How to earn three stars in Cat Dash

Earn three stars by clearing a Cat Dash level with no blocked taps and no hints. Finishing faster, choosing a particular cat style or following one specific move order does not improve the rating.

Rules checked for Cat Dash 1.4.0 · Updated October 11, 2026 · Maintained by Cat Dash

The exact star rules

The third blocked tap uses your last heart and ends the attempt. That is a failed attempt, rather than a completed level with zero stars. You must help every cat leave before a new result is awarded.

For example, clearing without mistakes after using one hint earns two stars. Using another hint does not by itself reduce that result to one star. Clearing after one mistake also earns two stars, whether or not you used a hint. Two mistakes followed by a clear earns one star.

Hearts measure mistakes in this attempt

Each new attempt begins with three hearts. Tapping a cat whose exit line contains another cat costs one heart. The blocked cat stays in place. Tapping an empty board square does not send a cat, and a successful departure does not consume a heart.

Three hearts alone do not prove a three-star result is still possible: you may already have used Hint. Hint marks a legal exit in blue and counts when it successfully highlights a cat. Looking through help or the cat catalog does not count as a hint. Sound, motion and cosmetic choices do not affect scoring.

Restart for a fresh three-star attempt

If you have used a hint or made a blocked tap, you can finish for practice or choose Restart. Restart restores every cat on the current layout, gives you three hearts, and resets the attempt's hint and mistake counts. It does not erase earlier best stars or unlocks.

A useful practice loop is to solve a difficult level once, notice where the blockers were, then replay it slowly. Check the whole forward line before each tap. You do not need to reproduce your previous order if you can identify a different free cat: every legal removal is safe under the current rules.

Use the level picker to revisit an unlocked puzzle. Selecting a level button starts a new board for that level; opening the picker alone does not. If you wanted to keep a partly cleared attempt instead, leave the game on that attempt and check its save status before closing the browser.

Your best result does not fall on a replay

The level picker keeps the highest star result earned for each level in the current save. If you already have three stars and later finish the same puzzle with one, its saved record remains three. The result screen describes the attempt you just finished, so it can show fewer stars than the best shown in the picker.

There are 100 levels and up to 300 saved stars. Clearing a level with any star rating unlocks the next level; three stars are not required to progress. The Perfect paws milestone tracks three-star clears on ten different levels, so replaying one perfect level ten times does not meet that goal.

Keep the distinction between an attempt and a save

Supported automatic saving records the remaining cats, hearts, mistakes and hints for your current attempt. Reloading a saved attempt therefore does not wipe away a hint or restore lost hearts. An earlier completed best is kept separately from the attempt in progress.

The best-result protection applies while playing within that save. Restoring an older backup replaces the current record rather than combining two histories, so an old backup can contain fewer stars. Check the preview and keep a current backup before restoring. The save and restore guide explains that process.

For practical help, read how to trace exit chains, start with the first ten levels, or browse the wiki. The rules reference lists the other progress milestones.

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