Playing Tumblestone is as easy as 1-2-3! Just move left and right using the arrow keys and press space to fire upward and remove the bottommost block in the character's column. Whichever block you remove is your color. Once you've selected a color you have to make a set of three, so move left, right, and fire to remove two more blocks of the same color. When you've made a match-3 your color resets and you can pick a new color.

Moving Quickly: It's possible to move immediately to the left or right side of the board by pressing A or D, respectively.

As you play through Tumblestone's story mode you'll encounter many different special blocks and rule changes (which we refer to as modifiers). What follows is a brief introduction to each modifier and how it works.

Shot Blockers
Shot Blockers are special blocks which block an entire column. You cannot remove a shot blocker like you would a normal block as it doesn't match any color. Instead you have to remove all the blocks in the shot blocker's row. Once completed the shot blocker will be destroyed and you can access the blocks above it in the column.

Toggling Blockers
Like the Shot Blocker the Toggling Blocker makes it impossible to remove blocks above it. However unlike the Shot Blocker you cannot remove a Toggling Blocker. Fortunately Toggling Blockers are quite shy and will hide themselves after you remove a block. At this point you can remove blocks in the Toggling Blocker's column! But beware the Toggling Blocker will toggle back on after your second shot, so plan ahead to ensure you can reach all the blocks in the Toggling Blocker's column.

Wildcards
Wildcards are special blocks which can match any of the colors depicted on their face. Once a match-3 is made using a Wildcard you cannot use a second Wildcard for the same color!

Color Lock
With Color Lock you are not allowed to make match-3's of the same color twice in a row. So once you've removed three reds you must pick a new color. After making a match-3 in a different color, say yellow, you can return to red again.

Sprouts
When Sprouts is enabled your first shot will add a new block of the same color to the top of the current column. For example imagine you have a column with red-red-green. If you remove the bottommost green block a new green block will be added to the top of the column! After you've removed the block, the column will contain green-red-red.

Staggered Locks
With Staggered Locks a checkerboard-like lattice is placed on the board, preventing you from removing blocks on half the board! Each time you remove a block the checkboards shifts making the previously locked blocks available and locking the previously unlocked blocks.

Row Shift
With Row Shift one of the rows will move horizontally every time you remove a block. Now blocks can change columns!

Double Shot
Why settle for removing one block at a time when you can remove two! With Double Shot every time you shoot you'll fire twice -- removing the bottomost block in your column as well as the one above it!

Column Flipping
When Column Flipping is active the third block you remove will trigger its entire column to flip vertically -- moving the topmost blocks to the bottom and vice versa!

Second Shot Pass Through
The first block you remove with Second Shot Pass Through triggers the bottommost block in each column to become transparent allowing your second shot to pass through to the one above it!

Countdown Blockers
With Countdown Blockers a Countdown Block is placed at the bottom of the column every time you remove a block. This special block prevents you from removing blocks in its column for three moves. Remove three more blocks to remove the Countdown Block and regain access to the locked column.

In the story mode you play as one of the twelve characters in Tumblestone solving puzzles and helping them figure out what is up with all these tumblestones!

Each world is broken up into thirty levels with special levels and boss battles thrown into the mix. To select a level use the arrow keys to move and press space to start playing. Each level is a unique puzzle with at least one solution. Each world introduces new mechanics which build on the core mechanic to keep things fresh and interesting.

As you play through the story mode you will unlock modifiers and characters. Once unlocked you can use these in local and online multiplayer.

As you play the game you'll earn skip tokens. Once you've earned a skip token you can use it to skip a tough puzzle. (Special infinipuzzles and boss battles cannot be skipped.) To use a skip token start a puzzle, pause the game, and select "Skip Puzzle". At this point you will return to the map and can continue to the next level. At any point you can go back to a skipped level and clear it to get the used skip token back.

Clearing the 20th level of each world unlocks practice puzzles for that world. A practice puzzle is a special level on the map which can be played an infinite number of times -- each time you'll get a unique puzzle! Uses these to sharpen your skills if you get stuck in the story mode, or if you want to blow your competition out of the water in multiplayer!

All the arcade modes feature online leaderboards. You can view your position in the global leaderboard and relative to your friends via the lobby or by going to Extras from the Title.

In Heartbeat mode blocks are added to your board over time. The longer you play the faster the blocks are added. In this mode you are allowed to make mismatches, but doing so will add a new row to your board immediately. The goal is to keep the blocks from reaching the bottom, but can you remove all the blocks from the board?

In Marathon mode blocks are added to your board whenever you remove a block above the glass. In this mode you can make a mismatch, but doing so will add a new row to your board and lower the glass one row! Like in the last mode, the goal is to keep the blocks from reaching the bottom. But what happens if you remove all the blocks below the glass?

In Infinipuzzle you are given an infinite series of smaller puzzles. Over time the new puzzles are added to the board -- keep the blocks from reaching the bottom without making a mistake. As you unlock modifiers in story mode you can use them in this mode, try playing Infinipuzzle with your favorite modifier!

In Tumblestone there are three multiplayer modes: Puzzle Race, Battle, and Tug of War. Every mode supports up to four players can play online or locally. Plus you can turn on bots if you're feeling lonely.

In Puzzle Race each player starts with the same board. The board is a puzzle with at least one solution. Players are racing to solve the puzzle by removing all the blocks. The first player to do so wins! At this point everyone gets a new puzzle and the race begins anew.

