puzzlechain-reactiontimedlab

Lab Meltdown

A chain reaction puzzle on a mad scientist's bench. Every blob takes two hits, so a match of three does not just clear itself: the blast cracks everything next to it, and cracked blobs pop in turn, so one well placed catalyst can run across the whole board. Drop your catalyst on an empty cell, match three or more of a colour, and clear the bench before the ninety second reactor timer runs out. Miss and your catalyst becomes another blob to deal with. Pick your bench from 5x5 to 10x10 and three to six chemicals.

▶ Play Lab MeltdownTap an empty cell to drop your catalyst

⚗️ LAB MELTDOWN

Drop catalysts on Dr. Fizzwhistle's bench. Match 3+ to detonate — every blast cracks its neighbors and sets off the next one. Clear the blobs before the reactor melts down.

Round 4 · Score 6,180 · Blobs: 11

REACTOR: 38s 🔥

“CASCADE! The lab coat is ruined!”

NEXT: ☣️ -5s

Tap empty cell to place · match 3+ to detonate · blasts crack 💥 neighbors · misses become blobs

⚡

💥

CHAIN ×3!

How to play

Dr. Fizzwhistle's bench is covered in blobs and the reactor is on a 90 second fuse. Tap any empty cell to drop the catalyst at the front of your queue. Get three or more of one colour touching, side by side rather than diagonally, and the whole group detonates. Clear every last blob before the timer runs out and the bench is yours.

Drop a catalyst that only touches one or two of its colour and nothing happens: it just sits there as another blob you now have to deal with. There is no undo, so a careless drop is a real cost.

1 · DROP

⚡

Your catalyst (⚡) lands on an empty cell and makes four Chillium touch.

2 · DETONATE

💥💥💥💥

The group goes up, and every blob it touched is left cracked (💥).

CHAIN ×3!

Any cracked blob that takes a second hit pops too, and its blast cracks the next ring out. That is the chain.

A chain, step by step: drop, detonate, and the cracked ring going up behind it.

💥

Everything takes two hits

This is the rule the whole game turns on. A blob needs two hits to pop, and a detonation deals one hit to each blob beside it. So a blob touching a single popping cell is only cracked, and wears a 💥 to show it. A blob touching two popping cells takes both hits at once and goes up in the next wave, cracking its own neighbours in turn. That is how one catalyst runs across half the bench.

The bench

Six chemicals exist, and a round uses the first three to six of them depending on your setting. They only ever match their own colour.

GoopiumPlasmiteChilliumKaboomiumVoidiumLemonium

An empty cell wears a dashed ring. These are the only places you can drop a catalyst, and every drop fills one in.

⚡The catalyst you just placed carries a ⚡ until it goes up. It is an ordinary blob in every other way, two hits and all.

💥A cracked blob (💥) has taken one hit and is one away from popping. Cracks are the map of your next chain: a blast that reaches one sets it off.

NEXT:☣️ -5s

The queue shows the catalyst you are dropping next and the two behind it, so you can plan two moves ahead. The ☣️ -5s button throws the front one away for a fresh colour and charges you five seconds.

The reactor

The bar across the top is your round timer. It runs green, turns amber at 45 seconds and red at 20, where it starts to bubble. Reach zero and the round ends in a meltdown, whatever the bench looks like.

REACTOR: 38s

Amber at 45 seconds, red at 20. Every flush costs five of them.

Scoring and rounds

Every wave of a chain pays more than the one before it: the first wave scores ten a blob, the second twenty, the third thirty, and so on. A four wave chain is worth far more than four separate pops, which is the whole reason to set up cracks rather than clear the easy match in front of you.

CHAIN ×4!

Clear the bench, keep the clock

Clearing every blob ends the round and banks a bonus of 25 points per second still on the reactor, so finishing fast is worth as much as playing well. The next round then starts with a denser bench, and it keeps thickening until roughly three cells in four begin filled.

Setting up the bench

Two dropdowns above the board change the shape of the game, and either one starts a fresh run from round one.

Bench size, from 5x5 up to 10x10. A small bench is tight and quick; a big one gives chains room to travel but leaves far more to clear in the same 90 seconds.

Chemicals, from three to six. Fewer colours mean matches everywhere and huge chains. Six colours make a match a real find.

Tips

Read the 💥 cracks before you drop. They are the fuse you already laid.
Aim for the middle of a clump, not the edge: a blast only spreads to what it touches.
A blob wedged between two members of your group is worth more than one hanging off the end, because it takes both hits at once.
Corners are where runs go to die. Clear them early, while you still have space to work.
The flush costs five seconds, so use it to avoid a wasted drop, not to hunt for a perfect colour.
Chasing the time bonus is usually worth more than one extra chain, so once the bench is nearly clear, just finish it.

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