Colony Flow Level 42 Walkthrough Solution & Guides | How to solve Colony Flow 42

Colony Flow Level 42 drops you into a massive sea of red pixels surrounding a cool smiley face. You need to chew through a thick red border to reach the yellow face and the details inside. I found this level requires careful tray management because the solid background blocks your access to the inner colors. You have to open multiple paths at once so your waiting slots never jam.

Colony Flow Level 42 Overview

What You Are Working With

The puzzle board features a large yellow pixel art face wearing sunglasses. The sunglasses have thick black frames and bright orange lenses. The face has a big smile showing bright white teeth. There is brown hair on top of the head. A gray item sits on the far left side of the face. Another item made of white and light blue tiles sits on the bottom right side. The entire picture is surrounded by a massive solid red background. The tray at the bottom holds tall stacks of red blocks alongside yellow, black, brown, white, orange, and light blue blocks. Most of these blocks carry a heavy number 20 count. You do not have to worry about any hidden boxes or complex connected mechanics on this board. Everything is visible and straightforward right from the start.

What It Takes to Clear Level 42 Board

You clear this level by slowly eating away the bottom edges of the picture to create a wide open space. The red background is the biggest obstacle you face. You must send red ants to chew away the thick bottom border and the side borders. If you ignore the red tiles your other colors will not have a clear path to reach the top of the head. You win when you successfully sequence the tray blocks to clear the background and the facial features at the same time without dead ending your paths. Your waiting slots must stay flowing with active ants.

Colony Flow Level 42 Step by Step Solution

Step 1: Open the bottom corners of the picture.

The solid red background covers most of the outer edge but you have two key openings at the very bottom. You will notice yellow tiles exposed on the bottom left corner of the face. You will also see black tiles exposed on the base of the item sitting on the bottom right. Pull a yellow block with a 20 count into your first waiting slot. Pull a black block with a 10 count into the next slot. The yellow ants immediately march out of the dark nest hole, cross the short distance to the bottom left, and start eating the yellow face tiles. The black ants march over to the bottom right and chew away that black base. You will see the numbers on your blocks start ticking down as the ants consume the matching colored food tiles. These two initial moves create your very first foothold into the solid design. It is always best to establish active paths on opposite sides of the board to avoid crowding the ants.

Step 2: Attack the bottom red border to widen your workspace.

With the bottom corners active you must start clearing the massive red wall. The tray is packed with red blocks holding a 20 count. Seeing so many identical blocks stacked up tells you exactly how thick that background really is. Pull a red block with a 20 count into your waiting slot. The red ants stream out of the nest hole and attack the flat red border running along the entire bottom of the picture. This red border acts like a shield blocking your access to the upper sections of the face and hair. You need to keep the red ants constantly busy. Pull another yellow block to keep the yellow ants eating the bottom left cheek. You want your ants chewing on multiple fronts simultaneously. This strategy prevents your waiting slots from jamming because the active ants constantly count down the numbers on their blocks and free up space in your tray area.

Step 3: Access the sunglasses and the teeth.

As the red ants clear away the bottom border and the yellow ants clear the lower jaw you finally expose the inner features of the face. The bright white teeth are now fully reachable from the bottom up. The thick black frames of the sunglasses also have open paths from below. Pull a white block into your waiting slot to send white ants marching to the teeth. Pull a black block to start clearing the lower edges of the sunglass frames. You will also see an orange block resting in your tray. Look closely at the left sunglass lens. When the yellow face tiles below it are gone you pull the orange block to start eating the lens. Watch your slots closely during this phase. The board gets very busy with multiple ant colors running around. Only pull the white and orange blocks when you clearly see an empty path leading directly to those colors so you do not freeze your tray slots.

Step 4: Clear the light blue item on the right side.

The black base on the bottom right is completely gone now. This action fully exposes the light blue and white tiles that make up the bottom right side object. Pull a light blue block from your tray to get those unique tiles out of the way. Pull another white block to support it. The ants quickly swarm this bottom right corner and eliminate the item completely. At the same time you must keep managing the surrounding red background. The left and right edges of the red background remain very thick and block the upward path. Pull another red block with a 20 count. The red ants begin marching up the left and right sides of the board. Opening these side channels is absolutely mandatory for reaching the top hair sections later in the level.

Step 5: Send ants higher up into the face and hair.

The entire bottom half of the board is completely empty now. You have created a wide open space for your ants to travel. The remaining puzzle consists of the top half of the face, the right sunglass lens, the brown hair, and the top red border. Pull a brown block into your waiting slot. Brown ants march out of the nest hole and travel straight up the middle of the board to reach the hair. Pull another yellow block to finish off the forehead. Pull an orange block to clear the remaining right sunglass lens. You must account for the travel distance now. The distance from the nest to the food is much longer at this stage. The ants take several seconds to walk all the way across the empty space before they start eating. Your tray slots hold the blocks longer while the ants commute. Do not panic and pull random blocks. Just wait patiently for the ants to arrive and do their job.

Step 6: Clear the gray item and push up the sides.

Look at the left edge of the face where the gray item sits. The red ants have finally cleared enough of the background to open a direct path to it. Pull a gray block from the tray. The gray ants travel up the far left side and eat the gray tiles in one quick burst. Pull more black blocks to finish the top edge of the sunglass frames. Your board gets very thin at the top. The only things left are the very top rows of the brown hair and the top thick red border. Your tray is also getting low on blocks which means you are very close to winning. Keep matching the exact colors you see exposed and keep feeding the lines of ants moving up the screen.

Step 7: Finish the top red border and the final hair tiles.

You are at the final stretch of the level. The picture is mostly gone except for a long thick strip of red tiles across the very top and a few remaining brown hair tiles in the upper middle section. Pull your last brown block to send ants to finish the hair. Pull your final red blocks to handle the massive top border. The red ants split up and march in long red lines up both the far left and far right sides of the empty board to reach the top edge. The numbers on your final blocks count down quickly as the massive swarm of ants devours the last few rows of color. The last red tile vanishes into the swarm and the board is completely clear.

Final Thought

Level 42 tests your patience with that massive solid red background. You have to resist the urge to pull colors too early before their paths are open. Carving out the bottom first and riding the sides up makes the whole process smooth and keeps your waiting slots moving perfectly. I hope this walkthrough helps you crush this puzzle. Watch the video above this article if any step is hard to follow in text.