A Complete Turtle Board, Step by Step

One complete deal, with the reasoning made visible

This is a fixed teaching deal produced by Jade Tile Game's own Turtle-board generator. We recorded its removal path and checked each pair against the game's matching and open-tile rules. It is not a player-submitted win, a speed record, or a claim that this is the best solution.

Read the seven checkpoints below, or move through all 72 pairs. Gold outlines and the numbers 1 and 2 identify the next pair. Advance once to see it removed. Layer 1 is the bottom; layer 5 is the single top tile. Covered artwork is not revealed early. The move list contains spoilers, so inspect the board first if you want to reason from visible information.

Inspect the next pair

Move 1 of 72 · 144 tiles remain · 12 legal pairs

21

Gold + numbers: next pair · Mint dashed outline: newly opened by the previous move. On a phone, scroll the board sideways or turn the screen.

Next pair: 1 Circle (T124) + 1 Circle (T001). Both tiles are open. Removing them opens two more tiles.

This is a separate lesson. It has no countdown and does not change or save a live game. Going back here reviews an example; the main game still has no Undo.

Move 1 · 144 tiles before removal

Opening: follow both kinds of access

The first pair joins a one-circle tile on layer 3 to one on the bottom layer. Removing it makes a two-circle tile and a nine-bamboo tile open. This is a useful contrast: one match can change an outside row and an upper row at the same time. Before advancing, find each numbered tile and check its free side.

Do not assume that a newly open tile has a partner. The next move in this route is not necessarily one of the tiles just exposed.

Inspect move 1 on the board ↑

Move 12 · 122 tiles before removal

Early game: upper layers still need free sides

Move 12 removes two one-character tiles on layer 3. It opens a white dragon and the bird tile, one bamboo. The layer number describes height; it does not replace the side-access rule. Check both horizontal sides even when a tile is high on the board.

A visible white dragon is not an empty space. Its framed face is the tile design, and it needs another white dragon to match.

Inspect move 12 on the board ↑

Move 24 · 98 tiles before removal

Middle game: recognize the bird

Move 24 pairs two one-bamboo tiles. Their bird artwork looks unlike the bamboo sticks on ranks two through nine, but these two birds are an exact match. The removal opens four bamboo and eight characters.

Use the names below the board to check recognition. Matching across two different layers is allowed; being on the same layer is not a requirement.

Inspect move 24 on the board ↑

Move 36 · 74 tiles before removal

Halfway: fewer tiles does not mean fewer decisions

After move 36, 72 tiles remain. This seven-bamboo pair opens nine circles and a green dragon. Pause after the removal and scan the changed edges before looking elsewhere. Counting tiles alone says little about how easily the remaining partners can reach each other.

The recorded route is one valid continuation. It does not establish that every alternative at this point fails.

Inspect move 36 on the board ↑

Move 48 · 50 tiles before removal

A move can be legal without opening another tile

Move 48 removes two two-bamboo tiles but makes no additional tile open. It still belongs to a complete solution. This is why “always choose the move that opens the most tiles” is a useful comparison, not a rule that proves a win.

Do not label every quiet move a mistake. Compare which partners remain and whether a trapped copy needs one of them later.

Inspect move 48 on the board ↑

Move 60 · 26 tiles before removal

Endgame: name the next opportunity

Move 60 removes five bamboo from two bottom-layer rows and opens two south winds. Here you can name a newly available pair, rather than only counting two newly open tiles. The recorded route may take another legal pair first; the south winds are an opportunity, not an obligation.

With 24 tiles left after this move, trace which row ends block the remaining copies. A matching picture behind a neighbor still cannot be selected.

Inspect move 60 on the board ↑

Move 72 · 2 tiles before removal

Finish: what this example proves

Move 72 removes the final two eight-circle tiles. All 144 tiles have now been removed through legal matching pairs. The example proves that this specific deal has a removal path. It does not prove that any arbitrary sequence of legal moves will clear it.

This lesson has no timer or score. A live-game score also depends on timing, streaks and Hint use, so a score is deliberately not invented for this replay.

Inspect move 72 on the board ↑

The complete move list

Tile references T001–T144 identify positions in this teaching deal, not tile ranks. Select a move number to show the board immediately before that pair is removed. “Newly open” means selectable under the access rules; it does not necessarily mean matchable.

Take one habit back to your next game

Before removing a pair, name what it will change: a covered position, a row end, or the partners left for another copy. After removal, check those positions again. The aim is to make a better next decision, not memorize this particular deal.

Try the three choice exercises · Diagnose a stuck board · Play a new game