Lantern: Lead fireflies home
A dark garden strung with spider webs. You carry a small flame and the fireflies follow it. Lead them home to the jar without letting one touch the silk.
How to play
Press and hold anywhere in the garden. A flame lights at the end of your stick, and every firefly near it turns and comes to the light. Where you take the flame, they go.
- The verb: hold, and move the flame. You are leading them, not pushing them.
- The catch: they fly at their own speed. Move gently and the line follows your path. Move quickly and the tail of it cuts the corner.
- The danger: fireflies cannot see silk. You can. That is the whole job.
- The goal: lead the flame into the mouth of the jar, and they follow it in.
- Restart: always free, and it never costs you anything.
Your progress is saved automatically, so you always pick up where you left off.
Why it is clever
Everything turns on how fast you move your hand. Going slowly is safe, but slow means lingering beside spiders. Going quickly gets you across the garden, but the fireflies trail behind the flame rather than tracking it exactly, so every turn you take at speed swings the back of the line wide, and the silk is on the outside of the turns. There is a pace in between, and finding it is the game.
The other half is an asymmetry. You can see the webs and the fireflies cannot, so you are the only one in the garden who knows what is coming. Every firefly lost to silk is lost to something you were shown.
Every level can be finished. The webs are placed along the two walls of a corridor that runs from the fireflies to the jar, so a clear route always exists. It simply gets narrower, and it turns more often.
Tips
- Look at the whole course before you move. The route is already drawn for you, in the gaps.
- Take corners wide. The last firefly in the line is the one that clips the web.
- If one does get caught, go back for it. Hold the flame beside it and it will pull itself free.
- The jar holds fewer than the garden has, so a firefly or two can be lost. Not more than that.
Frequently asked questions
Is Lantern free? Yes, completely free to play, with no account or download, in any modern browser on phone, tablet or desktop.
Does it work on mobile? Yes, and it was built for a thumb first. The flame sits at the end of a stick so that your finger never covers the thing you are steering with.
How do I win? Fill the jar. The count at the top right tells you how many it holds.
What happens if a firefly touches a web? It is held, not lost. A spider starts walking out to it and takes about twelve seconds to arrive, which is plenty of time to bring your flame across and work it loose.
Is every level solvable? Yes. The webs line a corridor that always runs from the fireflies to the jar, so there is always a way through.
Stuck? Read the Lantern strategy guide
Like a game you play with your hands rather than your head? Try Tailwind or Ballast, or browse all Zamborin games.