Solving pin puzzles in the right order: danger, then gold, then the path
In a pull the pin game, the pin you pull first should be the one that deals with the danger. Next comes the pin that drops the reward (gold, balls, treasure) where you want it, and only then the pin that opens the hero's path. Open the path too early and the hero walks into a compartment you have not cleared yet, or something lands on his head. This order will not crack every level on its own, but it rules out most bad attempts before you make them.
Each compartment on the board is held shut by a pin. Pull one and whatever sat behind it falls; the puzzle is deciding when each piece may move.
How to play a pull the pin game, step by step
- When a level opens, look at the board. The hero or the goal waits somewhere, and the compartments around it hold lava, water, rocks, monsters, gold or coloured balls.
- Click a pin, or tap it on a phone, and it slides out. The compartment it held empties. Pull The Pin works a little differently: there you drag the pin out of its slot with the mouse or your finger.
- Whatever was released drops into the compartment or channel below. Lava burns, rocks crush, water flows, gold piles up.
- If the hero gets hurt, the level restarts. It ends when the hero reaches the goal (a chest, a friend, the exit), or when every ball lands in the cup.
- There is usually no clock. Pull Him Out Online and Pull The Pin reward the right order rather than speed, and you get as many attempts as you want.
Read the board before you pull: four questions
A few seconds of looking beats three failed tries:
- What is this pin holding? Some pins hold nothing at all, only a doorway. Pull one and nothing falls; a path simply opens.
- Where will the released thing land? Is there an empty compartment below the pin, the hero, or another pin?
- What happens when two materials meet? Hero Rescue Puzzle asks you outright to send the lava onto the monsters and the water onto the fire. In many pin puzzles water takes the danger out of lava; watch how your game handles it once, early on.
- What happens if I never pull this pin? You do not have to pull them all. On some boards the right move is to leave one pin alone.
A worked example: lava, water, monster and gold
Picture the board as three columns. The left column has lava at the top, a horizontal pin below it, and a monster underneath. The middle column has a heap of gold at the top with a horizontal pin under it. The hero stands bottom right, and a vertical pin works as a door between him and the middle compartment.
The tempting move is to free the hero at once. Pull the door and he strolls into the middle while the monster is still alive and the gold still up top. Level over.
The right order: pull the left pin first, so the lava drops and burns the monster. Pull the middle pin next, so the gold spills onto the floor the hero will walk across. Pull the vertical door last. The hero crosses a clear, safe floor and scoops up the gold. Danger, then gold, then the path.
Three layouts that cost you the level
1. The path pin sits right under the danger pin
Trouble starts when the pin in front of the hero is directly below the pin holding the lava upstairs. Open the doorway first and the hero moves forward; then, as you try to steer the lava somewhere else, it pours through the gap he just walked through. On this layout, empty the lava into another compartment first, ideally on top of a monster. Rescue Fairy Castle builds the same idea around a goblin: on some levels you drop the goblin into the lava before you let the fairy pass.
2. Gold and monster share the same floor
Dropping gold while the monster is still alive is the classic trap. The gold piles up, and the hero has to cross the monster's compartment to reach it. Hero Rescue builds this layout a lot, and its advice is blunt: gold must always pour onto the hero's route, because gold that flows the wrong way is gone for good. Knock the monster out with lava or a falling rock first, then release the gold.
3. Rock and water in one compartment, or an open trap channel
If one compartment holds both a rock and water and you release them with a single pin, the rock can block the path the water needed. The tip from Pull Him Out Online fits here: drain the water first and let the weight of the rock open the remaining path. Ball games follow the same logic with trap channels. In Pull The Pin, close the trap channels at the bottom first and move to the upper pins afterwards, or the coloured balls run into the trap instead of the cup.
Tactics for finding the order faster
Work backwards. Picture the final frame: hero next to the treasure, route clean. What has to happen just before that? Rescue Fairy Castle gives the same advice: decide what should happen last and work back from there.
Test one pin, watch, reset. On a board you are unsure about, pull a single pin and see what it does. If it goes badly, hit restart. Pin Rescue says it plainly: losing a level is not a punishment, it is the quickest way to learn what each pin holds.
Save the lowest pin for later. Pin Rescue notes that the bottom pin usually comes out last, once the blockers above it are cleared.
Look for a second route. Once the danger is handled, check the remaining pins again. Many Hero Rescue levels hide a second way through, and it often runs closer to the gold.
Common mistakes
- Opening the hero's door on move one. The path opens last.
- Trying to pull every pin. An unnecessary pin sometimes springs the trap.
- Ignoring the direction of flow. Lava runs downhill; if it has a route onto the hero, close that route first.
- Pulling at random when stuck. Restarting and reading the board again is faster than a string of lucky guesses.
Which game to practise with
A gentle start built on rocks and water, with few traps, for learning the basic order:
The classic lava, water and monster trio that drills the danger-first rule:
Teaches you to land the gold on the right floor and hunt for a second route:
Calm levels with a goblin and lava that train backwards thinking:
Short rescue levels that suit playing alongside a child:
If you would rather think in ball flow than in heroes, the drag-to-pull version:
The Puzzle games guide shows where pin puzzles sit among other logic games, and the Adventure games guide covers more treasure and rescue themes. The full shelf lives in the puzzle category.
Frequently asked questions
Does every pull the pin level have exactly one solution?
Most levels have one correct order, and a few allow two. The tips for Hero Rescue Puzzle and Pull The Pin point to a single right sequence, while Hero Rescue says many of its levels leave a second route open.
Can I play these on my phone?
All six games in this article run on phones. In most of them a tap on the pin is enough; in Pull The Pin you drag the pin out with your finger.
Are pin puzzles suitable for kids?
Play comes down to single taps. Rescue Fairy Castle is described as a child-friendly puzzle without violence, and Pin Rescue uses a light cartoon style rather than scary scenes. Younger children may struggle with the order at first; sitting next to them and asking together what each pin holds makes it easier.