Leave bolted rings alone

A bolted ring never turns, so it only drops when its neighbours have opened every link it has. Treat it as the last ring to clear, not one to work on.

Use double gaps both ways

With two gaps opposite each other, one gap is never more than a quarter turn from any link. Pick whichever direction gets there first or keeps a stud out of the way.

Chase par on a replay

Your first clear doesn’t have to be tidy. Once you know the board, replay it and plan which rings to switch between. Hint shows the next move from wherever you are, and Undo steps back one move at a time.

About this Rotate Rings game

Rotate Rings Game is a calm logic puzzle in the family of ring untangling games: no timer, no lives and no move limit. Each level was generated, then solved move by move to prove it can be cleared and to set its par. The levels get bigger as you go, from two rings and one link up to nine rings with pins, studs, bolts and padlocks.

It runs in any modern browser on a computer, tablet or phone, so there is nothing to install. Your progress stays in the browser you play in.

This site is an independent browser game. It isn’t affiliated with the Rotate Rings mobile app, its developer, or any app store, and its levels are its own, so level numbers here won’t match the app. Read moreabout this site.