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Catch fireflies in a dusky meadow by drawing loops of light around them with your finger. Circle whole groups for multiplied points, keep the moths out, and grab them before they dim and fly away.
Press anywhere on the meadow and drag to draw a trail of light. The loop closes the instant your line crosses itself, or when you lift your finger close to where you started, and every firefly inside is caught. Several fireflies in one loop multiply the points; a moth inside the loop costs one of your 3 hearts.
Each firefly is worth 10 points from the moment it lights up. Its glow slowly weakens, and when it turns amber with a shrinking ring around it, it is about to leave: an amber firefly is worth 6 points at first and only 1 just before it flies away. A loop scores the sum of the fireflies' values times how many it holds, so three bright ones in one loop make 3 × 30 = 90, while catching them one by one makes only 30.
If the loop also surrounds a moth, the catch is spoiled: you lose a heart, the fireflies scatter and the moth flutters off. The meter in the top right counts fireflies that got away; every 5th one costs a heart, and a single loop of 3 or more fireflies wins one back. When the last heart is gone, the night is over.
Fireflies appear in little groups of one to four every 1.2 seconds. At the start one glows for 5 seconds before it begins to dim, and that time halves every 110 seconds of the night. They drift faster the longer you play, and one more moth arrives every 30 seconds, drawn toward the light. Nothing moves until your first touch. A very long trail fades from its oldest end, so draw loops of a sensible size.
Patience pays more than speed. A loop's points are the sum of the fireflies' values times how many it holds, so the same three bright fireflies are worth 30 caught one at a time and 90 in a single loop, and four in one loop can reach 160. Fireflies are born in small groups that start out heading the same way and drift apart over the next few seconds, so the best moment to strike is just after a group lights up, when they are still bunched together and at full value.
Watch the moths, not just the light. Moths are drawn toward the nearest glowing firefly, so a big group is also the place a moth is most likely to wander into. Before you start a loop, check where the nearest moth is heading. A tight oval that hugs the group is safer than a big generous circle, and the loop does not need to be round: you can bend it around a moth that sits right beside the fireflies. Only a moth's body counts, so a wing brushing your line is fine.
Use the amber ones as a to-do list. A firefly turns amber when it starts to dim, and the ring around it shows how much time is left before it flies away and fills a pip on the away meter. A quick small loop around an amber straggler is worth only a few points, but it saves you a fifth of a heart. When the away meter is close to full, look for a group of three or more: one such loop wins back a pip.
The night speeds up for good. Glow time halves every 110 seconds, fireflies keep drifting faster and a new moth arrives every 30 seconds, so the first two minutes are where calm, big loops pay off and later on short, decisive loops matter more. Drawing with a fingertip of the hand that is not holding the phone, or with the phone flat on a table, makes small loops much easier to close cleanly.