Glimmer and Gloom
Hard Difficulty
Updated 2021
Hard Difficulty
Updated 2021
Hi there! This is a guide to solving Glimmer and Gloom on Hard mode. I can max out the fairgrounds in 8-9 minutes using it on a touchscreen. However, if you're new to the game, I absolutely recommend trying Catradora's Hard mode guide instead. It's easier to understand and remember, and is just as fast. But my strategy is built off of Mahogi's guide and has less to relearn if you already use that one.
If you're struggling, the G+G guides at the end of this post are a good place to start. They also have links to videos that might make the basics easier.
Part 1: Clearing the board
If you know how to play Very Hard mode already, this is the same concept- skip to Part 2.
If you know how to play Very Hard mode already, this is the same concept- skip to Part 2.
The goal of Glimmer and Gloom is to flip tiles and make the board all one type: Light or Shadow. I'm trying to make the board shadow, so we're getting rid of the light tiles.
When you enter Hard mode, the board starts scrambled.
The main idea is to clear the board like reading a book, moving left to right one row at a time. Start at the top left of the board and look for a light tile.
When you find one, click on the tile BELOW and TO THE RIGHT of that light tile.
After you click, it will be shadow.
Look down the row for the next light tile, and click below and to the right of that one to remove it.
Once your first row is all shadow, move down to the next row and do the same there.
When clearing the middle row and below, there will be tiles stuck as light on the far right of the board. Ignore those and move on to the next row. When you're finished, you should only have light tiles on the right edge and bottom edge of the board.
Part 2: Solving
The new part.
The new part.
Now we only have to look at three tiles to see if they're light. They are the rightmost tiles of row 4, row 5, and row 6. If there is a light tile at the end of that row, we need to fix it. Ignore the bottom row because it always gets fixed on its own.
To fix row 4, 5, and 6, we can click three special tiles at the top of the board.
This special tile will flip row 4.*
This special tile will flip row 5 and 6.
This special tile will flip row 6.
Fixing row 4 is straightforward. if there is a light tile in row 4, click the special tile to fix it.
The catch is that whenever you need to fix the light tile in row 5 it will also flip row 6. So if row 6 also has a light tile, you're done! Don't click anything else.
But if row 6 has a shadow tile, you need to click the other special tile to flip it back to shadow.
If you need to fix row 6, and row 5 was shadow, it's easy again. Just click its special tile.
*However, if you only need to fix row 4, and not 5 or 6, it is faster to click on the leftmost tile of row 4 instead. You can then click below every tile in row 4 to fix it. Only do this if the board looks exactly like it does below.
Once you've clicked the combination of special tiles needed to solve the puzzle, clear the board again like you did in Part 1. Once you do that, the puzzle should be done!
Tip for advanced players: Having one light tile left in row 6, and having an odd number of tiles left in row 6 are the same board state. You don't have to fully clear row 6 when you get comfortable with the game. If you can see three tiles left in row 6, you're fine to start clicking the top row.
is the same as 
Below are the possible combinations of light tiles in row 4, 5, and 6. I've highlighted the special tiles you need to click to solve the puzzle.
Credits:
Hard Mode:
Mahogi's Hard mode guide
Catradora's Hard mode guide (Check this one out! It's not as popular as the others but it's simpler than my solution and might be just as fast. I'll test them both for a few days and let you know.)
A video guide, similar to Cat's solution(This one's good too!)
A second video guide
Very Hard Mode:
Catradora's Very Hard mode guide (The same concept as what we're doing here.)
sQld's guide
JumboDS64's guide
