Symmetry and Packing Puzzle Tips: A Method That Always Works

Two kinds of levels cause most of the frustration in A Little to the Left: symmetry levels, where there seems to be no single answer, and packing levels, where everything has to fit into a box with nothing left over. Both follow strict logic once you know what to look for. This guide gives you a repeatable method for each, with the levels where you will use it.

How to recognise the level type

The symmetry method

Free-form symmetry levels accept many results, which is exactly what makes them hard: there is no target to aim for. Give yourself one by working in this order.

1. Sort into pairs at the edge of the screen. Before building anything, drag identical items next to each other. Whatever remains without a partner is a centre piece.
2. Lay the centre line. Place every unique item on the vertical axis of the scene. The largest unique item usually anchors the middle.
3. Mirror outward, one pair at a time. Put one item of a pair on the left and its twin at the same height and the same distance on the right.
4. Check direction. A mirrored leaf or shell should point the opposite way from its twin. Same-direction copies look symmetrical at a glance but are not mirrored.
5. Look for overlaps. Two items touching on one side must also touch on the other.

Plucking and clipping levels

Here you make a plant symmetrical by removing leaves. The trap is removing too much.

• Start at the top and move down the stem, comparing each leaf with the leaf directly opposite.
• Remove a leaf only when it has no partner on the other side. Different sizes do not matter as much as position.
• If you removed a leaf by mistake, restart the level. Leaves cannot be put back.

The packing method

Packing levels have exactly one arrangement, or one per solution, where everything fits with no overlap. Guessing piece by piece works badly. This order works well:

1. Empty the container completely. A half-packed box hides the real shape of the free space.
2. Find the anchor. The largest or most irregular item usually has only one possible position. Place it first.
3. Use outlines and dividers. Dents, shadows and compartments are not decoration. Match each one to an object.
4. Long items along the edges. Knives, rulers, screwdrivers and brushes fit the long sides of a container.
5. Small items last. Buttons, pins and tiny boxes fill whatever is left.
6. Labels at the end. When everything fits but nothing happens, swap equal-sized items until labels, stripes or patterns line up.

Hidden pieces and false gaps

• Look under drawers and boxes. In the expansions, items often sit beneath a drawer you just closed or opened.
• Change object shapes. In Seeing Stars many objects fold, open or extend when pressed. A gap that nothing fits usually needs an extended or compact version of something you already placed.
• Check the second drawer. Some Cupboards & Drawers levels have two drawers reached by moving the cursor to the top or bottom edge.
• Clear the debris. Crumbs and shavings can sit in a gap and block the last piece. Drag them off screen.

Where you will use each method

Each of these levels is solved step by step in our walkthroughs, for example Chapter 3 for packing and Chapter 4 for symmetry. The general logic behind all puzzle types is in our 12 rules.