Amazing Escape guide

How to play

Mousy is in a maze full of cheese, and so are the cats. Eat every piece of cheese in the maze to finish the level.

Swipe anywhere on the screen to point Mousy in a direction: right, left, up or down. He keeps running that way until he hits a wall, so you don't have to hold anything. You can also swipe early, before you reach a corner, and Mousy remembers and turns at the next chance he gets. Swiping the opposite way turns him around on the spot.

Mousy is a little quicker than the cats. Both speed up after the first level in each place, and again from level 7.

The cats and your three lives

You get three tries at every level, shown as three stars at the top of the screen. If a cat catches Mousy, you lose a star, and Mousy and the cats all go back to where they started. The good news: any cheese you've already eaten stays eaten, so you only have to finish the job.

Lose all three and the level is failed; tap restart to try again.

The cats aren't chasing you. Each one wanders the maze on its own, choosing a new way at random at every junction, and never turns back unless it reaches a dead end. That means you can learn to read them: a cat heading down a long corridor will keep going until it reaches a turning.

Stars

When you finish a level, you keep however many stars you have left: three if no cat caught you, two if one did, one if two did. Your best result on each level is saved, and you can replay any level you've finished to improve it.

There are 90 levels, so 270 stars in all. Your total is shown on the main screen, and each place shows how many of its 90 stars you've earned.

The three places

All three places are open from the start, with 30 levels each. Levels open one at a time: finish a level to unlock the next one in that place.

• The Lab is where to begin. Its first levels teach you everything, one idea at a time, and it's the only place with switches and gates. Its doors are coloured, and walking into one takes Mousy out of the other door of the same colour.
• The House starts with three cats on level 1. Here a door is a way through a wall into the next room.
• Winter gets busy fast: its very first level has 47 pieces of cheese and three cats to dodge.

Doors, switches and gates

Doors. Mousy can walk through doors, but the cats can't. A door is the safest escape there is: if a cat is closing in, head for one.

Switches and gates. In some Lab levels, coloured gates block part of the maze. Step on the round switch of the same colour (red, green or blue) and every gate of that colour opens, for good. If some cheese seems out of reach, look for a switch.

Power-ups

Power-ups last about five seconds. When one is about to run out, Mousy flashes, so get clear of the cats. There are two ways to use them.

Power-ups in the maze

Many levels have one power-up somewhere in the maze. Run over it and it starts straight away:

• Angry Mouse: Mousy turns red and can knock out any cat he touches. A cat he knocks out is gone for the rest of that try.
• Invisible Mouse: Mousy turns see-through, and cats pass right by him.
• Tiny Cats: every cat in the maze shrinks, and Mousy can squash them like little bugs.

Your power-up bar

Tap the button at the top left during a level to open your power-up bar, then tap a power-up to use it whenever you like. You start with one of each, and you can buy more in the store for 400 cheese each. From the bar, Angry and Invisible work just like the ones in the maze. The Tiny one from your bar shrinks Mousy instead of the cats, which keeps him safe from them until it wears off.

You can only use one power-up at a time.

Cheese and the store

Every piece of cheese you eat is yours to keep once you finish the level. Levels have anywhere from 13 to 55 pieces, and replaying a level earns its cheese again, so replaying favourite levels is a good way to save up. After a level you may also see Double your cheese!: watch a short video to double what that level paid.

Spend cheese on:

• Power-ups: Angry Mouse, Invisible Mouse or Tiny, 400 cheese each.
• Characters: Molly for 1,200 cheese and Mr. M for 2,400. Mousy is free. Characters change how your mouse looks; they all play the same.

What's in the packs

The store also sells cheese packs, as optional in-app purchases: 1,200, 4,000, 12,000 or 50,000 cheese. There's also the Cheese Doubler, a one-time purchase that doubles the cheese from every level you finish from then on, and No Ads, which removes the ads between levels. When a video is ready, the cheese store also offers Free Cheese: watch it for 250 cheese. Restore Purchase brings back anything you've bought before, on a new phone for example.

Parents: purchases need your Apple Account, and you can switch them off in Screen Time on the device. You never need to buy anything to finish the game.

Stuck? Tips for tricky levels

1. Swipe early. Mousy remembers your next turn, so swipe as you approach a corner instead of when you're in it.
2. Turn around fast. A swipe the opposite way reverses Mousy straight away, even in the middle of a corridor. It's the quickest way out of a cat's path.
3. Watch before you move. Cats never turn back in a corridor unless it's a dead end, so you can tell which way they're heading.
4. Use the doors. Cats can't follow you through them.
5. Save the maze power-up. Clear the safe cheese first, then grab the power-up when you need it for the crowded part.
6. Look for switches. Cheese behind a gate always has a switch of the same colour somewhere.
7. Lost a life? Keep going. The cheese you've eaten stays eaten, so a level with one star left can still be finished.
8. Go for stars later. Finish a level any way you can to unlock the next one, then come back for three stars.
9. Try another place. Stuck in the Lab? The House and Winter are open from the start.
10. Keep a power-up spare. One from your bar can rescue a level you're about to lose.

Ready? Amazing Escape is free on the App Store for iPhone and iPad: get Amazing Escape.