Space Tiles moves and stars: how to get 3 stars

In Space Tiles you get 3 stars when you fill the frame in few moves. Dropping a tile, turning a tile and taking a tile out of the frame each count as one move. Hints, power-ups and drops that don't fit are free. The result card tells you how many moves you needed for 3 stars.

What counts as a move?

The Moves number on the left side of the screen goes up by one each time you change the board yourself.

A tile in the frame turns around its own middle, so it stays where you are looking. If the turned shape would bump into another tile, a stuck block or the edge, you hear a bump and nothing changes.

How do stars work?

Every finished puzzle gives at least 1 star. How many you get depends on your moves:

The game shows the 3-star line in three places:

• on the result card: "You used 9 moves. For 3 stars: 8 or fewer.";
• on the How to play card in the pause menu: "For 3 stars: 8 moves or fewer.";
• on a Big Junk Ship, as the Goal on the side.

While you play, the stars under your moves show what you would get right now. Watch them: when a star goes dark, you have used up the moves for it.

Where does the 3-star line come from?

This part is not shown in the game, but it helps. Every board is made together with its own solution. The game counts the moves of that solution: one drop for every tile, plus the turns each tile needs from the way it starts. Call that the best count.

• The 3-star line is the best count plus 2.
• The 2-star line is the best count plus 6.

So you can make two small mistakes and still get 3 stars. You can work out the best count yourself: count the tiles, then add the turns they need.

Undo or Start again?

Undo (↶, Z, Backspace or LT) takes back your last step. It puts the tile back where it was, and gives back a power-up you just used. But the moves you made still count. Undo is for fixing a slip, not for saving moves. The game remembers up to 50 steps to undo.

Start again is in the pause menu. The game asks first, because your progress on this board will be lost. Then the board starts over with 0 moves, and the power-ups you used on this board come back too. If you went far over the 3-star line, Start again is the way to try for 3 stars.

Can you play a planet again?

Yes. Any puzzle you have finished can be played again from the map, or with Play again on the result card. The map always keeps your best stars. A replay never lowers them. Rewards only come the first time you finish a puzzle, so a replay gives no new power-ups. The rewards are listed on space station and rewards.

Do turns go both ways?

No. Each tap, click, R key or Y button turns a tile a quarter turn clockwise. To turn a tile one quarter the other way, you need three taps, and that is three moves. In galaxy 1, a tile starts at most one turn away from the right way. Later galaxies start tiles up to three turns away, as you can see on the galaxies page. Some shapes look the same after a turn, like a square block or a straight bar. Those need fewer turns.

See also

• Puzzle tips: simple habits for 3 stars.
• Advanced tips: counting moves before you start.
• Power-ups and hints: place tiles without using moves.
• Glossary: every game word explained.
• Play Space Tiles and try for 3 stars.

• About Space Tiles
• All game guides