Push the ball and it keeps going. That's the entire problem. It only halts when it bumps a wall or rolls onto a stop square, scooping up gems along the way, and one wrong slide sends it straight into a mine.
Inertia Gem Slide unblocked is Simon Tatham's version of Inertia, from his Portable Puzzle Collection, based on an older Windows game by Ben Olmstead. Every grid is new, and it plays in any browser.
How to play Inertia Gem Slide
You can roll in eight directions: the four straight ones and the four diagonals. Click or tap on the grid on the side of the ball you want to go toward, or use the arrow keys and number pad.
Gray raised blocks are walls, and the ball stops on the square just before one. Broken circles are stop squares that halt the ball from any direction. Cyan diamonds are gems, and rolling over one collects it without slowing down. Black spiky balls are mines.
The status bar counts how many gems are left. Bring it to zero to see COMPLETED. If you grab the last gem and hit a mine in the same roll, the mine wins. The 10x8, 15x12 and 20x16 sizes are in the Type menu, with Custom for anything else.
Controls
| To… | Keyboard | Mouse | Touch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Slide up, down, left or right | Arrow keys or number pad 8, 2, 4, 6 | Left-click on the grid in that direction from the ball | Tap on the grid in that direction from the ball |
| Slide diagonally | Number pad 7, 9, 1, 3 | Left-click diagonally away from the ball | Tap diagonally away from the ball |
| Follow the hint arrow after Solve | Space | — | — |
| Undo (also after hitting a mine), redo, new grid | U / R / N | Undo move, Redo move and New game buttons | Undo move, Redo move and New game buttons |
Tips
- Follow the line to the end. Before moving, find the square where the roll ends and look for mines along the whole line.
- Hop between stop squares. They are the only places you can land in open space, so build routes around them.
- Slip through corners. Two walls touching only at a corner leave a gap a diagonal roll can pass through.
- Don't strand yourself. Before chasing a gem into a dead end, make sure a path back out exists.
- Save the solver for last. Try a tricky grid on your own first, then use Solve only to get unstuck.
Inertia Gem Slide questions
What happens if I roll into a mine?
It blows up and the status bar reads DEAD. Hit Undo to rewind that roll and carry on. A death counter appears next to the gem count.
Does Solve finish the puzzle for me?
No. It plans a route and shows a yellow arrow on the ball. Press Space to follow one step, or move on your own. The status bar notes that you used it.
Is it playable on a phone?
Yes. Tap the grid on the side you want the ball to head toward, diagonals included. Undo, Redo and New game are on-screen buttons, so no keyboard is needed.
