Scoring
The maximum score for each level is 2 times the number of tiles (excluding shadow tiles and blocks). You can see the max score for each level in the top right of the screen.
Example: a 5×5 board with no corner shadows and no blocks will have a maximum score of 5*5*2 = 50.
Complete a level without using hints or validation for a perfect score! Take as much time and make as many moves as you want, this will not affect your score.
Show Hint and Hint Mode both cost 2 points per tile (0 points if used for a full level) while Validate Lines and Validation Mode cost 1 point per tile (50% of max if used for entire level).
If points have been deducted for a level, next to the max score in the top right, the maximum score currently available is displayed in (red parentheses).
Refreshing the level will not reset the max score available.
Hints and Validation
You can use hints or validation on any level in Connect the Dots: Shadows. Hints are free and unlimited – we don’t even ask you to view a video. We do ask nicely that you click on the next ad after you use hints/validation, but don’t enforce that in any way.
Hints vs. Validation
Hints do the work and/or the thinking for you. With validation you draw the line however you want – all it will tell you is whether the line is correct or not.
Touch on the ? in the lower to use hints and the check mark button next to it to use validation.
Hint Options
There are two ways to use what we call hints: Hint Mode and Show Hint. In hint mode you draw the line, while Show Hint draws the line for you.
From the Settings screen the hint button can be set to do the following when pressed:
Turn hint mode on/off, show a hint, or show a dialog allowing you to choose which option you want to use.
If hint mode is already on, pressing the button (the ? will be red) will always turn hint mode off regardless of the button setting.
Hint Mode
While hint mode is active, you will be unable to draw a line through a tile that is not the correct continuation for that line.
Otherwise you play the game normally – Pick a pair of dots that you want to use hint mode and start drawing a line.
Hint mode doesn’t draw any part of the line or give any visual cue as to how to draw the line. All it does is enforces correctness – but with trial and error, there isn’t any need to think.
As you draw a line in hint mode, as each tile is added to the line the points for that tile are lost (if there are any – shadow tiles don’t cost points).
This includes the dot at the beginning of the line – if you touch a dot and don’t draw a line, you still lose 2 points for touching the dot (sorry).
Hint mode can be turned on and off at any point – you do not have to finish a line that you started in hint mode. You will not lose points for any part of the line drawn after hint mode is turned off.
If you are trying to draw a line through a tile and it won’t let you:
- First, try drawing the line through every other empty tile adjacent to the last tile in the line.
- If that still doesn’t work, then something must be blocking the correct tile (which means, another line is not correct!) Clear the line(s) blocking the adjacent tiles and try again
Important – turn off hint mode before clearing the other line(s) to make space – otherwise you will lose some points for those lines as well.
Hint mode will also cost points for the correct portion of an existing line that you touch, after the line is trimmed as it normally would had you touched it with hint mode turned off. Locked/Validated lines remain locked in hint mode – touching them won’t effect your score.
If you are in hint mode and you touch somewhere in the middle of the line or the end of an incomplete line:
- As mentioned, the line is trimmed as it would be normally even if you weren’t in hint mode.
- Hint mode validates the line to the tile that you touched. It will leave the correct portion of the line and trim off the excess starting at the first incorrect tile (if there is one).
- You will lose points for every tile that remains in the line – you can safely assume the line is correct to this point.
- Be careful how you use hint mode – our recommendation is to only start lines with hint mode, never from the middle.
Finally, if you complete a line while in hint mode, check marks will appear inside the dots for that line. The check marks indicate that the entire line is validated as correct. Validated lines also become locked, preventing you from accidentally breaking them.
Show Hint
Show Hint draws a correct line for you. You lose all the points for each tile in that line. The line drawn shows as validated (check marks and locked). You don’t have any control over which line the game picks to draw for you. The game will pick the line as follows:
- Sort the lines in the solution from shortest to longest (shadow tiles don’t count – they don’t cost points).
- Starting with the shortest line, check to see if it’s already drawn and correct. If it is, go to the next line. Otherwise stop.
- Once it picks a line to draw, it checks to see that the tiles are all clear, and if necessary, trims any lines that block its path. It then draws the line.
Show Hint is available because it is available in most other connect the dot games. There isn’t really any benefit to using it over hint mode, unless your goal is to complete lots of levels quickly without having to think at all.
Validation
Validation checks completed lines that you draw however you want for correctness. If the line is correct, check marks will appear inside the dots and the line becomes locked. If any part of the line is not correct, an “X” will appear inside the dots instead. Validation costs half the points of each tile in lines that are validated – and correct. You do not lose points for incorrect lines.
Like hints, there are also two different methods of using validation to help solve a puzzle. There is also only a single button (the check mark button), to use both. In settings you can pick the behavior of this button (it is the same as the hint button, except for validation.
The two ways to use validation are:
Validation Mode
Validates lines as you complete them. It does not validate any part of the line while you are drawing it, it will only check to see if it is correct when the dots are connected. Validation mode doesn’t validate existing lines – only lines that you complete while it is on. If you complete a line it shows as incorrect, you will not lose points if turn validation mode off and then draw the line correctly.
Validate Lines
Validates the already complete lines. It does not validate incomplete lines, but will validate every complete line. The rest works the same as validation mode – you don’t lose points for incorrect lines, etc. As with Show Hint, Validate Lines technically doesn’t offer any advantages to Validation Mode. Validation Mode can easily validated existing lines – all you have to do is break the line near the end and finish it as it was.
Still, it’s an option that I use frequently – usually after filling in most of a puzzle, and realizing that something must be wrong.
Notes
It’s not about the points – it’s about solving puzzles.
We developed all of these ways to get help on a level because we wanted to use them while we were playing testing – we hadn’t even thought of using them as part of the scoring system.
The point system is a small incentive to try to solve puzzles on your own – or to use the options strategically to maximize your score. Failing to solve a puzzle without help doesn’t seem like as much as a failure if you can solve the puzzle of how to maximize your score using hint mode and validation instead.
Other points:
- The game remembers which tiles were used in hint mode/validation mode and how many points are available if the lines aren’t there. It also won’t deduct additional points if you redraw the lines and use hints/validation to help.
- After a puzzle is completed and points were deducted, there is a 10 minute wait before the memory of those tiles is wiped and you can score the maximum again.
You can also restart the game and select the level again if you don’t want to wait. - There is no way to cheat the point system.
You can use screenshots or play the game on multiple devices to cheat if you want.