Island Evolution ▶ Play

Grow a deserted island into a fishing village in just 8 moves

Island Evolution, the first frame of a run: an empty island with the eight-item toolbar

8 things. Which one goes first?

Your island0/17of 17 endings found

A free GROW-style pixel puzzle in your browser. The order you place things in decides what grows and what dies: 40,320 orders, only 3 are perfect.

01 · How to play

How to Play Island Evolution

One rule, endless consequences: the order is everything.

  1. Pick an item Each turn, choose one of the 8 items (Fire, Fish, Tree, Boat, Water, Wind, People or Stone, the same order as the toolbar) and place it on the island.
  2. Watch the island grow After each placement, everything already on the island tries to evolve one level. The new item waits until next turn.
  3. Mind the time budget The first item you place can grow up to 8 times; the last one only once. Early picks shape everything.
  4. Reach the sunset After all 8 are placed, one final sunset round plays out and your island is scored. Perfect score: 27.

One run, eight moves. Click the toolbar left to right, and this is how it ends: real screenshots from the game, one per move.

  1. Day 1

    An empty island

    Sand, grass, a bare mountain and a patch of red earth. Eight things wait on the toolbar.

  2. Move 1 Fire

    A campfire with nobody to tend it

    Fire grows only when there are people around. There are none, so it just sits there.

  3. Move 2 Fish

    A shoal, and nothing to fish it

    Fish need a proper boat before they grow. The fire is still waiting too.

  4. Move 3 Tree

    The sprout dies the same turn

    There is no water anywhere on the island yet. A tree can’t survive that.

    Withered: Tree

  5. Move 4 Boat

    A raft on the beach

    The fish finally see a boat, but a raft is too small for them. Nothing grows.

  6. Move 5 Water

    A spring in the mountain

    Water at last. It would have saved the tree two moves ago.

  7. Move 6 Wind

    One gust, two losses

    The spring grows into a stream on its own. The breeze puts out the small campfire and tips over the raft.

    Blown out: Fire

    Capsized: Boat

  8. Move 7 People

    A castaway with nowhere to stand

    People need water and stone. There is no stone yet, and the waves take them.

    Swept away: People

  9. Move 8 Stone

    Sunset, with four things left

    Rocks arrive and the stream becomes a river, too late for half the island. Fire, tree, boat and people are gone.

    6 is the most common score in the game. 12,180 of the 40,320 possible orders end exactly here.

Eight moves apart

And this is what a good order builds

Same beach, same eight things. Drag across the picture to compare Day 1 with the island at sunset after a strong run.

The same island after a good run: forest, waterfall, windmill, lighthouse, village and harbor The deserted island at the start of a run: empty grass, sand and a mountain

Every order, played once

40,320 orders, all played.

Each bar is a final score. Most islands lose three or four things and finish under 12 points. The far right is where it gets interesting.

Distribution of final scores across all 40,320 possible orders.
Final scoreOrders
52,520
612,180
72,520
88,064
93,000
102,160
114,980
12360
142,442
151,616
16385
1738
201
2218
231
2632
273

▶ FIND YOURSWhere will your first run land?

02 · Reference

Evolution Chart: Every Item, Every Level

What each item becomes, and what it needs to get there. Every level-up has a requirement: a sapling needs water on the island, and a lighthouse only lights up once boats and fire are advanced enough. Levels are checked at the start of each growth phase; an unmet requirement just means "wait", and the item's remaining turns quietly run out.

Pick an item

Fire Max Lv 3

  1. CampfireLv 1 · on placing
  2. HearthLv 2 · People ≥ 2
  3. KilnLv 3 · Stone ≥ 2

Can die

  • A campfire ring with the fire blown outFire blown outWind while Fire is still small (Lv 1-2)

Danger to others

Starts a forest fire that kills the Tree while Tree ≥ 2 and Water < 3.

Needed by

  • People Village (Fire ≥ 1)
  • Stone Lighthouse (Fire ≥ 3)

Fish Max Lv 2

  1. ShoalLv 1 · on placing
  2. Fish FarmLv 2 · Boat ≥ 2

Safe

Nothing on the island can hurt it.

Needed by

  • People Festival (Fish ≥ 1)

Tree Max Lv 4

  1. SproutLv 1 · on placing
  2. SaplingLv 2 · Water ≥ 1
  3. Big TreeLv 3 · Water ≥ 2
  4. ForestLv 4 · Water ≥ 3

Can die

  • A sprout that withered on an island with no waterWitheredTree on an island with no Water
  • Burnt stumps after a forest fireForest fireFire while Tree ≥ 2 and Water < 3

Needed by

  • Boat Sailboat (Tree ≥ 3)
  • Water Lake and Falls (Tree ≥ 3)
  • Wind Windmill (Tree ≥ 4)
  • People Hut (Tree ≥ 3)

Boat Max Lv 3

  1. RaftLv 1 · on placing
  2. SailboatLv 2 · People ≥ 3, Tree ≥ 3
  3. PierLv 3 · Stone ≥ 3

Can die

  • Planks of a capsized raft floating in the lagoonRaft capsizedWind while Boat is still a raft (Lv 1)

Needed by

  • Fish Fish Farm (Boat ≥ 2)
  • People Market (Boat ≥ 1)
  • People Festival (Boat ≥ 2)
  • Stone Lighthouse (Boat ≥ 2)

Water Max Lv 4

  1. SpringLv 1 · on placing
  2. StreamLv 2 · always
  3. RiverLv 3 · Stone ≥ 1
  4. Lake and FallsLv 4 · Tree ≥ 3

Keeps others safe

Without Water the Tree withers and the People are swept away. At Lv 3 it also stops forest fires.

