How to play Nasreddin Hodja: rules, quarters and tips

How do you play Nasreddin Hodja?

The problem of the tale is written at the top of the screen, for example "Time to return the cauldron you borrowed from your neighbour." The scene has the Hodja, his donkey Boz, other people and 4 to 8 items.

1. Tap an item you can pick up: it goes into the saddlebag at the bottom.
2. Pick the item from the saddlebag and give it to a person, a place or another item in the saddlebag.
3. A correct step changes the scene. Most tales take 3 to 7 moves, picking up items included.

When an item goes somewhere useless, people react, the Hodja raises an eyebrow or Boz brays. There is no losing and no timer; try as much as you like.

Controls

• Tap: put an item from the scene into the saddlebag, or tap a person to hear what they say.
• Pick and tap: tap an item in the saddlebag (it lifts up), then tap where you want to give it in the scene.
• Drag: drag an item from the saddlebag onto the target with your finger or mouse and let go.
• Combine in the bag: pick one item in the saddlebag and tap another item in the saddlebag.

On a computer, H asks for a hint and Esc drops the item or opens the break window. The bulb at the top right is the hint, the button next to it is the break.

The ordinary solution: think backwards

Every tale has an honest, ordinary way that anyone would take. For example, giving the borrowed cauldron back to the neighbour just as it is. If you do that, the person reacts normally and the Hodja says "That works, but it's no tale! Think backwards." The scene doesn't change and the attempt counts as a miss for the stars.

The ordinary solution isn't wrong, it just doesn't make a tale. The Hodja's solution usually comes backwards: putting a little pot inside the cauldron, adding yogurt starter to the lake, riding the donkey backwards.

Hints: Boz the donkey pricks up his ears

When you are stuck, tap the bulb at the top right. Boz the donkey gives the hint in three steps:

1. He shows which item will help.
2. He shows where to give that item.
3. He does the step for you.

One hint opens all three steps for that move; pressing the button again on the same move doesn't use a new hint. You start with 3 hints. Finishing all 4 tales of a quarter gives +1, finishing all four with 3 stars gives +1 more. When you run out, you may watch a short ad for 1 hint; that is always your choice.

Quarters and tales

The game has 20 tales in 5 quarters of Akşehir:

• The Hodja's Street: The pot gave birth, Don't tire the donkey, The moon fell in the well, You watch the door.
• Lakeside and Orchards: Yogurt for the lake, The walnut and the melon, Cooked by candlelight, Slippers up the tree.
• Bazaar and Square: Who pays, plays the whistle, The price of a smell, Eat, my coat, eat!, The centre of the world.
• Neighbours: The house is too small, The soup of the soup of the hare, If this is the cat, where is the meat?, Riding backwards.
• Timur's Camp: Nine donkeys, The elephant, Figs or beets?, Teaching a donkey to read.

The tales of a quarter can be played in any order. Solving 3 tales in a quarter opens the next one. The tales with Timur are legend, and the game tells them that way.

Stars and points

Every tale ends with 1 to 3 stars. Ordinary solutions and wrong tries count as misses.

• 3 stars: no hint and at most 2 misses.
• 2 stars: at most 1 hint and at most 5 misses.
• 1 star: you finished the tale.

Points are 100 for 3 stars, 70 for 2 stars and 40 for 1 star; +20 if you used no hint. The best result of each tale is kept, and the total goes to the leaderboard as Hodja points. The highest total is 2400 points.

Book of Tales

Every tale you solve goes into the Book of Tales. From the Book of Tales button on the map you can read the illustrated story and the Hodja's punchline of any tale again. You can also replay a tale to raise its stars.

Tips

• Tap the people first: listening to them is not a miss and often shows the way.
• Read the problem again. The Hodja's solution often takes its words backwards: told to "watch the door", he carries the door with him.
• Picking an item up and keeping it in the saddlebag is not a miss. Collect what you need first, then think.
• Don't forget to use two items in the saddlebag on each other: the rope and the hook, the ribbon and the wooden elephant.
• Even if you know the tale, each scene has decoy items; take your time for 3 stars.

Common mistakes

• Doing the first thing that comes to mind: giving the borrowed item back as it is, putting the cauldron on the hearth. These are ordinary solutions and count as misses.
• Picking an item and giving it to the wrong person: tap people with an empty hand first and hear what they want.
• Mixing up the order of steps: the hook can't go down the well before it is tied to the rope, and the door can't be carried while it is on its hinges.
• Using a hint at the first sign of trouble: a hint costs you the third star, while a few tries often cost nothing.
• Trying to use the decoys: every scene has one or two items that are no use.