Combine Stones

Combine Stones runs on a familiar merge-puzzle idea — slide matching stones into each other to combine them up a numbered chain — but tightens the pressure by shrinking the playable board as each round goes on. Because the available space keeps closing in, a merge that would have been safe to delay early in a round can become urgent later once there is barely enough room left to slide stones around at all. Planning merges toward the center of the shrinking area, rather than pushing stones out toward edges that will disappear soon, keeps more of the board usable for longer. Every round restarts the shrinking process, so the strategy that worked to survive one round's endgame becomes the standard opening approach for managing the next one from the very first move.