Rotate Rings Level 8 Walkthrough

Level 8 · Beginner · 7 rings, 5 clamps, 5 turns. Gap angles and clamp owners were measured from the level's own board picture, and the numbered image on this page uses the same numbers.

A chain with one busy ring. One ring in the middle of this chain holds three others, so its own turn has to wait until those three are clear.

How the rings work

• Every ring is a circle with a gap cut out of it. Two rings that touch are joined by a clamp: a small coloured block on a short neck, and the block presses down on the rim of the ring it holds.
• The block is the colour of the ring that owns it, and the neck runs back to that ring. So you never have to guess which ring a clamp belongs to — look at the colour of the block.
• A held ring comes free by turning until its gap reaches the clamp. The clamp does not move; the gap travels to it.
• A ring held by more than one clamp needs one turn per clamp. Nobody here turns more than twice, but that is still why the level takes 5 turns rather than 7.
• Work from the outside in. Start with the rings that hold nobody, so that by the time you need a clamp its owner ring has not moved yet and the clamp is still where the picture says it is.

The board at a glance

How to read the numbered picture

• The red numbers are the turn order, and each number is drawn on the ring that turns at that step.
• The thin arc and arrow on the outside of a ring show which way it turns; the length of the arc is roughly how far.
• When one ring has to turn twice, its two numbers can crowd together. A short line points each number back at the ring it belongs to.
• The angles say where the gap has to end up. In game you do not need to be exact — stop turning as soon as the ring slips out of the clamp.

Turn order

Step 1 — Blue ring, above

• Turn: clockwise about 90°.
• Why: the clamp holding it belongs to the purple ring below it.
• After this turn: it separates from the purple ring below it, which was its last clamp — this ring is free.

Step 2 — Light blue ring, left

• Turn: anticlockwise about 170°.
• Why: the clamp holding it belongs to the orange ring at the below.
• After this turn: it separates from the orange ring at the below. This ring is still clamped elsewhere, so it comes back at step 3.

Step 3 — Light blue ring, left

• Turn: clockwise about 80°.
• Why: the clamp holding it belongs to the orange ring at the lower left.
• After this turn: it separates from the orange ring at the lower left, which was its last clamp — this ring is free.

Step 4 — Orange ring, lower right

• Turn: anticlockwise about 180°.
• Why: the clamp holding it belongs to the light green ring to the upper left.
• After this turn: it separates from the light green ring to the upper left, which was its last clamp — this ring is free.

Step 5 — Light green ring, right

• Turn: anticlockwise about 150°.
• Why: the clamp holding it belongs to the orange ring at the below.
• After this turn: it separates from the orange ring at the below, which was its last clamp — this ring is free.

Pro tips

• The light blue ring is the one that works hardest. It turns twice (left), once for each clamp pressing on it. Clear it before any ring it holds, or one of those clamps will have moved by the time you need it.
• The turns run from 80° to 180°. The smaller ones are the ones to take slowly: at 80° the gap lands on the clamp almost immediately, and it is easy to overshoot and carry it past.
• The direction is not the same all the way through. Step 1 goes clockwise and step 2 goes anticlockwise — and it swaps back again further down, so read the arrow beside each red number instead of assuming the ring keeps spinning the same way.

Level 8 in short

Once the busy ring is empty it can be turned, and the last links come free.

If the board still will not open, the ring you are turning is probably not the one that is stuck — the clamps on a ring always give way in the order above, one at a time. Watch the video on this page for the same sequence played out at full speed, or take the next level from the links below.