Hako support
How can we help?
Start with the answers below. If something is broken, tell us and we will fix it.
Frequently asked questions
How do I play Hako?
Drag a panel along its groove to slide it. Each box is a face of sliding panels with a black lid beside a gap in the frame. Panels move only along their own grooves and never pass through each other, so slide them aside until the lid can leave through the gap, and the box is open.
Is Hako free?
Yes. Hako is a free Android game, coming soon to Google Play. It shows a few ads, never during a level, and its shop is optional: every level opens by playing.
Does Hako need an internet connection?
No. Hako plays completely offline, and your progress is saved on your device. The Android app goes online only for its ads, for purchases through Google Play and, if you use it, for Google Play Games. Without a connection no ads appear, and a hint that would ask for a video is given anyway.
How do I get three stars?
Every box has a goal: the fewest moves that open it. One move is one slide of one panel, however far it goes. Open the box in the goal for three stars, in a few more for two, and in any number for one. The stars at the top show what you can still earn. Undo takes a move back without counting it, and Restart begins the box again.
How do brass pins work?
A pinned panel shows a brass pin head and cannot move. Its key is another panel carrying the same mark, and a ring of that mark is cut into the floor. Slide the key onto its ring and the pin rises, so the panel slides like any other. A key can be pinned too, which makes a chain to free in order. Each pin, key and ring share a shape as well as a colour.
What does the hint do?
The hint lights the next panel to move and outlines where it should go. It is the first move of a shortest way to open the box from where the panels stand now, so it still helps after a few wrong slides. It never moves anything for you.
Can every box be opened?
Yes. Every box has a way out, and every slide can be slid straight back, so no box can ever get stuck. Undo and Restart are always there.
What are the treasures?
The last box of every chapter holds a treasure, the same one for every player: a copper coin, a boxwood comb, a paper crane, a tea bowl, a brass bell and rarer finds further in. When its box opens, the treasure rises out with its name and a line about it. The shelf, from the title screen, shows every treasure you have found and the level that holds each one still to find.
How do levels open?
A level opens once you solve the one before it. Levels come in chapters, and solving 14 levels of a chapter also opens the first level of the next, so one hard level never walls off the rest. In the Android app a locked level can also open early, with a level key or a short video, and Every level in the shop opens them all.
Are hints free?
Every hint on the first 15 levels is free. After that the Android app gives you 3 free hints a day, which come back at midnight, and a hint beyond those asks for a short video you can choose to watch. If no video can play, you get the hint anyway. With the Supporter pack every hint is free.
Does Hako have ads?
A few, and none ever covers a puzzle. Once you have solved 3 levels, a banner sits at the foot of the title screen, the level list and the result after a level, and below the box while you play. Once you have solved 12, an ad may come between levels now and then: at most once every 4 levels you solve, never in the first 3 minutes after the app opens, and never within 4 minutes of another full-screen ad. Videos are always your choice. The Supporter pack turns the ads off for good.
What can a short video do?
A short video, always your choice, can give you a hint once the day's free ones are used, open a locked level, give you a level key, or let you try Every level, the Woods pack or the Themes pack for 6 hours. When a try ends, the wood and colour theme go back to the game's own, and every level you solved stays solved.
What is in the shop?
Everything in the shop is optional, and two woods and two colour themes are free from the start. The Supporter pack turns off the ads and makes every hint free. Every level opens every level now, while stars are still earned by solving. The Woods pack adds boxes in cherry, maple and ebony, and the Themes pack fifteen more colour themes. The Complete pack holds all four, for less. Each is bought once and stays with your Google account, and Restore purchases brings it back if it ever does not. Level keys, one or five at a time, each open one locked level for good. The tip jar is a way to say thanks, and opens nothing.
Does Hako collect my data?
Very little. There are no accounts of our own, and your progress and settings are kept on your device. If you use Google Play Games on Android, it also keeps a copy of your progress in your own Google account, with your leaderboard scores and achievements. The Android app counts how the game is played with Google Analytics for Firebase, such as which levels are started and solved, only where the law needs no consent for it and never for ads. The ads in the Android app come from Google AdMob, which collects device and advertising identifiers, approximate location from your IP address and how you interact with ads, with your consent where the law requires it. The privacy policy has the details.

Play Hako
Slide the panels of a wooden puzzle box along their grooves until the lid can leave. A treasure waits at the end of every chapter.
Feedback and ideas
Leave a comment below. It needs a GitHub account, and comments are public. If you would rather not sign in, email us instead. For help from other players, ideas and shared solves, there is also the Chaosmos community.