StompOut Secret

The Secret

Don't draw any attention to yourself, and make sure nobody is looking over your shoulder. Then, click on the upper left square of the puzzle seven times in a row, while reciting the alphabet backwards.

You can skip the alphabet part, it's just for dramatic effect.

Then click on the 'States/No Numbers' menu button. There are now two new menu options. Eerie, isn't it?

The 'Clicks' option makes each square show how many times it has been clicked. To solve the puzzle 'automatically', click on each square until the number is a multiple of the number of states the square can be in. The number of states is the number of colors, including white. So the medium puzzle has 3 states per square, and the hard puzzle has 4. So for the hard puzzles, just keep clicking squares until each one shows 0 or 4 or 8 or 12 or 16, etc. This will clear all the squares.

The 'Modulo' option is similar, but it does the math for you. Just click until you get to 0.

This is not the only set of moves that will clear the puzzle, it is not necessarily even the shortest, but it does work every time. (Homework assignment: Why?)

If your conscience is bothering you

You can use this method to learn how to solve the puzzles on your own. First get the puzzle into one of the simple patterns, then use the modulo option to see the moves that solve it. These moves will form a pattern of their own, but it may well be one you could never have come up with on your own. After you've seen it, you can repeat it by yourself.