About Train Yard
Train Yard is a shunting puzzle, in the tradition of the yard puzzles railway modellers have set each other for decades. Coloured carriages stand on a few sidings. Engines wait at the platform one at a time, and each one holds up an order card: the carriages it wants, in order. Only the carriage at the front of a siding — the end nearest the points — can move. Shuffle them about until you can hand each engine exactly the train it asked for.
How to play
Tap a siding to pick up its front carriage, then tap another siding to park it there, or tap the platform to couple it to the engine — but only if it is the very next carriage on the order card. When the train is complete, it leaves and the next engine pulls in. Sidings only hold so many carriages, so plan where each one waits. There is no clock, and Undo is always there.
Tips
- Look at the next order card before you park anything. A carriage parked on top of the one you need next will cost you two extra moves.
- Keep one siding nearly empty. A free siding is where the digging happens.
- Parking a carriage on top of one of the same colour is often free: later, either can go.
- Count before you move. Par is the fewest moves possible — every level has been solved by the computer to find it.
Stars and levels
Match par for three stars; within three moves of it for two. Levels grow from three short sidings and two little trains to five long sidings and four long trains in five colours. Every carriage carries a shape as well as a colour, so colour-blind players can play every level. After each clear, turn over a bonus card for hints, or a yard shunter who makes your first moves for you.