Refract

How to Play Refract

Refract is a precision optics puzzle where you rotate mirrors, splitters, and prisms to guide coloured laser beams from star emitters to colour-matched receivers. Filters, walls, emitters and receivers are fixed where the level places them. Every rotation updates the beam paths instantly — watch neon rays trace new routes across the 8×8 grid in real time.

1. Identify rotatable tiles — any tile outlined with a faint blue glow can be clicked (or tapped on touchscreens). Fixed tiles like emitters, receivers, and walls cannot be moved.
2. Click to rotate — each click turns the tile 90 degrees clockwise. Mirrors and splitters alternate between two working orientations, so every second click repeats; prisms cycle through four distinct colour arrangements.
3. Light every receiver — receivers glow when they receive a beam of the correct colour. Your goal is to light all of them simultaneously. When the last receiver lights up, the level is cleared with a burst of neon sparks.
4. Chase par for 3 stars — par is the target rotation count set for each level. Solve at or under par for 3 stars, within 2× par for 2 stars, or any number of moves for 1 star. Stars are saved per level — replay to improve.
5. Undo and reset freely — press Ctrl+Z or the Undo button to step back one move at a time. Reset Level returns all tiles to their starting positions without any star penalty.

Keyboard shortcuts: R rotates the first rotatable tile on the board, and Ctrl+Z (or Cmd+Z) undoes the last move.

Tile Types

Understanding each tile type is key to solving harder levels:

• Mirror (/)(\) — reflects a beam 90 degrees. Two orientations: forward-slash and back-slash. Use mirrors to bend beams around obstacles or redirect them toward distant receivers.
• Splitter (+) — a gold cross that divides any incoming beam into two beams at 90 degrees to each other. One continues straight through, the other deflects perpendicular. Rotate to control the deflection direction.
• Prism — appears from level 11 onward. Splits a white beam into three colour components — red, green, and blue — each aimed in a different direction. Coloured beams pass through unchanged.
• Colour filter — a fixed tile that lets only matching-colour beams pass straight through. A red filter absorbs green and blue entirely. Use filters to separate beam colours when multiple beams cross the same path.
• Emitter — fixed star tile that fires a beam outward from its edge position. Cannot be rotated.
• Receiver — fixed circular tile that must receive a beam matching its displayed colour. Glows when lit correctly.

Strategy Tips

• Work backwards from receivers. Identify which tile must feed each receiver, then trace backwards to find which emitter or splitter supplies that tile. This reduces guesswork and rotation count.
• Splitters multiply your options. Tiles never move — rotating a splitter only changes which side its second beam leaves from, because the straight-through beam is always there. A single splitter can therefore serve two receivers at once: one sitting directly beyond it, the other on the perpendicular.
• Prism levels: colour first. On levels 11–15, map which colour needs to reach which receiver before touching anything. A prism placed incorrectly can scatter all three colours in the wrong directions simultaneously, making the level harder to read.
• Use Undo liberally. Refract is not timed, and undo is free — use it aggressively to explore options without inflating your move count. Undoing an unsuccessful rotation costs you nothing.
• Reset resets the move counter too. If you find yourself over par, reset and solve more deliberately. Par counts from zero on every reset — a clean solve always outscores a patched one.
• Locked tiles are guides. Fixed emitters and receivers reveal the beam entry and exit constraints. Use their positions to infer the required beam path before rotating any tile.