CHAINWORK
How to Play Chainwork
Drag components from the side palette onto the blueprint grid. Each level provides a fixed "spark budget" — active components like dominos, fans, magnets, and fuses each cost one spark when triggered. Passive components (ramps, walls, springs, puddles, tubes) are free. Build your Rube-Goldberg machine, then press RUN to drop the marble. Route it from the drop point to the goal pad within the spark budget to solve the puzzle.
- Drag components from the palette onto empty grid cells
- Click a placed component to rotate it
- Drag a placed component back to the palette to remove it (or long-press on mobile)
- Space / RUN — start the simulation
- R / STOP — abort simulation and keep your build
- Shift+R / RESTART — wipe all player-placed components
- U / Z / UNDO — undo the last placement
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the spark budget and why do I run out?
Every level gives you a small number of sparks — one for each active component the marble triggers (dominos, fans, magnets, levers, fuses). Passive components (ramps, walls, springs, puddles, tubes) cost zero sparks. If your design relies on more active triggers than the budget allows, the chain stalls when sparks run out. The trick is using fuses to multiplex one spark into several follow-up activations, or letting passive geometry replace what would have taken multiple active pushes.
Why does my marble stop halfway through?
The marble has a kinetic budget that depletes from friction, slow-zones (puddles), and counter-direction fans. Solutions: harvest height early by dropping down a long ramp first, avoid placing puddles before tight horizontal traversals, and use springs to top up the budget at low-energy points.
What is the difference between a domino and a fuse?
A domino is a falling block triggered by the marble or by an adjacent toppled domino. A fuse is a delayed-action wire — when triggered, it burns for 600 ms, then sends a spark to an adjacent active component. Fuses chain sparks: one marble input → one fuse → one domino → next fuse → etc., all on a single spark budget.
How does the daily challenge work?
Every UTC day, a level is picked from a curated 14-puzzle pool (medium-to-hard difficulty). All players solve the same level, and the leaderboard ranks by fewest attempts. Solve on the first run for the first-attempt bonus plus a daily streak bonus. The daily resets at midnight UTC.