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The 12 Ring Materials in Ringol: Looks, Sounds, Bursts

Every ring in Ringol can be made of one of twelve materials. A material changes how rings look, land, burst and sound, and brings its own world behind the board. It never changes the game: rules, scores and timings stay the same, and so does each ring's colour.

All twelve are free and open

There is nothing to unlock. Every material is open from the first start: nothing is earned, bought or tried for an ad. Change your mind as often as you like.

How to switch materials

1. On the home screen, tap the Rings key, the first key in the settings row.
2. Tap any of the twelve tiles. The preview card at the top shows a small stack of three rings in that material, in its world.
3. Tap the preview to see the material in action: the rings drop in one by one, land the way that material lands, burst and grow back, with its sounds.
4. Press Use. You go straight back to the home screen, already drawn in the new material.

The material in use has a check on its tile. On phones that allow it, a Use as app icon key puts that material's version of the Ringol icon on your home screen.

Your choice applies everywhere: in Ring by ring, Full box and Ring Chains, and on the menus and buttons too.

The materials, one by one

Classic

The rings as they always were, with the game's original sounds and backdrops.

Candy

White sugar and the ring's colour twist round each ring in stripes, with a glossy shine. Rings land with a big, bouncy boing. A finished stack bursts into sprinkles in every colour, and the backdrop is sprinkles on pink.

Wood

The ring's colour soaks in like a wood stain, with grain, knots and darker rims. Wood lands with a solid knock and almost no bounce, and breaks into stained chips and sawdust. Behind the board is a table of planks.

Jelly

Soft and nearly see-through, with a light band inside and three big wet highlights. Jelly squashes and stretches as it lands, its outline wobbles, and the rings underneath wobble too. It bursts into big drops that squash as they fly. The world is soft blobs of light on grape.

Metal

Brushed lines, a bright outer rim, a dark inner rim and reflections that swing round the ring as it rocks into place. It feels heavy. A burst throws metal filings and spark streaks against a neutral grey brushed backdrop.

Glass

Clear crystal: you see the board through the middle of each ring, tinted in its colour, with crisp rims and two sharp streaks of light. Glass lands with a tiny hop and a glint that runs round it, and shatters into clear spinning triangles. Its world is a cool grey-blue studio with light shafts and a prism's spectrum.

Bubble

A soap film: a thin line of the ring's colour round the middle, a turning rainbow on each rim, and the board showing through between them. In Ring by ring a bubble floats down slowly and wobbles for a long time. It bursts into small floating bubbles and droplets, under a soft sky with clouds.

Ice

Frosted white-blue, with frost towards the rims, white cracks and sparkles running round. Ice slides a little sideways and turns before it stops, with a puff of frost. It breaks into tinted cubes and snow, in an icy white world with snowflakes.

Water

Deep aqua liquid with ripples running round and small glints of light. Water wobbles as it lands, a ripple runs out over the board and drops jump. A burst is a splash of clear drops and three ripples. The backdrop is a swimming pool: tiles, joints and the light net on them.

Neon

A bright tube of light with a white core and a glow of its colour on the board around it. Neon flickers on as it lands, like a tube starting up, and each ring bursts into a shock ring of light and straight-flying embers. Neon is always night, even in the light theme: a glowing grid on the horizon and stars.

Lava

Black rock with cracks glowing in the ring's colour. Lava lands with a heavy thud and a glow of heat, and bursts into rising embers and smoke. Its world has glowing cracks at the foot and floating embers, at dusk in the light theme and at night in the dark one.

Gold

Polished gold, with the ring's colour set into it as an enamel band. Gold lands with a clink, its shine swings and a four-pointed star runs round it. A finished stack bursts into flipping gold coins and sparkles, on a dark backdrop with a lattice of gold lines.

Full box's bonus pieces change too

In Full box, the bomb, the joker and the vortex follow the material too: candy's bomb is a peppermint, wood's a little barrel, lava's black rock whose cracks glow brighter as the fuse burns down, and water's vortex a whirlpool. Only looks and sounds change, never how they work. The Full box bonuses guide explains what each one does.

Sounds, kept soft

Every material except Classic has its own sounds for landings, bursts, scores and Full box's bonus pieces; menu sounds and danger warnings stay the same. The sets are meant to stay soft: after Metal and Gold sounded harsh when played on phones, Metal was remade as a soft, damped mallet note and Gold as a warm, gentle coin chime. On the web, a material's sounds download the first time you pick it.

On older or weaker phones

A weaker phone gets a lighter version of each material that still looks like itself: candy keeps its stripes, wood its grain, lava its glowing cracks, neon its bright tube. The costly parts go: see-through effects become solid, ripples and sparkles stand still, and bursts throw fewer pieces.

If you prefer less movement on any phone, turn off Effects in the settings row. With it off, no material moves on its own, and bursts throw no pieces.

Which one should you pick?

Neon, Lava and Gold are dark by nature, good for evenings. For lively landings, try Candy's boing or Jelly's wobble; for a quiet, solid feel, Wood's knock. The easiest way to choose is to tap through the previews and keep the one that feels right. Read Puzzles and calm for more, or play now.

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.
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• 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.
• Full box bonuses: bomb, joker, vortex and scoring tipsHow Full box bonuses in Ringol work: what earns the bomb, joker and vortex, how to use each one, and how precise drops at x5 lift your score.
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• 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.
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