Candy Fuse: Jelly Lab — how to play
A complete guide to CruxJoy's own browser puzzle: the rules, every candy recipe, how chain reactions work, and a tip for each of the ten levels.
What kind of game is it?
Candy Fuse: Jelly Lab is a short puzzle game made for CruxJoy. It runs in any modern browser on phones, tablets and computers, and there's nothing to install. The board is a lab bench of glass tubes, candy flasks and chocolate blocks. Each chocolate block wants one specific candy, and you make candies by steering flavored jelly through the tubes so the right flavors meet.
It isn't a match-3 game: nothing falls, nothing swaps, and there's no timer. Each level is a fixed puzzle with a limited number of tube turns, so it rewards a minute of planning more than fast tapping. A level takes one to five minutes.
The basic loop
- Read the badges. Every chocolate block shows the candy it needs, and the recipe strip above the board repeats them with their formulas.
- Turn tubes. Tap a tube to rotate it 90° clockwise. Each tap costs one move, and the move counter sits at the top of the screen.
- Pour. The Pour button empties every flask at once. Jelly runs through all connected tubes, and pouring never costs a move, so it doubles as a free way to test a route.
- Melt everything. The level ends when every chocolate block and every patch of glaze is gone. The progress bar shows how much glaze has melted so far.
Tube shapes
- Straight tube: connects two opposite sides. It has only two useful positions.
- Elbow: connects two neighbouring sides and turns the flow by 90°.
- T-junction: connects three sides. Its closed side matters most, because it decides which stream stays out.
- Cross: connects all four sides. It always sits bolted in place, so it can't be turned.
- Bolted tubes have small bolts and a grey rim. They are part of the puzzle's fixed layout.
- Chocolate-coated tubes carry a padlock. Jelly can't pass through them and they can't be turned until a blast or the Candy Hammer frees them.
The mixing rule
Each flask holds one base flavor: strawberry, blueberry or lemon. When you pour, every tube that is connected to other tubes forms one network, and each network mixes every flavor that reaches it. A block melts only if a network touching it carries exactly the candy on its badge. A grape network running past a strawberry block does nothing.
| Candy | Recipe | What happens when it melts a block |
|---|---|---|
| 🍓 Strawberry | Base flavor | Block melts |
| 🫐 Blueberry | Base flavor | Block melts |
| 🍋 Lemon | Base flavor | Block melts |
| 🍊 Orange Marmalade | Strawberry + Lemon | Block melts, bubble-gum blast clears the 8 tiles around it |
| 🌿 Mint Caramel | Blueberry + Lemon | Block melts, bubble-gum blast clears the 8 tiles around it |
| 🍇 Grape Jelly | Strawberry + Blueberry | Block melts, bubble-gum blast clears the 8 tiles around it |
| 🌈 Rainbow Blast | All three flavors | Block melts, giant blast clears a 5×5 area |
Blasts and chain reactions
A blast clears loose chocolate glaze, melts any chocolate block in range, and strips the coating off locked tubes. The flow doesn't stop there: as soon as a coated tube opens, the game recalculates every network in the same pour. New flavors can then meet, a new candy can form, and the next block melts. Each extra step shows on screen as CHAIN x2, x3 and so on.
The later levels are built around this. Usually the first block you can melt is the one that unlocks the rest, so work backwards from the coated tubes to find which blast frees them.