Needed by

  • Tree Sapling (Water ≥ 1)
  • Tree Big Tree (Water ≥ 2)
  • Tree Forest (Water ≥ 3)
  • People Hut (Water ≥ 2)

Wind Max Lv 2

  1. BreezeLv 1 · on placing
  2. WindmillLv 2 · People ≥ 5, Tree ≥ 4

Danger to others

Blows out a small Fire (Lv 1-2) and capsizes a Raft (Lv 1), on every turn it is on the island.

Needed by

Nothing. No other item waits on it.

People Max Lv 5

  1. CastawayLv 1 · on placing
  2. HutLv 2 · Water ≥ 2, Tree ≥ 3
  3. VillageLv 3 · Fire ≥ 1
  4. MarketLv 4 · Stone ≥ 2, Boat ≥ 1
  5. FestivalLv 5 · Boat ≥ 2, Fish ≥ 1

Can die

  • Wreckage on the beach after the castaway was swept awaySwept awayPeople with no Water or no Stone

Needed by

  • Fire Hearth (People ≥ 2)
  • Boat Sailboat (People ≥ 3)
  • Wind Windmill (People ≥ 5)
  • Stone Stone Path (People ≥ 1)
  • Stone Cottage (People ≥ 2)

Stone Max Lv 4

  1. RocksLv 1 · on placing
  2. Stone PathLv 2 · People ≥ 1
  3. CottageLv 3 · People ≥ 2
  4. LighthouseLv 4 · Boat ≥ 2, Fire ≥ 3

Keeps others safe

Without Stone the People are swept away.

Needed by

  • Fire Kiln (Stone ≥ 2)
  • Boat Pier (Stone ≥ 3)
  • Water River (Stone ≥ 1)
  • People Market (Stone ≥ 2)

The five ways to die

Order mistakes don't just slow you down. They kill. A tree with no water withers. People without water and stone are swept away. Fire next to a young forest starts a forest fire. Wind blows out a small campfire and capsizes a raft. When something dies, a banner tells you exactly why, so every failed run teaches you something.

Danger checks run every turn, not just when the trigger is placed. Wind already on the island will blow out a campfire you light later. That's why Wind is almost always the last move.

03 · Hints

Hints & Strategy

One gentle nudge below. The three perfect orders, derived from the rule table, are on the order solver.

A gentle nudge

Read the evolution chart like a family tree. Something on that list is what everything else depends on; place it early. Something else hurts its neighbors and asks for almost nothing in return; make it wait.

Exactly 3 of the 40,320 orders reach the perfect 27. The finale is fireworks over the village, the lighthouse lit, sails in the harbor.

04 · Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

Short answers to what players ask most. The rules themselves are in the evolution chart.

Still stuck?Try any order in the solverSee how all 40,320 orders score

Is Island Evolution free to play?

Yes. Completely free, right in your browser. No download, no install, no account. Just press Play.

What kind of game is Island Evolution?

An order-based puzzle game inspired by Eyezmaze's classic GROW series (GROW Cube, GROW Island, GROW Valley…). The theme, items, evolution chains and pixel art are all original.

How many possible orders are there?

There are 40,320 ways to arrange the 8 items. Only 35 of them (about 0.1%) avoid every death, and only 3 reach the perfect score of 27.

Why did my tree wither / my campfire go out?

A Tree withers when the island has no Water. A campfire is blown out when Wind is on the island while the Fire is still Lv 1-2. Those are two of the five ways to die; the others are People swept away (no Water or no Stone), forest fire (Fire while Tree is Lv 2+ and Water is below Lv 3) and a raft capsized by Wind. The banner at the top of the screen always names the exact cause.

How long does one run take?

A few minutes. During animations your cursor becomes a fast-forward button; click anywhere to speed through. Finding a perfect order usually takes many runs; that's the puzzle.

Does it work on mobile?

Yes, the game runs on modern mobile browsers. A desktop browser gives you the biggest picture: the island is drawn in genuine low-resolution pixel art and every stage has its own animation.

Is there only one perfect solution?

There are exactly 3 orders out of 40,320 that bring all 8 items to MAX for the perfect score of 27. The order solver lists them. They were derived by running every permutation through the game's rule table.

Can I lose permanently?

No. When a run ends badly, press Play Again and try a different order. Your best score is saved in your browser.

05 · Journal

From the Blog

Where the genre came from, how to think through an order puzzle, and how this game was built.

All posts

40,320 orders · 35 survive · 3 are perfect

Your island is still empty.

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