Everything you need to play, progress, and get help — all in one place.
How to Play
The basics in four steps
Pipfall is a cascading puzzle game built on the mathematics of sandpiles.
Each level gives you a board seeded with sand and a hand of three shapes.
Your goal is to trigger the biggest cascades possible and rack up spills.
Step 01
Read the board
The grid shows cells loaded with 0–3 pips. Cells with 4 or more pips are
unstable and will burst. Plan ahead — one placement can set off a
long chain reaction.
Step 02
Choose & place a shape
You always have three shapes available. Drag a shape from the tray and drop
it onto the board. The shape must overlap at least one cell that already hold at least one
pip.
Step 03
Watch the cascade
Any cell that hits 4 pips fires simultaneously, sending one pip to each
of its four cardinal neighbors. Those neighbors may then fire too, creating
wave after wave until the board stabilizes.
Step 04
Score your spills
Pips that fire off the edge of the board — or into void cells — are
spills. Every spill earns a point. Hit the target score
before you run out of shapes to win the level.
Pip Colour Key
0 pipsEmpty — cannot be placed on
1 pipBlue — stable, needs 3 more to burst
2 pipsGreen — stable, needs 2 more to burst
3 pipsYellow — one more pip will trigger a burst
Edge cells are powerful. A cell on the edge of the board has
fewer neighbors, so when it bursts more pips spill off the board and score points.
Corner cells spill on two sides at once. Build your cascades toward the edges
for maximum score.
Strategy
Tips & tricks
Pipfall rewards long-term thinking. Here are some strategies to help you
climb from one star to three.
Chain reactions
Look for clusters of yellow (3-pip) cells near each other. A single
placement that triggers one can start a cascade that sweeps across the board
if the neighbors are primed.
Shape selection
You get three shapes per turn — you only use one. Consider what the
other two shapes offer before committing. Sometimes waiting for a better
configuration is worth a lower-scoring placement now.
Count your shapes
The counter at the bottom shows how many shapes remain. If your score
is low with few shapes left, focus on maximizing a single large cascade
rather than small, safe plays.
Work the edges
Interior cells burst in four directions — only one direction spills.
Edge cells spill on two sides; corners on two. Route your cascades outward
to convert more bursts into scored points.
Void cells
Some levels have void (inactive) cells inside the board. Bursts that
fire into a void count as spills, just like the edge — use them as
hidden scoring opportunities.
Simultaneous bursts
All cells at 4+ pips fire at the same time in each wave. Two adjacent
over-threshold cells won't interfere with each other mid-wave — they both
fire fully before the next wave is evaluated.
Game Modes
Three ways to play
Whether you want a structured challenge, a quick daily fix, or to replay a
favourite puzzle, Pipfall has a mode for it.
Level Mode
Over 100 handcrafted levels spread across themed Collections, each with its
own board layout and target score. Earn up to three stars per level.
Complete a level to unlock the next.
Daily Puzzle
A new puzzle is released every day. All players worldwide get the same
puzzle on the same day. Complete it to extend your streak — and come back
tomorrow for a fresh challenge.
Collection Completion
Browse all unlocked worlds and replay any level you've already beaten.
Use it to improve your star rating, practice tricky board layouts, or just
enjoy a favourite cascade again.
Stars & scoring: Each level has three score thresholds.
Reach the first to win and unlock the next level. Reach the second and third
to earn additional stars. Stars are tracked per level and contribute to your
overall Statistics.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Can't find what you're looking for? Reach out via the contact section below.
Shapes can only be placed on cells that already contain at least one pip.
Make sure at least one active cell in your shape overlaps a cell with existing sand. If no valid
placement exists for a shape.
The level ends when you have placed all your shapes. If your score meets
the first star threshold, you win and unlock the next level. If not, you
can retry the level as many times as you like — there is no penalty for
replaying.
Each level has three score thresholds shown in the progress bar at the top
of the screen. The number displayed (e.g. "0 / 48") is your current score
versus the level's target. To earn all three stars you need to have shapes remaining when you reach the target.
The number of remaining shapes needed for three stars is different for different levels.
Remember that the cascade fires in simultaneous waves. In each wave, all
cells at 4+ pips burst at the same time before the next wave is calculated.
Two adjacent over-threshold cells each lose 4 pips and pass one pip to their
shared neighbor — they don't chain into each other mid-wave. This is the
mathematical property that makes the system predictable and fair.
Once you complete a Daily Puzzle, it can't be played again. But you may
try the puzzle as many times as you like in order to complet it. A brand
new puzzle becomes available at midnight in your local time zone.
Past daily puzzles are not available for replay, but all Level Mode puzzles
can be replayed any time from the Level Select screen.
All purchases are managed by Apple. If you reinstall the app or get a new
device, go to Settings within Pipfall and tap "Restore Purchases." Your
Apple ID entitlements will be reactivated automatically. If you experience
any issues, please contact
Apple Support.
If you back up your device with iCloud or iTunes and restore it to your new
iPhone, your Pipfall progress will transfer as part of that backup. Progress
is stored locally on your device, so if you set up your new phone as new
(without restoring a backup) your progress will not carry over automatically.
We recommend using iCloud Backup before switching devices.
Ads in Pipfall are served by Google AdMob. You can limit ad personalisation
by going to iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking and revoking
Pipfall's tracking permission. To remove ads entirely, look for a remove-ads
option in the in-app purchase menu within Pipfall.
The Abelian sandpile model is a mathematical system studied in physics and
combinatorics. In it, grains of sand are added to a grid; any cell with 4 or
more grains "topples," redistributing one grain to each neighbor. Because
toppling events commute — the final stable state is the same regardless of
the order cells fire — the model is called "abelian." Pipfall is a direct
implementation of this model, making every cascade you trigger mathematically
precise and deterministic.
Yes. Pipfall is rated 4+ on the Apple App Store. It contains no violent,
adult, or inappropriate content. The game does show advertisements from
Google AdMob; if you would prefer an ad-free experience for your child,
look for the remove-ads purchase within the app. There are no social
features, chat, or any mechanism for sharing personal information.
Contact
Still need help?
If the FAQ didn't answer your question, or if you've found a bug, we'd love
to hear from you. We aim to respond within a few business days.
General Support
Send us an email
For gameplay questions, bug reports, level feedback, or anything else
related to Pipfall.
Found a bug? Please include your device model, iOS version,
and a brief description of what happened. Screenshots or screen recordings are
incredibly helpful and get issues resolved much faster.