A kitten has made a mess of its yarn, leaving you to sort out the crossed strings. In Yarn Untangled, published by Salt Pastel Studio and available for free on Woko Games, you move connected yarn balls around the screen until every string is clear. The controls are easy to learn, but finding the right arrangement takes some thought. A move that fixes one crossing can create another on the opposite side of the puzzle.
There’s no countdown timer, so you have time to follow each string and work out what needs to move. That suits a puzzle where a small adjustment can change the whole layout. You can spend a few minutes clearing an early stage or settle into a trickier arrangement and keep experimenting.
How the puzzles work
Each level starts with several yarn balls joined by strings. Dragging a ball changes the position of every string attached to it. Your goal is to arrange the balls so those strings no longer cross one another.
Picture four yarn balls at the corners of a square, with two connecting strings forming an X through the center. The crossing is easy to spot, but you still have to decide which ball to move and where to put it. Dragging one ball outside the square changes the angle of its string and may give you room to separate the two connections.
The strings stay attached as you move the balls, so the solution depends on their positions. You’re working out how to spread the same connections across the screen without letting them intersect. Once the arrangement is clear, you finish the level, and the kitten appears to celebrate.
Why one move can cause another problem
The harder part is keeping track of everything attached to the ball you’re moving. It’s easy to focus on a single red crossing and overlook a string that stretches across an already clear section. Then you release the ball, check the screen, and discover that the tangle has shifted somewhere else.
Moving one ball at a time makes these changes easier to understand. After each adjustment, look over the entire arrangement before touching another ball. If the move created a new crossing, follow the affected strings back to their endpoints. That gives you a reason for your next move instead of leaving you to drag things around at random.
The color changes help you read the puzzle. Watching tangled red lines turn yellow gives you feedback as you separate the strings. A section may look almost finished, but the remaining crossings still need attention before you can complete the stage.
A practical way to approach a tangled layout
Before moving anything, pick one crossing and trace both strings to the yarn balls at their ends. Check which of those balls has other connections. A ball attached to several strings needs particular attention because repositioning it affects more of the layout.
If the center looks crowded, try giving the balls more space. Spreading out part of the arrangement can make individual strings easier to follow, even if it doesn’t immediately solve the puzzle. From there, you can see which connections still pass through one another.
Once you’ve cleared a section, keep an eye on it while working elsewhere. A long drag across the screen can pull a string through that cleared area. Sometimes a nearby position does the job with fewer changes to the rest of the puzzle.
You also don’t have to preserve the shape you started with. A square or a tight cluster is simply the opening arrangement. If a ball needs to sit farther to the side to separate its strings, use that space. The goal is a layout with no crossings.
How the levels develop
The early levels use only a few yarn balls and straightforward connections, giving you room to learn how dragging affects the strings. As you progress, the arrangements change and require closer inspection. You’ll need to look beyond the most obvious crossing and consider where each connection leads.
The level selection screen shows locked stages that open as you play. That gives you a visible path forward, although each puzzle still asks you to stop and study a fresh arrangement. Solving the previous stage teaches you how the controls work; the next one makes you apply that understanding to a different layout.
A cat theme throughout
Yarn Untangled carries its kitten theme from the main menu into the puzzles. Tiny paw prints cover the light blue background, while purple yarn balls, pink outlines, and rounded buttons give the screens a soft, sticker-book look.
A gray-and-white kitten hugs a yarn ball above the title and returns when you complete a puzzle. The results screen also includes paw print and trophy icons. These details keep the game playful without requiring a long story to explain why you’re untangling strings.
The appeal is in watching a crowded arrangement become readable. At first, several strings may seem to run through the same patch of screen. After a few careful moves, you can follow each connection without losing track of it. Yarn Untangled is available for free on Woko Games, with untimed puzzles you can work through at your own pace.
