About Acorn Trail
Acorn Trail is a turn-based puzzle game on a grid. An otter and a goat both have to reach the same burrow, and you move them one at a time: tap an animal, then tap where you want it to go. Nothing moves until you do, so there is no timer, and every critter on the board takes one step each time you take one. You can play it in this browser right now.
It is not in a store yet. It is coming to the App Store and Google Play, and until it arrives the browser version is how to play it. There is no download button on this page because there is nothing to download yet.
The two animals are built to need each other. The otter swims ponds and slides across frozen ones; the goat walks on ice, pushes logs and squeezes through thorn gaps too narrow for an otter. Acorns open the hollow-log gates, and a mushroom pad has to be stood on to open the hedges, which takes one animal while the other goes through.
There are sixty levels across six meadows. The first eight are the tutorial, one new thing each, and a short walkthrough you play rather than read sits behind “Show me how”. The last ten boards are bigger than the screen, and the view follows the two animals. Every level shows the fewest moves it can be done in, measured by a solver rather than guessed, and awards one, two or three leaves for how close you came.
A try can be lost: a critter catches one of your animals, or you run out of moves, and each meadow gives you fewer spare moves than the last. But undo is free and unlimited, there are no lives, and the board marks in red the squares a critter is about to step onto, so nothing catches you by surprise. If a level stops being fun, the game offers to let you walk on past it.
Acorn coins come from solving levels and nothing else. They buy six looks for the meadow and change no rule. They cannot be bought, they convert to nothing, and they are not the coins in our reward apps, which come out as PayPal cash. There is also a level builder: draw a board, and the same solver checks it can be finished before it saves.
Screenshots
How it plays
- Tap an animal. Then tap where you want it to go and it walks there, a square at a time. Tap the other animal to take it instead, which costs nothing.
- Use what each can do. The otter swims; the goat pushes logs, walks on ice and fits through thorn gaps.
- Open the way. Collect acorns for the log gates, and stand on a mushroom pad to hold a hedge open for the other.
- Watch the red corners. They mark where a critter is about to step. Wait is a move too, for letting one go past.
- Get both home. In fewer moves for more leaves. Undo as much as you like.
Features
- Sixty hand-built levels across six meadows, every one checked solvable by a solver
- Two animals with different abilities, so the puzzle is always about both
- Play alone, or two on one screen with an animal each
- Seven kinds of critter, each with its own fixed rule
- Free, unlimited undo, and red marks where a critter is about to step
- A level builder that proves your board can be finished
- Six meadow themes, bought with acorn coins, never with money
- No account and no purchases; no ads in the browser version
- Progress kept in this browser
Frequently asked questions
Can I get Acorn Trail on the App Store or Google Play?
Not yet. It is coming to both. Until it lands, you can play it in this browser, free, with nothing to install.
Does Acorn Trail pay me anything?
No. The acorn coins in it buy looks for the meadow and nothing else. You earn them by solving levels; they cannot be bought, they convert to nothing, and they are worth nothing outside the game. The apps that do pay are on their own page, at a published rate.
Can two people play?
Yes, on one phone, tablet or computer: choose Play Together and take an animal each. The rules and the levels are exactly the same as playing alone. The store versions will add a third way, two phones on the same Wi-Fi with an animal each, which a browser cannot do.
Who is it for?
Anyone who likes a puzzle, and it is built so a child can play it: the tutorial is eight short levels and a walkthrough you play, undo never runs out, and nothing is locked behind a purchase or an ad.
Can you lose?
A try can end, if a critter catches one of your animals or you run out of moves. Take back the last move or start the level again; there are no lives and nothing is ever locked. The board marks in red the squares a critter is about to step onto, so a catch is never a surprise.
Does the browser version have ads?
No. The ad network has no browser version, so there is nothing to show, and the hint, which the store versions will offer for a short video, is free here. The store versions will carry a banner on the menus and an ad after every fourth level you finish, never during one.
Does it save my progress?
Yes, in this browser. Levels solved, leaves, acorn coins, themes, badges and the levels you build are kept in the browser’s own storage, not in an account, so they do not follow you to another browser or device, and clearing your site data or using a private window loses them.
Can I share a level I built?
Yes, as a code: the builder turns your board into a short piece of text anybody can paste into their own copy. Sharing by link needs the store versions.
