How to play Mothfolio

A visual guide · Read your first pair of clues

Your goal

Follow two little clues to a hidden signal.

Find the four hidden light cards, in order. Compose a draft, press Check and compare the two counts in your notebook. Symbols can repeat. You have eight untimed probes per signal, and as many signals as you like.

Simplified teaching diagrams. This fictional practice signal is shown in advance so you can check each clue. It is separate from your game; your active signal stays hidden.

01Check a draft and read both counts

Three cards match, all in other positions

For the shown practice signal, Star, Moon, Leaf, Drop gives 0 In place and 3 Elsewhere. Three hidden cards match this draft in other positions. No card is marked individually, and zero is a useful clue too.

In place counts matching symbols in the correct positions. Elsewhere counts matching symbols in other positions. These are totals for the whole draft. They do not identify which cards match, and each hidden card counts only once.

Click or tap a draft position, then a symbol. The selection advances to the next position, stopping at position 4. Choose any position again to edit it. Draft edits are free.
With focus in the composer, Left and Right move between positions and keys 1 to 6 insert available symbols. Press Enter on the composer to Check. Tab and Shift Tab reach the buttons; Enter and Space activate a focused button.
The first draft is ready in your real game. Press Check to collect a clue, then change the draft. An identical submitted draft is refused for free; a different order is a new probe.

02Compare the notebook, then change the draft

Three positions now match

Moon, Star, Leaf, Moon gives 3 In place and 0 Elsewhere against the shown practice signal. Three positions are correct. The counts still do not tell you which positions they are; compare the earlier clue as you plan your next draft.

Repeated symbols have a limit

The practice signal contains two Moons. A draft of four Moons gives 2 In place and 0 Elsewhere. Its other two Moons cannot match cards that are not there. This is a separate example, outside the three-probe lesson.

Recognise every symbol

Names and shapes stay with their colours. Star, Moon, Leaf and Drop are available from the start. Sun joins at signal 3 and Ring at signal 5. From then on, every signal uses the same six-symbol alphabet.

03Find all four positions

Four In place means a solve

Moon, Star, Drop, Moon exactly matches the shown practice signal. Probe 3 earns 150 points: 100 for the solve, plus 10 for each of the five unused probes. The award happens once, when the signal is solved.

A signal ends with a solve, Reveal or eight unsuccessful probes. Reveal first asks you to Confirm Reveal; Cancel returns to your draft for free. A confirmed reveal or eight misses shows this signal for zero points and keeps all points you earned earlier. An exact solve on probe 8 still earns 100 points.

04Keep exploring at your own pace

Points come from solved signals

A solve on probe 1 earns 170 points; probe 2 earns 160; probe 8 earns 100. Partial matches and draft edits add no points. There is no clock, last signal or penalty for taking time to read.

After a solve or reveal, Next Signal starts another hidden signal and a fresh notebook. It keeps your total. Signal layouts can repeat, and play continues with all six symbols from signal 5 onward.
Bank whenever you like to finish your run. An unfinished signal adds no points and stays hidden. Banking partway through the signal after the 150-point practice solve would keep all 150.
You can Bank before solving anything, for zero points. Play Again starts a fresh run; Menu returns to the games.

Play Mothfolio