Foldouts
Fold the paper, and punch through every layer at once. Make the pattern of holes in as few punches as it takes.
Hard Foldouts patterns
Hard patterns are on an 8×8 sheet, with around sixteen holes in five to seven punches. Every one needs a fold off the middle, which stacks just part of the sheet, and two folds at once.
Practice gives you patterns you haven't made yet, as many as you like, and keeps your best time without hints. Every pattern is made and checked by a computer, and the punches you get are the fewest that can make it.
How to play Foldouts
- The rings on the sheet are the pattern: every ring needs a hole cut through it.
- Fold the paper: drag it over, the way you'd bring an edge across by hand, or tap one of the tabs along its edges. The smaller side folds over the bigger one.
- Tap to punch. A punch goes through every layer at once, so folded in half, one punch cuts two holes, and folded in quarters, four.
- Make the whole pattern with no more punches than you're given: the fewest there are.
A punch is only allowed where every layer wants a hole, so you never cut one in the wrong place. Where a ring is solid, a punch goes through; the number in it is how many holes it cuts. A dashed ring means only some of the layers there want a hole. You can punch at any stage, then unfold, fold another way and punch again. The small map beside the punches shows the whole pattern, and the holes cut so far. Undo has no limit, and Ctrl+Z takes an action back. On a keyboard, tab to the paper, pick a place with the arrow keys and press Enter to punch, or tab to a fold tab and press Enter to fold.
Solving tips
- Look for the mirror. If the pattern is the same on both sides of a line, fold along it, and every punch cuts a hole on each side.
- Fold deepest first. Make the punches that go through the most layers first, then unfold one fold at a time and fill in the rest.
- Not every crease is in the middle. On hard and expert, folding off the middle stacks just part of the sheet: look for a pattern that repeats near one edge.
- Stuck? A hint shows the next fold, unfold or punch of a way that works, and the map lights up the holes it's working toward.