Level guide
These tips describe what each level asks of you without spelling out every rotation.
| Level | Board | Blocks to melt | What to look for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. First Drip | 5×5 | 🍓 Strawberry | Five tubes stand between one flask and one block. Follow the path from the flask outward and fix each tube in order; you have three spare moves. |
| 2. Marmalade Mix | 5×5 | 🍊 Orange Marmalade | One T-junction joins the strawberry and lemon lines and sends the mix down. Its closed side has to face up, away from the flow. The orange blast then clears the glaze around the block. |
| 3. Grape Divide | 6×5 | 🍇 Grape Jelly, 🫐 Blueberry | The first level where separation matters. The top blueberry line joins the strawberry line for grape, while the bottom blueberry line has to stay pure. The two networks must never touch. |
| 4. Mint Condition | 6×6 | 🌿 Mint Caramel, 🍋 Lemon | Two lemon flasks: one feeds the mint mix, the other runs alone down the right edge to the lemon block. Watch the elbow next to the lemon column. |
| 5. Chain Starter | 7×6 | 🍊 Orange, 🌿 Mint | The mint block only gets lemon at first, because a coated tube blocks the blueberry. Melt the orange block first: its blast frees the coated tube in the same pour and the mint melts as a second chain step. |
| 6. Rainbow Core | 7×7 | 🌈 Rainbow Blast | A bolted cross-junction in the middle joins all three flavors. Route every flask into it and down to the block: the 5×5 rainbow blast clears eleven patches of glaze at once. |
| 7. Twin Flasks | 8×7 | 🍊 Orange, 🌿 Mint, 🍓 Strawberry | The longest route so far, with the most turns to make. The top network makes orange and unlocks the middle line for mint. The strawberry row at the bottom has to stay on its own. |
| 8. Grape Upgrade | 7×7 | 🍇 Grape, 🌈 Rainbow | Grape melts first. Its blast frees a coated tube that lets lemon into the same network, and the mix turns rainbow on the spot. Set the T-junctions so that jump can happen. |
| 9. Triple Fuse | 8×8 | 🍊 Orange, 🌿 Mint, 🍇 Grape, 🫐 Blueberry | Three chained steps in one pour: orange frees the mint line, mint frees the grape line. The lone blueberry row at the bottom is the easy one, so don't forget it. |
| 10. Grand Confection | 8×8 | 🍊 → 🌿 → 🍇 → 🌈 | The finale is a four-step chain: every blast opens the next coated tube. Line up every rotatable tube before the first pour to get the full CHAIN x4. |
Stars, Star Coins and boosters
You earn three stars by finishing a level without using more turns than it needs, two stars with at least one move left, and one star for scraping through. Each cleared level pays Star Coins: a base reward that grows with the level number, 10 coins per unused move and 25 per chain step after the first. Replaying a level you've already cleared pays half.
Star Coins buy three boosters in the in-game Candy Shop:
- 🔨 Candy Hammer (60 coins): smash one chocolate block or coated tube.
- 💧 Rainbow Drop (90 coins): makes one flask a wildcard for the next pour, so its network matches any recipe it touches.
- 🔄 +3 Moves (50 coins): three extra tube turns on the current level. It's also offered when you run out.
Star Coins and boosters are virtual items earned only by playing. They can't be bought with real money, and the game has no payments, ads or accounts.
General tips
- Start from the blocks, not the flasks. Work out which flasks each block needs, then which tubes those routes pass through.
- Pour early. It's free, and it shows exactly where each stream ends up.
- Tubes only turn clockwise. An elbow that needs one step counter-clockwise costs three taps, so count before you tap.
- A pure-flavor block is usually the trap: keep its network free of every other flask.
- Save the Rainbow Drop for levels where one stubborn block is left over. It works on any recipe.
Progress, privacy and accessibility
Your unlocked levels, stars, coins, boosters and sound setting are saved in your browser's local storage on your own device. Nothing is sent to CruxJoy or anyone else. The Privacy Notice and Cookie Notice list exactly what is stored. Clearing this site's data in your browser resets the game.
Every candy shows both a color and a fruit symbol, so recipes can be read without relying on color alone. Tubes can also be selected with the keyboard (Tab, then Enter or Space), and the sound can be muted with the speaker button. If your system asks for reduced motion, the game shortens its animations.
Found a bug or a level that seems impossible? Every level is checked to be solvable within its move limit, but reports are welcome at hi@cruxjoy.com.