Play Meadowlark Barn Shut the Box

How to play Meadowlark Barn Shut the Box

The classic dice-and-tiles game in a sunny hayloft. Roll two dice, shut the tiles that add up to the roll and try to shut the box, alone or taking turns with Posy the goat.

1. Press Play and choose Solo or Take turns with Posy. The box holds tiles numbered 1 to 9, all standing open.
2. Roll the dice and add them up. Then tap open tiles that add up to that number: one tile or several. A roll of 9 can shut the 9, or 6 and 3, or 5 and 4, or 4, 3 and 2, among others. Press Shut, and the tiles flip down.
3. Roll again and keep going. Once every tile from 7 up is shut, you may roll one die instead of two if you like.
4. The round ends when a roll comes up that no open tiles can make. Your score is the open tiles added up, so 2, 3 and 5 left open score 10. Lower is better, and shutting every tile scores 0: you have shut the box.
5. Taking turns, Posy then plays her round on a fresh box. The lower score wins the round, a tie is replayed, and shutting the box wins the round at once.

Controls

• Touch or mouse: the big button at the bottom rolls the dice (or one die, when you may), and becomes Shut once you have picked tiles that add up to the roll. Tap a tile to pick it and tap it again to put it back. Undo, Hint and Menu sit on the shelf above the button, or in the right-hand strip on a wide screen.
• Keyboard: the number keys pick tiles (0 for the 10, minus for the 11 and equals for the 12), and Space or Enter rolls or shuts. O rolls one die when you may, U undoes, H shows a hint and Escape clears your picks. The arrow keys also move a visible focus between the tiles.
• Restart in the toolbar starts a new game. Menu starts a new game, opens Settings (mode, box, one-die rule, scoring, Posy’s level, match length, speed and how picks are confirmed) and shows your statistics and the rules. The toolbar also has pause, help, optional sound and fullscreen.