Bolt Jam

Controls

Tap or click a bolt to unscrew it. Tap the buttons under the board to open the level list, restart the level or add a spare hole. Keys: arrows, WASD or Tab pick a bolt, Space or Enter unscrews it, R restarts the level, L opens the level list, E adds a spare hole. P or Esc pauses.

How to play Bolt Jam

Wooden and metal plates are pinned to a board by colored bolts. Tap a bolt to unscrew it. A bolt only turns when no plate above it covers its head, so you work from the top layer down. A plate held by a single bolt swings down around it, and a plate with no bolts left falls off the board.

Two toolboxes sit above the board, each asking for one color. An unscrewed bolt flies into the box of its color. Three bolts fill a box, it leaves, and the next box arrives. A bolt with no matching box goes to the spare tray, which has five holes. If the tray is full and no free bolt fits a box, the board is jammed.

Workshops, ice, mystery bolts and padlocks

There are 150 levels in six workshops of 25. The first 50 teach the basics with more plates and more colors as you go. From level 51 ice blocks freeze some bolts until you have unscrewed a set number of others. From level 61 some bolts are mystery bolts that hide their color until nothing covers them. From level 76 padlocked bolts only open after you remove their matching key bolt.

Every level has been checked by a solver, so there is always a way through. Clearing a level without help earns three stars. Using the spare hole gives two, and needing the tray cleared gives one. You can replay any level you have opened from the level list.

Tips and tricks

• Look at the colors of both open boxes before each tap. A bolt that goes straight into a box costs nothing, while one in the tray takes up space.
• Use the tray for colors that are coming soon, not for colors that nothing on the board is asking for yet.
• On an ice level count your moves. Unscrewing easy bolts first is a way to thaw a frozen one.
• Once per level you can watch a short ad for a sixth hole in the spare tray, and when the tray jams you can watch one to empty it. Skip it and you get nothing, but the button stays so you can try again.