Clickety Clack Guide – How to Build Domino Runs That Never Stop and Get 3 Stars

Clickety Clack is a free domino game for your browser and phone. You draw lines of dominoes across the floor of a real-looking home, flick the first one and watch the wave run through the room in slow motion. Every domino is simulated, so a run only works if it would work on a real floor. This guide explains the rules the physics follows and how to get 3 stars on all 12 levels.

The basics

• Draw: drag with the left mouse button or one finger. Dominoes appear behind your pointer, always the same distance apart.
• Continue a chain: start dragging on top of an existing domino (the red starter or the last domino of a line). The new line carries on from it.
• GO: press Space or the green GO! button. The red starter domino gets a flick and the camera follows the wave.
• Move the view: right-drag or WASD with a mouse, two fingers on a phone. Zoom with the wheel or a pinch and turn the view with Q / E or a two-finger twist. On touch screens the Move button lets one finger pan.
• Fix things: Ctrl+Z (or the Undo button) takes back the last line, the Erase tool (key 2) wipes dominoes under your pointer, and R or the red button stops a run so everything stands back up.

Your layout is saved for every level, so you can stop a run, change one corner and try again without redrawing everything.

Stars

Every level has three stars:

1. Hit every target. Bells, cup pyramids, party poppers and giant dominoes marked with a glowing ring. In Picture Perfect you also need to reveal enough of the hidden picture.
2. Collect every coin. A coin is collected when a domino falls on top of it (or a toy car or boule rolls over it).
3. Use at most par dominoes. Par is shown as a green tick on the domino counter. The counter turns red when you go over it.

Stars only count when the first goal is met, so get the targets first and then trim your line.

What makes a chain stop

The physics follows the same rules as real dominoes:

• Spacing: the game lays dominoes at the ideal gap for you. Only overlapping lines or a big gap between two separate lines can break the chain.
• Bends: each domino can turn a little from the one before. The game rounds off sharp corners automatically, so draw wide curves around obstacles instead of tight zig-zags.
• Size: a domino can knock over one that is about 1.5 times its size, but not twice its size. That is why the growth lines in Bigger and Bigger step up slowly.
• Steps: chains can climb low steps such as the thin cookbooks in Cookbook Stairs. Come in straight before each step.
• Obstacles: a domino that hits a table leg, a wall or a mug simply leans on it. The chain ends there.

Splitting a chain

To hit two targets you need a fork. Draw your first line, then start a second line on the same end domino and drag it off to the other side. The game fits the first domino of the new branch next to the first branch, angled apart, so the end domino knocks over both. You can split again later on either branch.

Gadgets

• Desk bell: rings when a domino lands on it. That is all it needs.
• Cup pyramid: any domino that touches it sends the cups flying.
• Party popper: a confetti blast. Great as a final target.
• Toy car: knock it and it drives straight ahead the way it is facing. Every standing domino in its path is knocked over in the direction it drives, so you can start a new line on the far side of a puddle.
• Boule: rolls the way the domino that hits it falls. Line up the last few dominoes straight at the ball so it rolls where you want.
• Robot vacuum: it starts driving its loop when you press GO and shoves any standing domino it touches over sideways, which breaks the chain. Look at its dotted route and make sure the wave crosses its path before the vacuum gets there.

Level tips

Living Room. First Push is a warm-up: bend the line slightly through the coin. In Coffee Table Slalom, swing wide around the table legs and the slippers. Double Ding is the split tutorial: draw to the middle, then split to both bells.

Kitchen. In Spill Zone, dominoes can’t stand in the puddles, so follow the dry tiles. Cookbook Stairs is about climbing: draw straight along the books. Wet Floor Express needs the toy car: lead the first line into the back of the car, then start a second line where the car will drive on the other side of the wet floor.

Playroom. In Robo-Vac Rush the vacuum starts on the right edge of its loop, so cross its path on the left and on the top where it arrives late. Bigger and Bigger just needs the chain to reach the small end of the growth line. Picture Perfect asks you to zig-zag through the taped frame: every domino that falls inside reveals part of the picture. Keep about two domino lengths between your rows.

Garden Patio. Dominoes only stand on the paving, never on the lawn. In Boule Shot the chain must hit the boule straight on so it rolls across the grass to your second line. The Grand Finale combines everything: split near the start to send one branch to the party popper, one to the car and one to the giant dominoes, then catch the car’s path with a line that ends at the bell.

Free Build

Free Build has no targets and room for 2,000 dominoes. Pick a room, draw anything, colour lines with the paint swatches and drop in bells, cups, poppers, toy cars and boules (drag while placing a car or boule to aim it). Use the Push tool to choose which domino starts the run. Save up to 30 builds, rename, copy and delete them from the Free Build menu, and use Share to get a code a friend can paste into Import code.

Coins and skins

You earn coins for every domino you topple, every coin you collect, each win and each new star. Spend them on 8 domino skins: Classic Ivory, Rainbow Run, Ebony, Maple Wood, Candy Shop, Ocean Wave, Neon Night and Solid Gold. Skins are only cosmetic and work in every level and in Free Build.