01
It starts at 4
The ball leaves the entry at speed 4. Rails and bends cost a little, chutes and drops give it back, and a plate takes a lot away at once.
See how it runsFREE · OPTIONAL ONE-TIME COMPLETE UNLOCK
Three decks · eight parts · one budget
Lay the route.
Seat the magnets.
Release the ball.
Every piece you lay spends speed or gives it back. The ball has to reach the cup, and it has to get there slowly enough to be caught.
The goal, in plain words
Get the ball to the cup, and get it there slowly.
Lay a route to the cup.
The box is the cage and it is three decks deep. The parts you lay are modules; the ball leaves the entry and has to finish in the cup. Everything else is speed: one number, carried by the ball, spent and earned by every piece it crosses.
Read the budget
Speed is the whole puzzle.
There is no timer and nothing hidden. One number decides everything, and every part you lay moves it.
02
Below 1 it stops. Above 14 it leaves
Run out of speed and the ball rocks to a halt where it stands. Carry too much and it flies off the track. Both ends of the budget are real.
03
The cup catches at 6
A ball arriving faster than 6 rides straight over the lip. Reaching the cup is half the problem; arriving slow enough is the other half.
Every piece in the cage wears its own speed: a scale let into its rails fills as far as the ball will be going when it leaves.
Eight parts
Each one is a line of arithmetic you can see.
These are the descriptions the game itself gives you when you pick a part up. Nothing is hidden behind them.
Rail
A straight run. Costs 1. With a magnet on it, costs nothing.
FreeBend
A quarter turn. Costs 2. With a magnet, 1.
FreeChute
A slide down to the deck below. Adds 3. With a light magnet, 4. With a strong one, 5.
FreeDrop
An open fall to the deck below. Adds 4. A light magnet slows the fall so it adds 2. A strong one holds it to a steady drop that adds nothing.
FreePlate
A flat landing. Takes the ball from any side or from above. Costs 2. A light magnet brakes it by 5. A strong one by 8.
FreeGate
A flap the ball pushes through. Costs 2. The ball must arrive at speed 5 or more, or 3 with a magnet.
CompleteLatch
A bar across the track that only a magnet can lift. With a magnet on it the ball passes and it costs 1. Without one, the ball stops here.
CompleteHoist
Lifts the ball up to the deck above. Costs 5. Needs a strong magnet on it, and the ball must arrive at speed 8 or more.
CompleteMagnets are not parts. Each cage hands you a fixed few, and seating one changes what the piece under it does.
What is in the cage
The room itself has something to say.
Every cage above Beginner carries a fitting of its own, named on the card before you lay a part. Tap any picture to enlarge it, then step through with the arrows.
A deck made of something else
A ring the ball must pass through
Two at once
- Greased deck: anything rolling on it costs 1 less.
- Rough deck: anything rolling on it costs 1 more.
- Ring: it arms the cup, and the ball has to go through it.
- Pole blocks: magnets bolted to the frame. A bare piece there acts as if it has a light one.
- Shielded cells: a magnet seated in one does nothing.
- Draught: air across the cage. Run with it for 1 less, into it for 1 more.
- Drip: water down one column. Falling gains 1, anything else costs 1.
- Filings: a magnet passing through picks them up, and that costs 2.
Six cages
The ladder is how much room you are given.
Each rung grows the cage, lengthens the route and introduces one more idea. The first three are free and complete in themselves.
3 cells · 4 parts
An empty cage and a short route. Learn what each part costs.
Free3 cells · 6 parts
A deck is greased or rough cast, and one spar is in the way.
Free4 cells · 8 parts
The ring arrives, and the tray starts holding parts you do not need.
Free5 cells · 11 parts
Gates and latches enter the tray; pole blocks and shielded cells enter the cage.
Complete5 cells · 14 parts
Hoists, a draught across the cage or water down a column, and a tight budget.
Complete6 cells · 16 parts
Two fittings at once, seven spars, and filings that cling to a live magnet.
CompleteCages are generated, so the ladder never runs out: every one is checked solvable before it is dealt.
LodeCage Complete
One payment. A deeper machine.
The three free tiers stay free and complete. The unlock adds the parts and the rooms that change how the puzzle works rather than just how long it is:
- Bigger cages: five and six cells a side, with spars in the way.
- The full parts list: gates, latches and hoists enter the tray.
- Cages with something in them: pole blocks, shrouded cells, a draught across the cage, water down a column, and loose filings.
- Longer routes: eleven to sixteen modules, on a tight speed budget.
App Store availability and final pricing will appear here when the listing is live.
A Mountain Bolt puzzle
Build. Release. Catch.
A steel cage, a handful of parts, and one number to spend. No ads, no tracking, no timers.