About this picture
Inside a quiet wooden pavilion, warm lantern light falls across woven rush tatami mats and a sunken charcoal hearth. A heavy cast-iron kettle simmers over glowing embers, sending a wisp of steam into the evening air. Beside the hearth rest a green ceramic tea bowl, a pale bamboo whisk, and a small lacquer container on a wooden tray. Through the wide doorway, rain-washed moss and blossoming cherry branches glow under the soft purple sky of dusk.
The story so far
This photo is part of The Mender of Lantern Street, a story told one torn photograph at a time. A third envelope took Ada up the crowded slopes of Kiyomizu-dera from sunrise to sunset. In the background of every restored print, the man in the grey coat moved two paces closer.
How to play
Drag a piece onto another square to swap them, or tap a piece and then tap where it should go. Hold Preview for a faded glimpse of the photo: enough to see where the sky and the street go, not the details. Pieces that belong together join up and move as one, and turn green once they are in the right place. You have 4:30 for these 36 pieces, and the clock keeps running if you leave the page. Each photo has three stars: one for restoring it, one for finishing with1:48 still on the clock without taking extra time, and one for doing it in 47 moves or fewer. Each episode starts with 2 hints and earns more along the way; unused hints carry over to later photos. Playing needs a free account, which keeps your stars and stamps on every device. Restoring photos earns stamps (more for more stars, and extra for whole episodes), which buy more time or more hints. Once the photo is restored, turn it over and look for the clue hidden in it. Photos open one after another and episodes in order; each new chapter opens once you have enough stars from the chapters before it.