Steampunk Paint-Mixing Puzzle Game
Pipe the colours together, mix to fill every order, and build your paint empire
Kalabux
Kalabux is a steampunk paint-mixing puzzle game where you run a Victorian paint works. Pipe the three primary colours — red, yellow and blue — out of their tanks and through a grid of brass pipework so they mix at the junctions into the exact colour each customer has ordered. It's colour theory made hands-on, wrapped in a cosy factory to build, upgrade and keep running.
There's a works to answer for as well as a puzzle to solve. The morning post brings rush jobs, price rises and word that an inspector is calling; your standing with the town sets what a jar fetches; and the trade board hangs a framed certificate on your office wall for every milestone you pass.
What You'll Do in Kalabux
Mix the Primary Colours
Red and yellow make orange, yellow and blue make green, all three make brown. Route two streams into one junction and the paint combines — proportional mixes even make in-between hues.
Lay & Rotate the Pipework
Place straights, bends, splitters and four-way hubs on a hex grid to carry colour from tank to jar. A researched crossover piece even lets two streams cross without mixing.
Fill the Order Line
Customers queue up wanting specific colours, each with a deadline in days — plus the occasional premium rush job. Ship the right jar to the right order before the clock runs out.
Shade, Tint & Tone
Research the black-and-white subsystem to darken a colour into a shade, lighten it into a tint, or mute it into a tone — plus pure black, white and grey. Forty-six colours in all, every one of them named, from Terracotta to Burnt Umber.
Build & Upgrade the Works
Earn coins to buy bigger paint tanks and pumps, a longer order book, a larger warehouse and lorry, and fund an R&D research tree — turning one humble machine into a full colour empire.
Read the Morning Post
Every day opens with the letters: rush jobs, a supplier's voucher, a price rise you can't undo, a review in the local paper, word of what colour is all the rage this week — and now and then, notice that an inspector is calling.
Mind Your Standing
The inspector grades the works out of five stars on how clean and well-kept you've left it, and the town's opinion of you moves every jar's price. Keep it tight and the council will licence you for a second shift; let it go and they'll take the licence back.
Fill the Office Wall
Orders delivered, colours mastered, lorries shipped, a run of clean mixes — the trade board sends a framed certificate for each, signed by its committee. A few of them you'll not see coming.
Keep It All Running
Parts wear out and seals spring leaks at the junctions. Between shifts you buy paint, clean up spills and repair the works — a cosy-but-demanding maintenance loop with Old Silas, the foreman, on hand to help.
Frequently Asked Questions
What kind of game is Kalabux?
Kalabux is a puzzle and factory-management game about mixing paint. You route the primary colours out of tanks and through a grid of pipes so they combine at the junctions into the exact colour each customer has ordered, then jar it and ship it out.
How do you play Kalabux?
You lay and rotate pipe parts to route colour from the tanks, pull the big lever to run the mix, and dispatch the finished jars. Between shifts you maintain the works — buying paint, cleaning up spills, and repairing worn parts and leaking seals — and spend your earnings on upgrades and research.
What comes in the morning post?
Each day starts with the letters. There are rush jobs due by close of play, vouchers off paint and parts, a supplier putting its prices up for good, a customer settling in advance, a review in the local paper, word of the colour everyone wants this week, and notice that an inspector is coming. Some of it pays, some of it costs, and none of it can be ignored.
Is there anything to work towards?
Your standing with the town rises and falls with what you ship and when, and it sets what a jar fetches. An inspector grades the works out of five stars, and a well-kept works can be licensed by the council for a second shift. The trade board sends framed certificates for milestones along the way — orders delivered, colours mastered, a long run without a spill — and a few of those are kept back as surprises.
What makes the colour-mixing puzzles interesting?
Colour theory becomes hands-on: red and yellow make orange, yellow and blue make green, and all three make brown, while proportional mixes make in-between hues. A researched black-and-white system then adds darker shades, paler tints and muted tones, so the colours you can brew keep growing.
Is Kalabux free to play?
Yes. Kalabux is free to play, funded by optional rewarded ads (watch one for an emergency paint top-up). There are no accounts, and your progress saves on your device.
Is there a story or a guide?
Old Silas, the works foreman, walks you through a hands-on tutorial and offers tips as you go. If you get stuck on a layout, his pointing finger can work out a route for you. The goal is to grow your paint works from a tired old machine to a colour empire.
What devices will Kalabux run on?
Kalabux is out now on Google Play and the App Store.
What languages is Kalabux in?
Twenty, all built in and picked automatically from your device: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese (both European and Brazilian), Polish, Turkish, Dutch, Indonesian, Czech, Slovak, Croatian, Hungarian, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish and Filipino.
Follow Kalabux
Kalabux is out now on Google Play and the App Store. Visit the dedicated site for the latest, or explore the rest of our games and apps.
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