Larkmoor: Merge Garden Mystery

Prospectus

Larkmoor has been asleep since 1958. The day the gates were chained, a prize rose disappeared and the head gardener was blamed. Merge three seedlings into a plant, three hens into a bigger one, three planks into sturdier wood. Clear brambles, rocks and stumps, repair the shed, the kitchen garden, the rose garden and the greenhouse, and fill the villagers' orders. Under the overgrowth you find scraps of letters, keys and old trunks: twelve chapters, 19 clues for June's case file, and one question to answer before the summer fete: why was Larkmoor sealed?

How it plays

Drag an item (mouse or finger) onto two identical items to merge them; merge five for a bonus. Click or tap the supply crate to drop a new item on the board. Tap a grown plant or animal to harvest it. Tap an obstacle twice to send a worker to clear it (costs tea). Drag wood, stone or glass onto a building to repair it. Tap a villager or Deliver on the order card to hand over an order. Drag an empty spot to move around the garden; mouse wheel or pinch to zoom.

Opening an account with this game takes one press: Open the holding, above, and it loads on this page itself — nothing downloads and no form stands between you and the first decision. It is drawn for a flexible screen and takes its instructions from mouse, keyboard or touch, as the game prefers. It adjusts itself to upright and wide screens alike, so phone, tablet and desktop all present it properly. If a fullscreen control is offered, take it — a growing enterprise deserves the whole desk.

Analyst's notes for merge holdings

• Keep the board breathing. A merge game is lost in the corners first — leave yourself empty squares the way you would leave yourself an exit, because a full board is a finished one.
• Merge upward in batches. Combining everything the instant it pairs feels productive and quietly wastes the chain bonuses that patient, staged merges set up.
• Know your top of tree. Merging without a target produces elegant clutter; merging toward one named prize turns the same moves into a campaign.

Larkmoor: Merge Garden Mystery — questions from the readership

What does it cost to open Larkmoor: Merge Garden Mystery?

Nothing, at any point. The holding is free from the first click to the last upgrade — no account to open, no download to wait for, no paywall filed anywhere in its pages. The advertising around this page is what pays the bookkeeping.

What kind of game is Larkmoor: Merge Garden Mystery, exactly?

We file it on the Merge shelf of the ledger. It is a browser game through and through — the prospectus above is the publisher's own summary of what the game asks of you and what it gives back.

Can I play Larkmoor: Merge Garden Mystery on a phone or tablet?

Yes — it runs in the browser on phones and tablets just as it does on a computer. It adjusts itself to upright and wide screens alike, so phone, tablet and desktop all present it properly.

Is there anything to download or install first?

Nothing at all. Larkmoor: Merge Garden Mystery is an HTML5 game: press the open button and it loads on this very page, and closing the tab leaves nothing behind on your device.

Closing entry

Finished the audit, or still mid-season? The full Merge shelf is one click away — Two of a thing become a better thing. Forty-one merge games about combining your way up a tech tree — chickens into champions, cottages into castles, elements into empires.