Tally Tiles strategy guide
Tally Tiles is a one-minute number hunt: drag a path through touching tiles until the numbers add up to the target. Anyone can find a quick pair that works. The players at the top of the board are doing something else: stretching every answer as long as it will go and keeping their streak alive. Here is how and why.
The rules
The board is a 5 × 5 grid of tiles numbered 1 to 9, with a target number on the card above it. Press on a tile and drag through neighbours (up, down, left or right, never diagonally) to build a path. Each tile can be used once per path. Lift your finger and, if the tiles add up to exactly the target, they clear, the tiles above slide down and fresh ones drop in from the top. Then a new target appears.
While you drag, a live total shows the sum so far, and your selected tiles turn grey if you have gone over the target. Changed your mind? Drag back onto the tile you just came from to take the last step off. Every target is built from a real path that is on the board right now, so there is always an answer.
How a solve is scored
Each correct path scores target × number of tiles × your streak multiplier. That middle part is the secret of the whole game. The target is fixed, but the number of tiles is up to you. A path needs at least two tiles, and there is no upper limit.
Say the target is 12. Snapping up 5 + 7 scores 12 × 2 = 24. Finding 2 + 3 + 3 + 4 for the same 12 scores 12 × 4 = 48, twice as much for the same target. Paths of four or more tiles also earn a big “Tally!” on screen, which is a nice way of knowing you did it right.
Look for small numbers
Since long paths pay more, small tiles are your best friends. A cluster of 1s, 2s and 3s can be bent into a long path to hit almost any target, while a 9 eats most of a small target on its own. When a new target appears, glance for a patch of low numbers next to each other before you go for the obvious pair.
There is a balance, of course. You only have 60 seconds, and a five-tile path that takes ten seconds to find is worse than two quick three-tile paths. Aim for long when it is easy to see, and take the short answer when the board is not giving you one.
The streak multiplier
Every correct path in a row builds your streak, and the streak sets the multiplier. Your first solve is ×1. The second and third solves in a row are ×2, the fourth and fifth are ×3, and from the sixth in a row onward every solve is ×4.
That means a long streak doubles, triples and then quadruples everything. A four-tile path on a target of 12 at ×4 is worth 12 × 4 × 4 = 192, eight times the quick pair at ×1. Protecting the streak is usually worth more than squeezing out one extra tile.
What breaks a streak
Two things set your streak back to zero. The first is a wrong sum: lift your finger on a path that does not add up and the streak breaks, though it costs no time. The second is a skip. Tap the target card to swap it for a new one, and it costs 3 seconds off the clock as well as the streak.
So before you lift, check the live total matches the target. If the tiles have turned grey, you have overshot: drag back a step or two rather than letting go.
When to skip
A skip is expensive, but it is not always wrong. If you have been staring at a target for several seconds and cannot see a path, those seconds are already gone and more are going. A skip early in a run, when your streak is small anyway, costs little more than the 3 seconds. Late in a long streak, look harder before you skip, because you are giving up a ×3 or ×4.
Targets grow as you go
The game eases you in. The first few targets are built from two-tile paths, so they are 18 or less. After three solves, a target can come from a three-tile path, and after six solves, from a four-tile path, so targets get larger. That is good news: larger targets mean every tile in your path is worth more points, and there is more room for a long path of small tiles.
The flip side is that early targets are where your streak is born. Solve the first few quickly and cleanly, get to ×2 and ×3, and then start stretching your paths.
Using the falling tiles
Cleared tiles vanish, the tiles above drop down to fill the gaps and new random tiles fall in from the top. Clearing a path low on the board moves more tiles around than clearing near the top, which can open up new paths. If the board feels stuck, a path along the bottom rows reshuffles the most.
- Score = target × tiles × streak, so stretch your paths.
- Small numbers make long paths.
- Streak multiplier: ×2 from the 2nd solve, ×3 from the 4th, ×4 from the 6th.
- Grey tiles mean you went over: back up before you lift.
- Skip early if you must; think twice late in a streak.