All guides

Full box bonuses: bomb, joker, vortex and scoring tips

Full box has three bonus pieces: the Bomb, the Joker and the Vortex. None of them is random. Each one is a reward for dropping rings well, and all three are earned at the top of your streak, at x5. This guide covers what earns each bonus, what it does once it is in your hand, and how the scoring works if you are going for a high score.

If you are new to the mode, start with the Full box guide, which covers stacks, chains and the danger line.

First, the streak: precise drops and the multiplier

A precise drop is a ring dropped straight into the stack it fits, so that it slides in before it touches anything else. Dropping a bigger ring straight onto a smaller one that is waiting for it counts too. A ring around the aim mark shows when the drop would be precise.

Each precise drop raises the multiplier one step:

x1 → x1.5 → x2 → x3 → x4 → x5

A miss takes you back down. How far depends on the difficulty:

• Normal: a miss costs one step.
• Medium: a miss costs two steps.
• High: a miss costs the whole streak.

A ring that fits no stack in the box is a free drop. So is a ring whose matching stacks are all buried under other pieces. Put a free drop wherever you like: it cannot cost you your streak. Bonus pieces never raise or lower the multiplier.

The Bomb

How to earn it

Once you reach x5, every further precise drop fills one segment of the ring around the bomb on the meter under your score. When that ring is full, you get a bomb. How many precise drops it takes depends on the difficulty:

• Normal: 7 precise drops at x5
• Medium: 8
• High: 10

The price goes up as a game goes on. At set drop counts (25, 50, 80, 110, 150 and on) the bomb costs one more drop on normal and two more on medium and high.

What it does

Drop the bomb into the box. It goes off 0.6 seconds after it lands. Every stack that reaches into its blast circle is destroyed, and stacks just outside the circle survive but get pushed aside. The circle you see while aiming is the real rule, so if a stack is inside it on screen, it's gone.

A blast pays for every ring it destroys:

• 10 points per ring for 1 to 3 rings
• 15 per ring for 4 or 5 rings
• 20 per ring for 6 rings or more

Blast points are not multiplied by your streak.

How to use it

Aim at the tallest, most tangled part of the pile, especially stacks that are close to the danger line. The point of a bomb is room, not points. A blast that takes six or more rings also pays the best rate.

The Joker

How to earn it

While you are at x5, finish a full chain of all 5 rings with a precise drop. A chain that completes on its own, for example when a ring rolls in from the side, still pays its points but earns no bonus.

What it does

The joker is a rainbow ring. Drop it on a stack and it turns into exactly the ring that stack is waiting for, then slides in. If it finds no stack to join within about two seconds of landing, it becomes an ordinary smallest ring.

How to use it

Use it on the stack that is hardest to finish: the one waiting for a size that has not come for a while, or a nearly full chain sitting high in the box. There is one catch. A chain with a joker ring in it scores its full points but can't earn a new bonus.

The Vortex

How to earn it

At x5, close two chains with precise drops, the second within 2 seconds of the first. If the second pop also finishes a full chain of 5, you get the vortex instead of the joker.

What it does

Drop the vortex. When it lands, every loose ring in the whole box flies into the nearest stack it fits. If there is nothing for it to gather, it turns into a joker, so it is never wasted.

How to use it

The vortex is best when the box is full of scattered single rings that fit somewhere but are hard to reach. One rule to know: a chain that the vortex itself completes earns no bonus. A stack it only helped along can still earn if you close it yourself.

The bonus queue

An earned bonus becomes the piece in your hand at your next drop, and the ring shown as "next" waits its turn. Up to three bonuses can wait in the queue. A bonus earned while three are already waiting is lost, so don't hoard them. While a bonus piece is still at work in the box, the danger countdown pauses.

Scoring tips for high scores

A stack pops when its smallest ring goes in. Longer chains pay much more:

• 2 rings: 10 points
• 3 rings: 40
• 4 rings: 120
• all 5 rings: 400

Every pop is multiplied by your streak, so a full chain at x5 is worth 2000 points. A few habits follow from that:

1. Protect the streak first. A pop at x5 pays five times what it pays at x1, and every bonus is earned only at x5. On high, one miss sends you back to x1.
2. Build long chains. One full chain is worth ten times a chain of three.
3. Use free drops to park rings. A ring that fits nothing can go anywhere without hurting your streak.
4. Plan with the queue. Normal shows three pieces ahead, medium two and high only the next one. Use them to set up two quick precise pops for a vortex.
5. Pops also lift the danger line. Every chain you pop sends the line back up, and longer chains at a higher streak lift it more. Good scoring and staying alive are the same skill.

Each difficulty keeps its own best score. Questions about ads or devices are answered in the FAQ, and the other modes start in how to play.

Ready to try for a bomb? Play Ringol, free on Google Play, the App Store and the web.

Play Ringol

More guides

• How to play Ringol: a guide for new playersLearn Ringol in a few minutes: the one rule about rings, the three modes, tap and drag controls, free undo, saved progress, themes and the 20 languages.
• Ring by ring: rules, levels and starsThe rules of Ringol's Ring by ring mode: how a move works, when a level is solved, the 100 levels, moves, stars, Undo, Restart and how the puzzles grow.
• Ring by ring: strategy tips for hard levelsConcrete techniques for Ringol's Ring by ring puzzles: use empty places, plan the biggest ring, avoid burying a colour, count moves and think backwards.
• Full box: how the physics mode of Ringol worksA clear guide to Full box in Ringol: dropping rings, building chains from large to small, the score multiplier, precise drops, the danger line and difficulties.
• Ring Chains guide: rules, chapters, hints and tipsHow Ring Chains in Ringol works: swipe sets like 4-3-2-1 through neighbouring wells, clear the board, avoid traps, use Undo and hints, and read the chapters.
• The 12 Ring Materials in Ringol: Looks, Sounds, BurstsAll 12 Ringol ring materials, from Classic to Gold: how each one looks, moves, sounds and bursts, the world it brings, and how to switch. All free, none locked.
• Calm Puzzles for Short Breaks: How Ringol Is BuiltWhy a calm puzzle suits a short break, and the design choices behind Ringol: no timers or lives, free undo, short levels, quiet settings and reduced motion.
• Ringol FAQ: ads, offline play, saves, devices, privacyAnswers about Ringol: is it free, when ads show, playing offline, how progress is saved on phones and the web, languages, weak phones, privacy and bug reports.
• Making Ringol: A Solo Devlog from ArmeniaHow one developer in Armenia made Ringol: from a small-ring-in-a-big-ring idea and web prototypes to Godot, three modes, 12 materials and 20 languages.