What is Chain Factor? Chain Factor is a free web game designed as a labor of love by people who are tired of slaving in the salt mines of big-budget, mainstream game development. The Chain Factor team is committed to creating a high quality game experience outside the corrupting influence of retail software and advertising. The game is currently in beta, feel free to play the game and use the forums to provide comments and feedback, your input is valuable to us. How do you play Chain Factor? Use your mouse to drop discs into the grid. Make discs disappear by having their number match the size of their row or column. When exactly do discs disappear? Whenever the number on a disc matches the size of the row (horizontal group) or column (vertical group) that disc is in, it will disappear. Do you count all the discs in the row or only the ones that are touching? You don't count all the discs in the row, just the ones in a connected group. Obviously, in columns, all the discs are always touching. Do you count gray discs? Yes, gray discs count just like number discs towards determining the size of the row or column. How do you get rid of gray discs? Every gray disc is actually a number disc underneath the surface. Whenever any disc disappears next to a gray disc, it grinds it down one level, eventually transforming it into a regular number disc. What is a chain? Sometimes when a disc disappears, another disc will fall into the empty space and also disappear, or a gray disc will turn into a number disc and then disappear. A sequence of multiple disappearing discs like this is called a "chain". The longer the chain, the more discs are worth when they disappear. What are these gray discs coming up from the bottom? There is a drop counter underneath the grid. Each disc you drop adds one to the drop counter. When you reach the next level a row of gray discs is added to the bottom of the screen, you earn a level bonus, and the drop counter re-sets to zero (and is reduced in size). What's power mode? Chain Factor has a power mode with special moves and abilities. In power mode, you can choose 3 of these special powers to bring with you into the game. Why are some powers locked? How do I unlock them? Chain Factor is an experiment in collaborative problem solving. If you want to unlock the powers you will need to find the 36 keys. The keys are public secrets, hidden in plain sight among the visual trash of today's marketing-mad culture. Each power has 3 locks that need to be opened. Unlock a power and it becomes available for everyone. How do powers work? Making chains adds energy to the energy bar on the right side of the grid. Each power requires a specific amount of energy to use. The lines show how much energy you need to use that power. When a power is available its icon will go from gray to black. Click on an available power to use it. What are passive powers? Normally you click on a power to use it. But some powers are passive. Passive powers work automatically. What is survival mode? [survival mode description here] Why Chain Factor? The games industry is poised on the brink of a profound transformation. Games have the potential to be the most powerful artform ever invented, an unparalleled medium for the exploration of dynamic interactive systems and the expression of complex emotional, social, and political ideas. But the creative power of games is being held hostage by the conservative forces of the marketplace. For years, the mainstream games industry has fed us a steady stream of lowest-common-denominator drivel: brightly colored mascots scampering around childish fantasy lands; hyper-violent, testosterone-soaked war simulators; vacuous, marketing-driven movie spin-offs; and the endless grind of mindless, massively-multiplayer treadmills. Chain Factor offers an alternative: an independent game designed outside the traditional channels of development and distribution and driven by a singular vision: put the power back into the hands of the players and let them create the game they want to play.    The 6-disc is in a horizontal group of 6, so it disappears.    The 4-disc is in a vertical group of 4, so it disappears.    These two 5-discs are in a horizontal group of 5, so they both disappear. Note that the lonely 7 does not count towards the size of this group.    Get rid of a gray disc by making a disc disappear next to it. A smooth gray disc will become cracked. A cracked gray disc will turn into a regular (color) disc.