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Lift Line
Thirty cable-car sorting stages: pull riders off a packed platform so every gondola leaves with three of its own team.
What is Lift Line?
Lift Line is a queue-sorting puzzle set at a mountain cable-car stop run by Cirrus, a hovering lift drone with one lime eye. Riders can only leave from the front or through gaps that reach it, a mismatched rider parks on a tiny bench, and a packed bench freezes everyone except the docked gondola's team. Stages scale from a 3×3 deck with 9 riders to a 7×7 deck with 42 riders, 14 gondolas and five teams.
Updated
How to play Lift Line
Goal: Dispatch every gondola, ideally without a single call-back and without ever packing the bench.
- Tap a rider who stands at the front edge or has a clear lane of empty squares to it.
- Matching the docked gondola's colour means they board; any other team goes to the bench.
- Three aboard and the gondola departs; the next car pulls in and its teammates on the bench jump in first.
- Once the bench is full, only the docked team may move — run out of reachable ones and the stage ends.
Controls
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| Tap / click | Send a reachable rider |
| Arrow keys + Enter | Pick and send a rider |
| UZ | Recall the last rider |
| H | Highlight a good next rider |
| R · P | Reset the deck · pause |
Tips & tricks
- Read the queue on the cable, not just the docked car: the next two colours decide which lanes to open now.
- Treat the last bench seat as an emergency seat and keep it empty as long as you can.
- Rocks from stage 9 never move, so dig around them early instead of waiting for a lane to open.
- Grey-hooded riders from stage 17 reveal their team only when reachable, so expose them before the bench is busy.
Frequently asked questions
How does the bench work in Lift Line?
The bench holds riders whose gondola has not arrived yet: five seats on stages 1–3, four afterwards. They board by themselves the moment their colour docks, up to three at a time. When every seat is taken, only the docked team can leave the platform, which is where most stages are won or lost.
What ends a stage early in Lift Line?
A full bench plus no reachable rider of the docked colour. Nobody can move, so a panel appears with two choices: recall the last rider you sent or reset the deck. Recalling keeps your progress on the stage but removes the no-call-back star.
How are stars scored in Lift Line?
Three possible stars per stage: one for dispatching every gondola, one for finishing without a call-back, and one for never letting the bench fill completely. Each stage was solved by an exact search with a bench one seat smaller, so a three-star line exists on all 30.
Who is Cirrus in Lift Line?
Cirrus is the station's hovering lift drone, with twin rotors and a single lime eye that flashes pink whenever a rider has to take a bench seat. It reacts to every boarding, bench seat and departure and narrates what just happened in the status line, but it never takes a turn for you.
Which riders can I tap in Lift Line?
Only riders on the front edge of the deck or connected to it by empty squares, moving up, down, left or right. Blocked riders appear dimmed and slightly smaller; tapping one gives a shake and a short reason instead of a move, so clear the riders around them first.






