How to Play Jelmata

Players take turns placing cells on empty spaces. Cells connect orthogonally — up, down, left, and right. Diagonals don't count. A connected group of same-color cells is called a “component.”

Your score is the product of your component sizes. The bold number in each group marks its total size. Green has groups of 4 and 2, so the score is 4 × 2 = 8. The pulsing cell shows a move that would grow the smaller group to 3.

Green played the pulsing cell from Step 1, growing the smaller group to 3. Score = 4 × 3 = 12.

Splitting into multiple groups often scores higher than building one large group. Be careful connecting two large groups — merging groups of 4 and 2 into one group of 7 would drop your score from 8 to 7.

The game ends when all spaces are filled. The player with the highest total score wins!

Numbered badges show which cells belong to each component. Count the cells in each group, then multiply all group sizes for the final score.

AI Difficulty

• Easy — Plays random moves. The friendliest opponent for your very first games.
• Medium — Prefers open areas and high-scoring moves, but often passes up the best one.
• Hard — Hand-tuned: rewards scoring, avoids merging into big groups. Tough static play with a learnable counter.
• Elite — Tournament-strength AI trained through self-play.

Mirror Rule

On a symmetric board, the second player could guarantee a draw by reflecting the first player's moves. Jelmata detects mirror strategies including reflections (vertical, horizontal, diagonal) and rotations (90°, 180°, 270°). If every second-player move mirrors the first player's for three or more consecutive turns, they forfeit.

Score Gain Overlay

Long-press any cell to see that player's score gains and losses on each empty space. You can also long-press a player's score in the header.

Green's perspective (score = 4 × 2 = 8):

The +4 cell would grow Green's smaller group to 3, making the score 4 × 3 = 12. But the −1 cell merges both groups into one, dropping the score to 7 — bigger isn't always better!

Cyan's perspective (score = 2 × 3 × 1 = 6):

Notice how the same empty cells have different values from each player's perspective. The +6 cells are especially strong for Cyan because they bridge two separate groups.