How to play ZooBreak
ZooBreak is a tile-matching puzzle. Animals are stacked in cages, you move the ones you can reach into a holding pen, and three identical animals open their cage and break free.
The five steps
- Find a reachable animal. Animals with nothing on top of them are drawn in full colour. Covered ones are faded and cannot be tapped.
- Tap it into the holding pen. The animal slides down into the pen. You have seven spaces.
- Line up three of a kind. When two identical animals are already in the pen, the next matching tap completes the set. A small badge shows the count of each pair.
- Free them. Three identical animals open their cage and all three break free in a burst of motion.
- Clear the whole board. Free every animal to complete the level. Fill the pen with no match left and the level ends.
Your tools
Seven tools, available on every level. Break, Light, Shuffle, Return and Reveal do not run out; Hint and Undo are limited. They are there so a tangled board is a puzzle rather than a dead end.
| Tool | What it does | Best used |
|---|---|---|
| Hint | Highlights an animal that will complete a match in the pen. | When the pen already holds a pair and you cannot spot the third. |
| Break | Frees three matching animals from anywhere in the pile, however deeply buried they are. | When the pen is full and no reachable animal matches. |
| Light | Lets your next tap reach any animal, even one buried under the pile. | When you know exactly which animal you need but cannot reach it. |
| Shuffle | Redistributes the remaining animals across the board. | When the top layer is a wall of one species and nothing matches. |
| Undo | Takes back your last move and returns the animal to its cage. | Immediately after a tap you regret. |
| Return | Returns one animal from the pen to the bottom of the cage, freeing a space. | When the pen is one space from full with no viable match. |
| Reveal | Briefly shows the animals hidden inside the deep cages. | Before committing a move that depends on a hidden animal. |
Winning habits
Clear edges before the centre
Animals on the outside of the pile are usually the shallowest. Clearing them first removes the easy work and opens up the deep stacks underneath.
Never let the pen fill up
Keep at least two spaces open. The moment all seven are occupied with no match available, the level ends immediately.
Count before you tap
Every animal counts towards three. A set only clears when all three are in the pen at once, so tracking pairs pays off.
Deep cages are a last resort
The stacked cages at the side of the board can introduce an animal you cannot match yet. Leave them until the main pile is down to a handful.
Save shuffle for a dead board
Shuffling early can put two animals of the same species on opposite sides of the pile. Use it when nothing on the board is reachable in a useful way.
Restarts are free
Boards are regenerated each time you replay a level, so a fresh start can be a better option than forcing a stuck one.
Common questions
What happens when the holding pen is full?
A full holding pen does not end the level. Use the Break tool to free three matching animals from anywhere in the pile, the Light tool to reach one animal that is buried, or the Return tool to put one animal back at the bottom of the cage.
What are the deep cages?
Deep cages are small stacks of animals placed to the side of the board. You can only take the animal on top of each stack, and the number badge shows how many are hidden underneath. Use the Reveal tool to see inside them briefly.
How do I get three stars on a level?
Three stars are awarded for finishing close to the theoretical minimum number of moves, which is the number of animals divided by three. Two stars are awarded for a moderately efficient clear.
Is every ZooBreak level solvable?
Yes. Each board is checked by an automatic solver during generation and regenerated until it can be cleared, so no level ships as impossible.
Does my progress sync between devices?
No. ZooBreak has no accounts and no server, so progress is stored in the browser on the device you played on. Clearing your browser data will reset it.
What is the best strategy for the harder levels?
Work the top of the pile first and clear edge animals before central ones, because central stacks are the most deeply buried. Keep at least two spaces free in the pen, and save shuffle and reveal for when the board is genuinely tangled.
Ready?
Level 1 takes about a minute.
Play ZooBreak