A game by Kemal Efe · the secret gate
Crack the code. Save the flock.
Help the little girl open the gate and bring the chickens home.
Bring the chickens home!
Ready to try Level 1?
You’re doing well! Try finding the pairs yourself. After two mistakes, the yellow helper comes back.
Press Play, then select a pair for the little girl to touch.
How to play
The chickens need to get home before the wolves catch them. Help the little girl open the gate!
Press Play. Point to two blocks next to each other. The yellow frame suggests one helpful pair. When hints are hidden, a light frame shows the pair you are choosing. Click, or press Touch blocks, and she will run over and touch them. Put all the green blocks together and all the gold blocks together, with the empty space at the gate. Then the chickens can run inside!
Choose Classic to start with alternating colors, or Random for a new mix. Every random puzzle can be solved. Changing the starting layout begins a new round.
A good choice earns 1 point and moves the blocks. A wrong choice costs 1 point and the blocks stay where they are. In Level 0, one yellow frame always shows a helpful pair. After three successful rounds, you can choose to try Level 1: hints wait until two mistakes, then go away after a good choice. You can keep Level 0 for as long as you like, or change Help level at any time.
You can also click the yard to let her walk around. Walking does not count as a try. With three pairs, the last move uses the extra space at the right-hand end.
Call your dog when a wolf gets too close. He will chase one wolf away for eight seconds before it starts coming back. You can call him twice each round. He needs six seconds to rest between calls.
Slide Wolf speed from 0 to 10. Zero lets you practise while the wolves stay still. You can change the speed while you play. If a round is too hard, the wolves slow down next time. Level 0 keeps your chosen pace after a win. In Level 1, save all three chickens without a mistake and the next round gets a little faster. Start over begins again at the first round.
After a few seconds on the start or score screen, a demo plays automatically with the game’s sounds. Press Play to take over immediately. Demo rounds do not change your progress. Tap for sound enables audio if your browser needs a click first.
Pause lets everyone take a break. The game also pauses when you leave this tab. Arrow keys choose a pair; Space or Enter tells her to go.
The puzzle algorithms are described in Kemal Efe’s “Generalizations and Optimal Solutions for Coin Sorting Puzzles”, 17th International Conference on Computer Games (CGAMES), 2012, pp. 180–187.