Elbow Room is a Sudoku-style logic puzzle with no numbers to place, and the ads are fair: never during a puzzle, never after a loss, never in the daily puzzle. The board is split into coloured regions, and every monster needs its elbow room.

THE RULES
Place one monster in every row, every column and every colour. Two monsters may never touch, not even corner to corner. That is all. The three rules stay at the top of every board, so you can always check them.

Every board has exactly one answer, and logic alone will find it. You never have to guess. Each monster you place rules out more squares, and the board unfolds one "aha" at a time. If you like Sudoku, Star Battle, grid logic puzzles or other brain puzzle games, this is a calm, clever brain teaser for you.

FAIR ADS, OPTIONAL EXTRAS
Elbow Room contains ads, and they are kept rare. Never during a puzzle, never after a loss, never in the daily puzzle, and none in your first session. After some wins a short ad may play when you tap Next or Home: at most one every three wins, and not before level 12. Videos for a heart or a hint are always your choice. Where the law requires it (Europe, the UK, Switzerland and China), the game asks your permission before showing ads or sending anonymous statistics. Everywhere else they start when you first open the game. You can turn both off any time with the Ads and statistics row in Settings.
You can remove those short ads with one purchase (reward videos stay, only if you want them), and you can buy hint packs of 15, 50 or 120. Everything can be played without buying anything.

HOW IT PLAYS
- Tap a square to mark it with a cross. Double-tap to place a monster. Drag across squares to mark a whole line of crosses.
- Auto-crosses show every square a monster rules out. Switch them off in Settings if you would rather do it yourself.
- You get three hearts on every board. A move that plainly breaks the rules is refused and costs nothing. You lose a heart only when a monster looks legal but is in the wrong place.
- Stuck? Ask for a hint. The board lights up the next step and tells you why, so you learn the trick, and you make the move yourself.
- Out of hearts? Restart the board at no cost, or watch an optional short video to carry on where you are. Hearts refill on every new board. There are no energy timers and no waiting.
- Colour patterns: switch them on in Settings and every colour gets its own pattern, so regions are easy to tell apart even if colours are hard for you.
- Calm background music, off until you switch it on in Settings.
- Settings are one tap away on every board: auto-crosses, sound, music, vibration, reduced motion, colour patterns, and row and column numbers.
- Share your daily result: a card with your time, hearts and streak, never the answer.

LEVELS, DAILY PUZZLE AND STREAKS
- Two short lessons teach the rules by doing. Then boards grow from small 5x5 puzzles up to 10x10, from Easy to Expert, and the levels keep coming.
- A daily puzzle, the same for every player, unlocks after level 5. Mondays are gentle and weekends are harder. Solve it each day to build a streak.
- Every 7 days of streak earns a streak freeze, and you can hold 2. A freeze covers a day you miss, so your streak lives on.
- Hints are a small supply you earn by playing: you start with a few, win more as you go, and get one for every daily you solve.

CROWNS, MONSTER FRIENDS AND A WEEKLY GOAL
- Win 3 levels in a row without losing a heart and your buddy puts on a crown. The crown can take one mistake for you, and hints never break your run.
- Meet 12 monster friends and keep them in your album. They join you as you play: for reaching levels, keeping a daily streak and earning crowns. Zip, a fuzzy yellow monster, explains the hints; keep a 7-day streak and Louis, a big red monster, joins you. Tap your buddy to open your album and pick who plays with you.
- A weekly goal of daily puzzles earns a badge and a prize.

Questions or ideas: zostudio.dev@gmail.com