Friends groups (beta)

The daily puzzle is the same for everyone, which makes it easy to compare notes. Friends groups let you do that inside the game: a small private group where everyone shows up only as a little quilt and one word, with their daily times, how far they are up to in the levels, and their streaks.

What you see, and what others see of you

There are no names, photos, messages or friend searches. Each member is shown as:

• an avatar: a small quilt (a 3×3 Double puzzle) in three colours that you choose, with a pattern the game picks (see the quilt corner);
• one word from a reviewed list, such as Cedar, Lantern or Thistle, different for everyone in the group;
• the time of each daily puzzle they solved on its own day;
• the level they are up to, how many levels they cleared and how many of those earned three stars since Monday;
• their current streak, with its brain badge.

Nothing else is shown: not your name, email, location, device or settings, and not the puzzle you are in the middle of.

Starting a group

1. Open Settings, Social. Nothing else needs turning on first: the game makes an anonymous player number for this device when you create or join your first group, and sends no progress.
2. In Settings, Social, under Friends groups, tap Create a group.
3. Pick three colours. You see your avatar update as you pick. The game chooses the pattern and gives you a word.
4. The first time, read and tick the agreement to share with your groups, then tap Create the group.
5. The group has its own badge and word, and a ten-character code to share with friends. Copy the invitation (a link plus the code), or use Send… to share it with a message app.

Joining from an invitation link

The easiest way in is the link a friend sends you. Open it and the game walks you through it: it shows the group, asks you to agree to sharing with the group (one box, the first time only), lets you pick three colours, and joins you. If you have never played, you can try a practice puzzle first and the invitation waits. The link holds only the group's code, after a #, so merely opening it does not send the code to our server; the game sends it only to look up the group when you continue. If the link does not work (the group is full, the code was changed, or you are in five groups) the game says so. On an iPhone, the Home Screen app and Safari keep separate data: if you play in one and open the link in the other you become a second player, so open it in the one you play in, or use Add a device afterwards.

Joining with a code

1. Open Settings, Social, Friends groups, Join with a code.
2. Type the code, pick your three colours, tick the agreement the first time, and tap Join the group.

A group holds at most twenty people, and you can be in up to five groups. Nobody in a group can have the same word or the same avatar as someone else in it.

The board

Open a group to see its board, with three tabs:

• Daily: everyone's time for a chosen day, fastest first, with a strip of dots for the last seven days. Use the arrows to look at earlier days.
• Levels: everyone ranked by the level they are up to (the same number the Levels button shows), with this week's climb underneath, such as "+12 this week · 5 × ★★★", the number of levels that reached three stars since Monday.
• Streak: everyone ranked by their current streak, with the brain badge for its size and metal (see streaks, brains and metals).

Your own row is outlined and in bold. Your time appears after you solve the daily on its own day. Solving it later from the calendar does not appear on the board, as in the streak rules. Your level and streak are sent when you win something and when you open the board.

Private labels

Tap any word on the board to give that person a label that only you see ("Mom", "Alex"). The label is stored on your device and is never sent anywhere, and it does not change what the group sees. Labels do not travel with sync. You can also name a whole group (Family, Work): tap its title on the board; that name is private in the same way. To keep them on a new phone, tick Include the nicknames I gave group members when you make a game code, and tick Also copy the nicknames when you load it.

Looking after a group

• Leave any time with Leave the group. When you leave your last group your daily times and weekly record are deleted from the server.
• The person who created the group can remove a member, change the code (the old code stops working at once) or delete the group for everyone. If the creator leaves, the longest-standing member takes over.
• Share the code only with people you want in. Anyone who has it can join, up to the limit.

Is it fair?

Times and levels are reported by each player's own device and are not checked, so this is a friendly board, not a competition. There are no prizes. The Terms say the same. Hints cost nothing on the daily and never affect a streak, so the board is about solving and showing up.