Cauldron Drop merge puzzle guide

How to play

1. Move the material in hand along the rim, then drop it. It falls, rolls and settles against the walls and the other materials. A short pause of under half a second follows each drop.
2. When two matching materials touch, they merge into the next material at the point where they met: Dew, Spark, Pebble, Leaf, Mushroom, Crystal, Moon, Sun, Star and the Philosopher’s Stone. A new material can touch its own twin and merge again in a chain.
3. Only the five smallest materials (Dew to Mushroom) are ever dropped, smaller ones more often. Everything from Crystal up must be merged. Next shows the material after the one in your hand.
4. The drop sequence comes from the UTC date: everyone gets the same sequence that day, and Replay starts it again from the beginning.
5. If materials that have landed stay above the dashed rim line for two seconds, the cauldron overflows and the brew ends early. A material still falling from the rim does not count, and the countdown resets once the rim is clear.
6. Play the full 120-second brew. At the end, 300 points earn one star, 1000 earn two and 1500 earn three. Keep brewing continues with no clock; if the practice cauldron overflows it is emptied instead of ending, and practice never changes your best.

Controls

Mouse or touch

Move the mouse or drag a finger over the cauldron to aim, then click or lift your finger to drop. A drop during the short pause waits and falls as soon as the pause ends.

Keyboard

Left and Right arrows or A and D aim. Space, Enter or Down drops. P pauses and resumes.

Score and progress

Each merge scores the material it makes: Spark 2, Pebble 6, Leaf 12, Mushroom 20, Crystal 30, Moon 42, Sun 56, Star 72 and the Philosopher’s Stone 90. Two Philosopher’s Stones that touch vanish together for 110 points. Dropping scores nothing; only merges do. These are in-game points, not real money.

What the AI challenge changes

A challenge locks one of three reviewed brew rules before the brew starts. When AI responds, it writes the opening story and selects the rule. A local challenge uses the same list when AI is unavailable, rotating by UTC day. Physics, merging, the drop sequence and scoring still follow the local game rules.

Crystal Week

Merges that make Crystal or anything larger score double points: Crystal 60, Moon 84, Sun 112, Star 144 and the Philosopher’s Stone 180.

Gentle Brew

Landed materials may stay above the rim for four seconds instead of two before the cauldron overflows.

Double Preview

Next shows the following two materials instead of one.

The displayed rule locks when you start. Classic mode needs no AI response, and a late response cannot change a run already in progress. If AI is unavailable, a clearly labeled local challenge keeps the game playable.

At the end, the result shows stars, score, whether the brew lasted two minutes or overflowed, your largest material, drops, longest merge chain and any actual Crystal Week bonus points. An optional reflection uses those recorded totals. If the reflection service is unavailable, the result uses a labeled local reflection.