Modifiers
In Puzzle Race you can play normally or you can configure modifiers to be enabled. Modifiers are unlocked in the single player story mode, or you can you try the "Modifier of the Day". Once unlocked you can have a modifier be always on -- meaning every puzzle will use it -- or you can have a series of modifiers set to random -- meaning one modifier will be selected at random at the start of each round.

Multiple Modifiers
Once completing World 12 players can turn on more than one modifier at once!

In Battle each player starts with a random set of blocks. Mismatches are allowed. When a player makes a match it pushes a new row on one of his or her opponent. Likewise when an opponent makes a match it may push a row on the player! Players race to bury their opponents and keep the blocks from reaching the bottom of the board!

Round Based
The host can opt to make Battle be "Round Based" or not. When a player is buried in a round based battle he or she must wait until one player wins at which point a new round starts and every one is given a fresh board. Alternatively, if a player is buried in a non-round based match the player will receive a new board after a brief delay. When a game is round based the first to win 5 rounds wins the match. When a game is not round based the first player to make 100 matches is the winner.

In Tug of War each player starts with the same series of mini-puzzles. When a player solves a mini-puzzle it pushes a new mini-puzzle on one of his or her opponents! The first player to remove all the mini-puzzles and empty their board wins the round.

Modifiers
As with Puzzle Race, players can opt to enable modifiers for Tug of War. Unlike in Puzzle Race you can only have one modifier active at a time in Tug of War.

When you first enter the lobby you will see four slots. Each of these can be empty, have a local or online player, or a bot. The currently selected slot's profile is highlighted yellow. Press left or right to change selection.

Bot Difficulty: If the selected slot is currently empty or has a bot you can press up or down to change the bot's difficulty or turn the bot off.
Changing Position: In local multiplayer matches you can swap slots by pressing A or D.
Weights: Press 1 to cycle through added weights. Adding a weight to yourself makes your puzzles harder. In practice this would be like having rubber-banding applied all the time. Use this feature if you're playing with someone who isn't quite as good as you are.

Hosting Online Matches
If you host a Private Match, Modifier of the Day Match, or become host in a Quick Match you can change the game mode, win limits, and more via the lobby settings.

Who Can Join: Go to the lobby menu, Settings, then Online Settings to configure who can join your game. You can see what the current setting is in the lobby by looking at bot or open slot's headers. There are three options:

• Friends: Only people on your friends list can join the game.
  
• No one: Only local players can join the game.
  
• Anyone: Anyone on Steam can join the game.

Invite Players: This will open the Steam Overlay at which point you can right click on friends in your friend's list and invite them to your game. Once accepted players will be taken directly to your match.

Block Bad Moves: When this is enabled Tumblestone will not allow players to make obviously bad moves. For example, matching red-red-blue when there is a third red block available.
Slow Down Final Shot: When this is enabled the final shot in Puzzle Race is slowed down for dramatic effect.
Rubber-banding: When this is enabled the current leader will get more challenging boards or longer delays. This tends to make matches closer and more exciting.
Use Same Boards: In Battle players are given random blocks by default. Enable this so that they are given exactly the same blocks.

As you play Tumblestone you'll be presented with a series of optional quests. There can be four quests active at a time, and completing a quest will earn you XP as well as bragging rights in the Quests Leaderboard. Once completed a new quest will replace the old one. There are many, many quests. Broadly they fall under five buckets:

• Story Quests: Complete these by playing through the story mode
  
• Arcade Quests: Unique quests for Heartbeat, Marathon, and Infinipuzzle modes
  
• Practice Puzzle Quests: These revolve around Practice Puzzles which you unlock in the story
  
• Minimum Move Quests: These challenge you to find the optimal solution for story mode puzzles
  
• Multiplayer Quests: Based on the three multiplayer modes

Each quest challenges you to do something new, unique, and fun in the game.

In Tumblestone it's possible to configure quite a few settings. Here's a breakdown of what they are and how they work:

Sound Volume: Change or mute the volume of sound effects.
Music Volume: Change or mute the volume of the music.

Animate Blocks: When enabled the blocks' faces will animate.
Colorblind Mode: When enabled the blocks will be given a special tint to make it easier for those with colorblindness to play.
Hold to Pause: When enabled you must hold down the Escape key to pause the game. This is intended for competitive play when a stray finger may inadvertently pause during a heated match.

Full Screen: Whether the game runs full screen or in windowed mode.
Resolution: The game's resolution.
Vsync: Whether vertical sync is enabled. Disabling this may improve framerate but lead to bad artifacts during active parts of gameplay, for example making a mismatch.

This is only available for people who own the full game. When enabled story mode, arcade modes, online multiplayer, achievements, and stats are disabled. In exchange you can play with all the characters and modifiers unlocked! You can disable Party Mode from the Title or Settings menu to restore things to their original state.

Language: Change Tumblestone's language. See the store page for the full list of supported languages.

These are only available when viewing settings as the host of an online game.
Who Can Join: Whether people from your Friends List, anyone from the internet, or only local players are allowed to join your game.
Allow Players to Replace Bots: If enabled players can join in progress over bots. If false players can only join in progress of empty slots.

Players can give an unlimited number of Steam keys to their friends using the "Give a Friend a Steam Key" option from the Title or other menus. When you select this option you will be given a Steam key which you can copy to your clipboard and share with a friend. Once activated your friend can play online with you -- just start a private match and invite him or her to join via the Steam Friend's List. Players with the Friend's Pack can play up to five matches per a day.