In harbour talk, rafting up means tying boats together side by side, and that is the feeling we chased here. The ladder starts on the shore with a sea star and a sword fern, moves out to a glass float, a mooring cleat and a kayak paddle, then a red kayak, a sea otter, a carved salmon plaque, a dock lamp and a channel marker. Near the top sit a float home and a floatplane, and above them all, the orca crest.
Push the board in any direction and every piece slides as far as it can. Two identical pieces that meet fuse into the next tier, and the score for a merge grows as you climb, so late merges count for a great deal. After each move a fresh sea star turns up, sometimes a fern instead. The round ends when no push changes anything at all.
How to play Raft-Up Merge
- Press Play on the start screen, or tick the 5x5 board option first if you want extra room.
- Swipe, or use the arrow keys or W, A, S and D, to push every piece on the board one way.
- When two matching pieces meet, they raft up into the next tier and add points to your total.
- Watch the ladder strip under the board; each icon lights the first time you reach that tier.
- Keep pushing until the board locks completely, then try again to beat the best on your cleat.
Raft-Up Merge controls
Getting better at Raft-Up Merge
- Choose one corner as home port for your biggest piece and refuse to move it unless you must.
- Lean on two directions most of the time, so the high tiers line up along a single edge.
- Keep the Undo for a real disaster, such as a push that pulls your top piece out of its corner.
- Before every push, picture where the new sea star could appear and whether it would wedge in.
- The 5x5 board is a gentle way to see the floatplane and orca crest for the first time.
Why we built the climb out of dock life
Plain doubling numbers are tidy, but they do not tell you anything. We wanted each merge to feel like a step further from the shore: a fern washed by mist, a float pulled from old netting, a paddle, a kayak, and eventually a whole float home with its windows glowing. The ladder strip makes the climb visible, with all thirteen icons waiting underneath the board in the dark.
That little strip changes how a round feels. Lighting a new tier is a small win even on a board that fills early, and seeing the floatplane still dark is a good reason for one more try. Over a few evenings the strip becomes a record of how far out into the cove you have rafted, which is far more satisfying than staring at a four-digit number.
One Undo, and the art of not using it
Each game gives you a single Undo, shown with a small counter beside the button. We tried several, and the board stopped mattering because every mistake could be erased. We tried none, and one slip after twenty careful minutes felt mean. One turned out to be just right: a lifejacket, not a second boat.
The trick is knowing what counts as a disaster. A row that looks a bit messy is usually fine, since the next couple of pushes often tidy it on their own. Losing your corner piece, or letting a fresh sea star land in the middle of your best chain, is worth the rescue. Our habit is to take one breath before pressing Z, because half the time a way out appears.
Questions about Raft-Up Merge
A message tells you the whole cove is lit, the final icon glows at the end of your ladder strip, and you can keep playing the same board to push your score even higher.
It is roomier. Twenty-five squares take longer to fill than sixteen, so rounds last longer and the top tiers are easier to reach, though it still rewards a tidy corner.
Most of the time a sea star, the first tier. Now and then a sword fern, the second tier, arrives instead. That small surprise is the only chance in the game; everything else is your own planning.
