How to play Peel

Peel is a puzzle about order. Every box is sealed with strips of colored tape, and you can only peel a strip when nothing lies on top of it.

The basics

Peel a free strip. A strip is free when no other strip covers any part of it. In Easy mode, free strips show a little lifted corner.
It lands in your tray. The tray has 5 slots.
Three of a color clear. When a third strip of the same color lands, all three disappear and free up room.
Don't overflow. If a strip has nowhere to go, the box is lost. You can try again for free.

Each star is its own goal, shown live at the top of the screen:

Clear the box. Peel every strip.
Stay inside the star line. A dashed line with a star in your tray shows the level's limit. Fill a slot past it and this star is gone. The limit comes from a solver that found the best possible order.
No misses, no help. Tapping a strip that is still covered is a miss. Hints, undos and extra slots count as help.

Frozen tape hides its color under ice. Tap it once when it is free to crack the ice. That is not a miss.
Mystery tape (later in Medium and Hard) is plain brown paper until the strip is free. Then you see its color.
Boss boxes are the last box of every country: more strips and more tricky moments.

Stuck on a box? Every level has a step-by-step solution that plays itself.

Is every level in Peel solvable?

Yes. Every level is checked by a solver before it ships, and every level can be cleared with all 3 stars.

How many slots does the tray have?

Five. Three strips of the same color clear, so the trick is never to fill the tray with five different colors.

Does using a hint cost a star?

Yes. Hints, undos and the extra slot count as help, so the third star needs a clean run. You still keep the other stars.