Flock Out: How to Play the Tap Away Puzzle

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How do you play Flock Out?

Every OvO wears a white arrow badge that shows which way it will fly. Its lane is the row or column of cells between it and the edge of the board in that direction. Tap an OvO with an empty lane and it flaps away with a trail of feathers. Tap one whose lane holds a friend and it dashes into that friend, the lane flashes red and a heart breaks off the top bar. You win when the board is empty and lose when the hearts run out. When you press an OvO, its lane lights up first: green means free, red means something is in the way.

1. Read the board before your first tap. The tip on level 1 says it plainly: a friend in the way means a bonk and a lost heart.

   

2. Start with OvOs whose lanes are already open, usually the ones at the edge facing outward. Each one that leaves opens up the lanes behind it.

   

3. Keep going until the last OvOs have a clear path. Here only two blue OvOs are left, one pointing down and one pointing left.

   

4. An empty board wins the level. Finish without a single bonk and you get all three stars.

   

How do hearts, stars and sleepy OvOs work?

A normal level gives you three hearts. Every fifth level is a lighter breather with four hearts, and every tenth level is a hard one with only two, marked HARD in the level chip. Stars come from bonks: no bonks earns three stars, one bonk earns two, and anything more earns one. Using a continue caps the level at one star. From level 8, sleepy OvOs appear with a little z. The first tap only wakes them up and costs nothing, so a sleepy OvO needs at least two taps to leave. If you run out of hearts you can continue with two extra hearts or try the level again.

Tips for clearing bigger boards

Boards start small and grow as you go, up to nine columns by twelve rows. On a phone a big board may not fit the screen, and you can drag to pan around it without setting off an OvO. A few habits help on every size. Work from the outside in: OvOs on the rim that face outward are free, and removing them opens the next ring. Follow the chain backwards, too. If an OvO is stuck, look at who blocks its lane, then who blocks that one, until you reach someone who can leave now. Don't tap an OvO just because its neighbours are gone; the blocker can be further along the lane. On hard levels, with two hearts, press and check the lane colour before every tap you are unsure of.

Which boosters help in Flock Out?

There are two paid helpers, bought with OvO Tokens. Hint makes one free OvO glow and shows its lane, which is handy when you have stared at a board for too long; if the hint is already showing, tapping it again just pulses it without charging you twice. Lift sends a balloon for the next OvO you tap and carries it off the board whatever is in its way. Save Lift for the OvO at the centre of a knot, since removing it can free several others at once. Restart is always free. Tokens come from playing, the daily egg and missions, and the optional OvO Pass adds tokens each month and removes ads.

Flock Out gameplay

OvOs tapped off the board one by one in Flock Out level 1, then level 2 begins.

Questions