What is Bloom?
Bloom is a free daily flood-fill puzzle from Stoop, a one-person studio. Each day at midnight UTC, a new 14 by 14 colour grid appears, identical for every player worldwide. Your territory starts in the top-left corner. Click one of six colour buttons below the grid and the territory flood-fills to every adjacent cell of that colour. The goal is to turn the entire grid one colour in as few moves as possible. Your score compares your move count against par, an estimate of the optimal count produced by a greedy algorithm. Matching or beating par earns 10,000 points; each move over par reduces your score. The daily grid allows one attempt with no replay, and a streak that resets if you miss a day. A Levels tab adds 240 boards across four families: Classic, Seed, Virus and Token, each changing how territory grows or how often a colour can be used. No account, no subscription, no ads.
How to play Bloom
- Look at the whole grid before clicking. The daily board allows one attempt with no replay.
- Check which colour dominates the region next to the top-left corner. That is usually the best first move.
- Click one of the six colour buttons at the bottom. Your territory instantly absorbs every touching cell of that colour.
- Keep choosing colours, watching the move counter against par, and favour large sweeping expansions over small patches.
- Finish when the whole grid is one colour, read your score and title, then return tomorrow to keep the streak, or switch to Levels for more.
Why play Bloom?
Bloom is for players who like optimisation more than deduction. Nothing is hidden, the whole grid is visible before the first click, and the only question is the order of colours. It suits people who enjoy a daily score against a fixed par and who will happily replay practice levels to build intuition. Skip it if you want a second chance. The daily grid is a single attempt, and the greedy first click that swallows the biggest patch is often the wrong plan. A daily game is one grid and one run of colour picks. The 240 levels are there when one board is not enough.
Reading the feedback
During a game the only running feedback is the move counter beside the grid's par, and the territory itself, which swallows the touching cells of each colour you pick. The verdict comes once the grid is one colour, measured against par. Par or better scores 10,000 with the title PERFECT BLOOM. One over scores 9,500 and MASTER GARDENER. Two or three over scores 8,500 and KEEN GARDENER. Four to six over scores 7,000 and GREEN THUMB. Seven or more over drops below 7,000 with LEARNING TO GROW. In Token levels a colour that runs out while still on the board means a loss, not a lower score.
Modes
Daily: One 14 by 14 grid per day, published at midnight UTC and identical for every player. One attempt, scored against par, with a streak that resets if you miss a day.
Classic (levels 1 to 60): Pure flood-fill with no modifiers. Plan the optimal colour order from the start.
Seed (levels 61 to 120): Some tiles are pre-coloured and territory grows from seed positions instead of the corner.
Virus (levels 121 to 180): A fuchsia colour spreads by one tile after every move. Absorb it early for safety or wait for a bigger grab.
Token (levels 181 to 240): Each colour has limited uses. Run out while it still exists on the board and you lose.
Tips and strategy
Plan several moves ahead. Each colour you pick changes the boundary of your territory and opens new paths, so the best move is the one that sets up the next two.
Sweep rather than nibble. Expanding in large moves instead of picking off small patches keeps the count close to par.
Par comes from a greedy algorithm that approximates the optimum, so the greediest choice each turn is not guaranteed to beat it. On hard grids even experienced players rarely do.
Use Levels to experiment. Some grids have several optimal paths, and the 240 levels let you test orderings without spending the daily attempt.
In Virus levels, decide when to absorb the fuchsia colour, early for safety or later for a bigger grab. In Token levels, count the remaining uses before you commit to a colour.
Popular questions
Do I need an account? No. Bloom says it plainly: no account, no subscription, no ads, and it is completely free to play and always will be.
When does the new grid arrive? Every day at midnight UTC, and the grid is the same for every player around the world.
Can I replay a day I got wrong? No. The daily puzzle has no play again: one grid, one attempt. For more boards, the Levels tab offers 240 levels across four modes.
What is par? The optimal number of moves for the grid, estimated by a greedy algorithm. Matching or beating it earns 10,000 points, and beating it on hard grids is genuinely difficult.
How is the score calculated? A score of par or better earns 10,000 points and the title PERFECT BLOOM. One over par earns 9,500 and MASTER GARDENER. Two or three over par earns 8,500, with the title KEEN GARDENER. Four to six over par earns 7,000 and GREEN THUMB. Seven or more over par scores below 7,000: LEARNING TO GROW.