Scry the Grid — a cauldron-warding tile game
The Sun — Games & Amusements

Scry the Grid

A Cauldron-Warding Game of Nerve and Second Sight

Double, double, toil and trouble — every seer knows the old warning by heart, but few are ever asked to prove it. Scry the Grid hands you a field of covered tiles, some hiding nothing at all, some hiding a cauldron fixing to boil over the moment you touch it. Read the signs the safe tiles leave behind, mark what you suspect, and clear the board without waking a single one.

How It Works

Beneath the grid, a set number of cauldrons sit hidden at random. Every tile you turn over that is not itself a cauldron will show you a small number, a count of how many cauldrons are lurking in the tiles touching it. No number at all means nothing dangerous is anywhere nearby, and the safe ground opens up around it on its own. Your first tile is always safe, so start wherever you like. Mark the tiles you have puzzled out as dangerous with a warding sigil rather than risk a careless tap, and use the numbers around them to work outward. Clear every tile that is not a cauldron and the board is yours. Full instructions live inside the game — look for the "How to Play" button.

The Goal

Reveal every tile on the grid that is not hiding a cauldron.

How to Play

  • Click or tap a covered tile to scry it. If it holds a cauldron, that cauldron bubbles over and the game ends.
  • If the tile is safe, it shows a number — how many cauldrons sit among the up to eight tiles touching it.
  • A blank tile means no cauldrons are adjacent at all, and the safe ground around it opens up automatically.
  • Right-click, or press and hold on a touch screen, to mark a tile with a warding sigil once you are confident it hides a cauldron. Flagged tiles cannot be scried by accident.

Reading the Numbers

Work outward from the open ground. If a numbered tile has exactly that many warded neighbors already marked, every other neighbor is safe to scry. If it has no warded neighbors yet, use the count to narrow down which of its covered neighbors are the true danger before you commit.

Difficulty

  • Novice — a small 9×9 grid with 10 cauldrons, good for a quick sit.
  • Adept — a 12×12 grid with 24 cauldrons.
  • Coven Master — a full 16×16 grid with 50 cauldrons, for a proper long working.

Tip: the very first tile you scry is always guaranteed safe — open with whichever tile calls to you.

“Double, double toil and trouble; fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

10
Cauldrons
000
Seconds
Scry a tile to begin. Right-click or long-press to ward a suspected cauldron.
· ✦ ·

There is no message from the cards waiting in this one — just the grid, the count, and the old warning kept in the back of your mind while you work: fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

From the Sun Chapter Not everything hidden means you harm.
But the ones that do give warning first,
if you know enough to count the signs.