Turbo Pudding

AmblesteadMeet the cast

Meet the crew on Amabel’s shell

· The Turbo Pudding team · 5 min read

The Glass Desert under a warm yellow sky, on Amabel’s shell of lilac and pale green hexagon plates: Nils, a white arctic hare in a red scarf, stands on the left holding a rolled map next to Saffi, a sandy fennec fox with tall pink-lined ears and a teal kerchief, beside her new brick kitchen with an arched hearth, where a tiny white resident sits; Delva, a gray mole with round brass goggles and a pink star-shaped nose, stands talking in the middle with Pim, the brown pangolin with a scaly back and a long pale snout, beside her, and a yellow cottage with an orange scalloped roof, a big wooden water tank, a pink striped tent, a red bridge, little birds, a wooden lift and the edge of Mayor Barty’s spiral shell fill the rest of the town

Amblestead is a town on the back of Amabel, a giant turtle who wakes up after a very long sleep and starts walking. It’s Monday, so let’s meet four of the characters she runs into: a mole who fixes things, a hare who knows the way, a fox who cooks, and a beaver who would much rather the whole town stayed exactly where it is.

The picture at the top is the Glass Desert, the fourth chapter. Nils in his red scarf and Saffi with her pot stand on the edge of the shell next to her new kitchen, while Delva and Pim talk in the middle of town.

Delva, the mechanic under the plates

Delva is the first neighbor Pim meets, and she isn’t pleased: “Oi! Who is hammering on my ceiling?” Then she introduces herself: “Delva. Mechanic. I live in the tunnels under the plates.” Pim answers in kind: “Pim. Carpenter. I live in a nose, apparently.”

She’s a gray mole with round brass goggles, a pink star-shaped nose, pink digging hands and a tool belt with a gold buckle. She keeps the shell running, but names never quite stick. A tool is a whatsit-sprocket, a thingummy or a doohickey.

Red Canyon is narrow, so the town has to get lighter, and Delva gets a hatch of her own: “My own hatch! Straight down to the tunnels.” Mayor Barty worries about his archive. Delva points out that it is one sheet of paper. You pick what goes over the hatch: a lift, a chute or a ladder. The ladder gets her driest line: “Nothing to oil. Suspicious, but fine.”

She looks out for you, too. Lose a level twice in a row, and the screen promises: “Delva will leave you a Keystone on the next try.” And she does: the next try starts with a Keystone, one of the four special pieces, in the middle of the board.

Red Canyon, on Amabel’s shell of gray-lilac and pale green hexagon plates: Delva, a gray mole with round brass goggles, a pink star-shaped nose, a brown tool belt and pink digging hands, stands talking in the middle next to a dark round hatch with a teal rim set into the plates; on the left stands Mayor Barty, a pale snail with eye stalks, a gold medal on a chain and a black top hat perched on his orange spiral shell, on the right Pim the brown pangolin stands by a rope railing with pink ropes and gold posts, two wrens sit on a ledge above, and the scalloped brown rim of the shell runs along the bottom
Searched “puzzle game with a mole.” She lives under the plates.

Nils, the hare who knows the way

In Snow Pass, a white arctic hare in a red scarf, with a rolled map under his arm, asks: “Excuse me. Is this turtle going over the pass?” Pim asks who he is. “Nils. Cartographer. Extremely cold. I know the way, if you have a fire.”

Nils talks the way he draws maps, in short lines. “The pass is north. Then up. Then more up.” Pim asks how much more up. “All of it.” When the chimneys go in, he reports: “Good. My ears stopped working an hour ago.” Then: “Also my nose. And my left foot.”

Snow Pass also gives him something new: a room for maps, his very first. Until now, he always drew on the move, on his knee. Now he can draw sitting down. “While the room walks. Perfect.” It can be a Map Room, a Star Window or a Sled Shed.

Snow Pass, under a pale blue sky: Nils, a white arctic hare with long ears, a red scarf and a rolled map in his paws, stands talking on top of a big orange wooden water tank in the middle of the town, with a little orange and white pinwheel turning beside him and a tall teal lookout with two round windows rising behind; Delva, the gray mole in brass goggles, stands on the left by the tip of Pim’s long snout, a teal echo horn shaped like a big trumpet points out to the right, and below them are orange scalloped roofs, a yellow cottage and a small black and white bird
Search: “match 3 winter levels.” Nils has notes about the cold.

Saffi, the cook with a pot

The Glass Desert is hot and full of mirages. Nils’s map of it says only one word: “hot.” Then a voice calls out: “Psst! Travellers! Anyone for soup?” It’s Saffi, a fennec fox with tall ears, a bushy tail and a teal kerchief. “Saffi. Cook. A sandstorm took my kitchen. I kept the pot, of course.” Pim tells her there is room on the shell, and up she climbs.

Saffi has a desert saying for everything. “A full pot makes a short road.” Nils objects that the road isn’t on any map. “That is why your maps are so thin, hare.” Her new kitchen can be a soup kitchen, a spice stall or a flatbread oven. And she insists that in the desert, sand is a spice.

When the hearth is lit, the whole crew comes for soup. Delva’s goggles steam up, and Nils can feel his ears again, both of them. Saffi also brings a new tool to the board, the Hot Pepper. Pick a material, and on your next move every piece of it counts twice on the blueprint. Like every tool in the game, it’s earned, never sold.

The Glass Desert under a warm yellow sky: Saffi, a sandy fennec fox with tall pink-lined ears, a teal kerchief and a bushy tail, stands at the edge of Amabel’s shell holding her black soup pot and a ladle, right beside Nils, the white arctic hare in a red scarf holding his rolled map; behind them a faint golden outline marks an empty spot on the plates, one of the town’s tiny white residents sits on a pale green plate, Pim the pangolin stands on the right, and brick chimneys with snow on top, orange flags and a pink striped tent crowd the town above
People also ask: can you cook in a match 3 game? Ask Saffi.

Baron Bulwark, who would rather you stayed

Red Canyon opens with a beaver blocking the way: “Halt! This way is closed. By order of Baron Bulwark.” Pim asks if he built the wall. “A dam, young sir. A magnificent dam. Stay here, tortoise, and be my foundation.” Amabel replies in capital letters, as always: “NO, THANK YOU. WE GO ROUND.”

The Baron has a gold monocle, a plum waistcoat with gold buttons, a grand brow, a flat tail and very famous teeth. He also keeps calling Amabel a tortoise. A little later, Delva brings bad news: another dam, up the creek. And there he is again: “Did you think I would give up, tortoise?” Amabel: “TURTLE. AND NO.” And he has a rule: “Stone towns never move! Remember that!” What becomes of him after the canyon, we’ll leave to the game.

Red Canyon, on Amabel’s plates: Baron Bulwark, a big brown beaver with a gold monocle, two large front teeth, a heavy brow, a plum waistcoat with gold buttons and a flat dark tail, stands on the left beside Pim, the brown pangolin with a scaly back and a long snout; next to them an orange wooden lift hangs a teal crate over Delva’s hatch, a teal wheel turns by the lift, Delva in her brass goggles stands on the right, and Mayor Barty’s orange spiral shell, black top hat and gold medal show on a ledge above
Search history: “cozy game villain,” then “beaver with a monocle.”

Mist Valley, the first chapter, is free to play in your browser at amblestead.com. The full game, all six chapters, is $4.99, paid once. More about the game is on its Amblestead page.

More about Amblestead

AmblesteadThe real story

Amblestead: the real pangolins behind Pim

Pim curls into a ball, naps in dark places and knows a lot about eyelids. Here is what real pangolins are like, and which of his habits came from them.