3-8 min
Screw Pin Puzzle

Screw Pin Puzzle

Puzzle

Unscrew the coloured pins holding a stack of overlapping plates, with only two or three boxes to park them in.

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Screw Pin Puzzle is a free online unscrew game that runs in the browser with no download and no account. A stack of metal plates overlaps across the board, each one bolted down by coloured pins, and a pin can only be turned when no plate above it covers the hole. Every pin you remove has to go into a holder box, each box takes one colour and holds three, and a box only leaves when it is full. That is the whole squeeze: turn pins greedily and every box ends up holding a single stray colour with plates still bolted down. Twelve levels tighten it from three boxes and two colours to two boxes and six, and the last plate can only come off when the order was right. Every board is checked by a solver before you see it, so a jam is always your ordering rather than the deal.

How to play Screw Pin Puzzle

  1. The board is a stack of plates, each bolted down by coloured pins. Tap a pin to unscrew it.
  2. A pin dimmed out is under a plate on a higher layer. Take that plate off first and the hole opens up.
  3. When a plate loses its last pin it drops away, which is the only thing that frees the pins beneath it.
  4. Every pin you turn goes into a holder box below the board. A box that is still blank takes whatever colour arrives; after that it only takes that one.
  5. Three pins of one colour fill a box, the box leaves, and a fresh blank one takes its place.
  6. A pin ringed in red is reachable but has nowhere to go — every box is full or claimed by another colour.
  7. If nothing at all can come out, the board is jammed: undo a few turns or replay it. Undo is unlimited.
  8. Clear every pin to finish the level. Doing it with no undos at all is three stars.

Tips

  • A blank box is the most valuable thing on the screen. Spending one on a colour that already has an open box is how most jams start.
  • Count before you tap. If a colour has six pins on the board, that is exactly two boxes — so leaving four of them for later means a box has to sit half full while you work.
  • Look for a plate with a single pin left. That is a free plate removal, and the holes it opens are usually the point of the level.
  • Work the colour you have most of. Filling one box completely gives the slot back, which is worth more than removing two plates.
  • On the two-box levels the order is almost forced. Find the colour that appears in the top layer three times and start there.
  • A pin ringed in red is a warning, not a wall. It usually means one more pin of an open colour would clear a box and free the slot it needs.
  • Undo costs stars but never progress, so on a fresh board it is cheaper to explore two turns deep and undo than to replay from the top.

FAQ

Is Screw Pin Puzzle free to play?

Yes. It runs in the browser with no download, no sign-up and nothing to buy. All twelve levels are included and unlock in order.

Can a board be impossible?

Not the deal. Every board is run through a solver before you see it, and it is re-dealt if the solver cannot finish it. A jam mid-board is real, though — it comes from the order you took the pins in, which is why undo is unlimited.

How is this different from Nut Sort Puzzle here?

Nut Sort is a pouring game: every nut is visible on a bolt and the question is which stack to pour onto. Here the pins are physically blocked by the plates above them, and the limit is not stack space but the number of holder boxes — two or three at a time, each locked to one colour.

Why is a pin dimmed out?

Because a plate on a higher layer covers its hole. Covered pins stay drawn rather than hidden, since planning which plate to strip first is most of the game.

What does the red ring around a pin mean?

That the pin is reachable but there is nowhere to put it: every box is either full or already claimed by a different colour. Fill an open box first and the ring goes away.

Why do boxes hold exactly three?

It is the number the genre settled on, and it is what makes the colour counts work out — every colour on a board appears a multiple of three times, so no pin is ever left over with no box that could take it.

Is there a timer?

No. Nothing on the board moves until you tap, so you can plan a full teardown before the first pin comes out.

Does it work on a phone?

Yes. The board is portrait-shaped, the pins are large round tap targets, and the holder row sits directly under the board where a thumb reaches.