One candy, one Om Nom, and the order you cut
The first Cut the Rope asks a single question on every level: in what order do you cut the ropes so the candy reaches Om Nom? He sits in one fixed spot, the candy hangs on one or more ropes, and physics does the rest. There are no helpers to call and nothing to transform into — every later game in the series adds something to this, so this is the version where the core idea is easiest to see.
Each level has three stars, collected by letting the candy touch them on its way. You can clear a level without any of them, but stars are what unlock later boxes, so a run of empty clears eventually stops your progress.
Ropes do more than hold
A rope that is pulled taut turns red and works like a slingshot: cut it and the candy is flung the opposite way. That is how you reach a star far off the candy's natural path, and also how a level that looked simple sends the candy somewhere you did not plan.
Auto-ropes are hooks with a blue dotted circle around them. When the candy enters that circle, a rope attaches by itself — and only once. How the candy enters matters: dropped straight in, it simply hangs; arriving from the side, it starts to swing. Cutting a rope across the whole board in one long swipe is allowed, so two ropes can go at exactly the same moment when a level needs it.
The first three boxes: what each object does
Cardboard Box teaches ropes, auto-ropes, bubbles and spikes. A bubble lifts the candy upward and a tap pops it; check what is above it first, because a bubble will carry the candy into spikes or off the top of the screen. If two bubbles touch, only one survives. Spikes break the candy on contact.
Fabric Box adds air cushions and spiders. An air cushion blows the candy, or a bubble with the candy in it, across the screen; one or two exact taps beat repeated tapping. A spider climbs down the rope towards the candy and steals it if it gets there, so the rope it is on is the one to cut before it arrives. Spiders are slow, which rewards waiting for the right moment rather than cutting in a hurry.
Foil Box adds movable hooks you drag along a track, and electric sparks, which break the candy like spikes but switch on and off, so they can be passed with the right timing.
Later boxes each add one new tool
From the fourth box on, each box is built around one new object. Magic Box adds magic hats that teleport the candy to a matching hat, keeping its speed. Valentine Box splits the candy in two, and Om Nom only eats it once the halves are back together. Toy Box adds bouncing platforms, Gift Box adds wheel ropes whose length you change by turning the wheel, and Cosmic Box adds a red button that flips gravity. After that come blades (Tool Box), bees that carry the candy along a fixed path (Buzz Box), turntables (DJ Box), ghosts that change form when tapped (Spooky Box), steam (Steam Box), lanterns (Lantern Box), a mouse that carries the candy between holes (Cheese Box), night lights that reveal hidden stars (Pillow Box) and conveyor belts (Mechanical Box).
That structure is the practical tip: when a new box starts and you are suddenly stuck, it is almost always the new object. The first few levels of a box are written to teach it, so it is worth replaying them until it is clear what the new thing does before pushing on.
Three stars on a hard level
Stars have to be collected in the same attempt — the candy cannot pick up two now and come back for the third later. Some stars are timed, with a ring that runs down until the star vanishes, so on those the order of cuts matters as much as the route. When a star seems unreachable, look for a slingshot rope or an auto-rope you have not used yet; on most levels the third star is placed so that the obvious route misses it. Restarting is instant, so trying several orders is faster than planning one perfectly.
Where this version runs
This is ZeptoLab's real game, played in the browser through our licensed feed, with nothing to install and no account. It suits a tall screen, so a phone held upright fits it best; on a desktop it plays in a portrait frame. The game keeps its progress in this browser, so another device starts over. The browser release and the mobile app can differ in which boxes they include.
Sources
Mechanics above were cross-checked against Pocket Gamer's tips, the Cut the Rope wiki's list of gameplay elements and list of boxes, and Wikipedia). The later boxes are described from the wiki alone, so they get one line each rather than strategy this page cannot back up.
