BeadHouse

The pitch

BeadHouse is a relaxing color puzzle game that turns every completed challenge into a delightful piece of bead art. Observe the picture, spot the beads placed in the wrong areas, and rearrange each color to restore the original design. Discover 54 handcrafted levels, collect stars and coins, and keep your finished creations in the Gallery. Simple tap controls, satisfying effects, and useful boosters make BeadHouse easy to enjoy while still rewarding careful observation and smart planning.

Controls & how it runs

1. Study the picture and find beads that do not match the color of their current area. 2. Tap the misplaced beads to move them into the bead tray. 3. Select a bead from the tray, then tap a matching empty space to place it correctly. 4. Plan each move carefully, as the tray has limited space. 5. Use Fix Area, Clear Tray, or Magnet when you need assistance. 6. Finish the picture before time runs out to earn stars and coins. 7. View completed artwork, save favorites, and replay the finishing animation in the Gallery.

Getting a run going takes exactly one press: Press start, up top, and the game boots inside this page — nothing downloads in the background and no form wants your details before the first jump. The cabinet is drawn for a flexible screen and listens to mouse, keyboard or touch, whichever the game prefers. It reshapes itself for tall and wide screens alike, so phone, tablet and desktop all get the full picture. Given a fullscreen button, use it — scores look better at full size, that's just science.

Pro tips for arcade cabinets

• Treat your first run as a scouting mission. Arcade cabinets hide their cruelty in the second minute, not the first — learn where the difficulty spikes before you start chasing numbers.
• Small scores compound. Grab the easy pickups on every pass instead of gambling the whole run on one heroic line; heroes respawn, banked points don't evaporate.
• Watch the edges of the screen. In classic arcade design the next problem almost always enters from somewhere you weren't looking — build the habit of scanning the borders.

BeadHouse — quick-fire questions

Does BeadHouse cost anything to play?

Not a token. The cabinet is free from the first run to the five-hundredth — no wallet, no sign-up, no toll booth hiding three levels in. The adverts around the page are what keep the floor's lights on.

What sort of game is BeadHouse?

It stands on our Arcade row — that's the family it plays most like. The pitch above is the publisher's own rundown of what it throws at you and what it hands back.

Can I play BeadHouse on my phone?

Happily, yes. It runs inside the browser on phones and tablets the same way it does on a computer. It reshapes itself for tall and wide screens alike, so phone, tablet and desktop all get the full picture.

Do I need to install anything first?

Nothing whatsoever. BeadHouse is an HTML5 game: hit the start button and it boots on this page, and shutting the tab sweeps the cabinet clean behind you.

Before you wander off

Personal best banked, or still chasing it? Either way the full Arcade row is powered on and waiting — The main floor: 415 cabinets of pure arcade stock — the quick, the loud and the gloriously unfair. If it beeps, flashes and dares you to beat a number, it lives on this row.