How to play POPCHAIN
POPCHAIN is a jelly popping puzzle dressed up as a livestream. You are the streamer: every run starts with a handful of viewers, and every good pop brings more of them into the chat. Runs last from about thirty seconds to a few minutes.
The first thirty seconds
- Tap a group. Jellies in six colors fall into a glass jar. Jellies of one color that touch form a group. Tap any group of three or more and the whole group pops.
- Let groups grow. Points grow with the square of the group size: one group of ten pays far more than three groups of three. The first run shows you this with a spotlight on the biggest group in the jar.
- Keep the combo. Pop again quickly and the combo multiplier climbs. A tap on a lone jelly breaks the combo and drops a few extra jellies in, so aim before you tap.
- Watch the dashed line. A dashed line runs across the top of the jar. If jellies stay above it for two seconds, the stream ends.
The first run walks you through these four steps. You can skip it, and you can watch it again any time from the link at the foot of Settings.
Stirring
Drag your finger through the jar and the jellies follow it, so scattered jellies of one color meet and become one big group. A stir is a move you earn: you hold up to three, shown as dots under the swirl button at the bottom left, and each drag uses one. Pop seven or more jellies with a single tap and a stir comes back.
Combos, chains and FEVER
- Combo: the counter under the score. It grows with every quick pop and resets after a pause or a missed tap.
- Chain: when popped jellies make room and new groups join on their own as the pile settles, you earn a chain bonus without tapping.
- FEVER: fast pops fill the meter under the score. When it is full, every point counts three times for a few seconds. Save your biggest groups for it.
- Bomb and rainbow: a pop of seven or more leaves a bomb that clears everything around it; eleven or more leaves a rainbow that clears a whole color.
The live show
The viewer count at the top left is your health bar and your scoreboard at once. Big pops, long combos and FEVER bring viewers in; missed taps and a pile near the line make them drift away. The chat reacts to what you do, the six jelly hosts (Bibi, Zap, Pip, Bloop, Impy and Miso) comment on your runs, and a caster calls the big moments in your language. None of it is real: there is no camera, no other people watching and no chat from strangers. It is all part of the game.
Special jellies
- Paint drops dye the jellies they land on one color.
- Bass speakers make every jelly in the jar jump.
- Ice freezes a jelly until you pop next to it.
- Goo spreads slowly until you clean it by popping beside it.
- Coin bubbles float up now and then. Tap them for coins.
Three ways to play
Story
300 hand made shows across 20 worlds. Each show has a timer and one to three goals, such as popping forty jellies, reaching a combo or catching coin bubbles, and pays up to three stars. Every world has harder shows and a finale. After the last show, new seasons remix the tour.
Marathon
The endless stream. The drop speed rises as you go, new jelly types join in, and your best score goes on the leaderboard.
Today's Show
One sixty second show a day, the same for everyone, with a twist such as Bomb Party or Ice Age. You get three tries.
Boosters
Before a run you can pack up to three boosters into the dock under the jar. They are used only when you tap them.
- Bomb: time slows and your next touch drops a bomb there.
- 2X score: thirty seconds of double points.
- Shield: clears the top of the pile, or saves you once from an overflow.
Five tips
- Do not pop every group you see. Let two groups of one color grow toward each other, then stir them together.
- A seven group pays back the stir you spent to make it.
- Keep one side of the jar for a color you are saving and pop on the other side.
- Hold the bomb for the moment the pile reaches the dashed line.
- In Story, read the goals first. A show that asks for coin bubbles needs a different plan than one that asks for score.