Spin & PaintColor by number, in three dimensions
Flat color-by-number gives you numbered regions to fill in. The 3D version gives you a sculpture that has come apart, with every empty slot numbered. Same appeal, different hands.
How it actually works
In Spin & Paint, by-numbers is one of three modes every model supports. The artifact shatters into pieces along its own seams, exactly as it does in puzzle mode — but every empty slot on the model carries a number, and every piece in the tray carries the matching one.
So the loop is: find the number in the tray, find the number on the model, place it. The piece brings its color with it. Do that until the sculpture is whole and fully colored again.
What that means in practice. There is nothing to work out. No spatial reasoning, no trial and error, no "does this fit?" — just matching. It is the most structured of the three modes, and deliberately so.
How it differs from flat paint-by-numbers
| Flat paint-by-numbers | 3D by numbers | |
|---|---|---|
| What you do | Fill a numbered region with the matching color | Place a numbered piece into the matching slot |
| What you see at the end | A picture | A sculpture you can spin |
| Where the color comes from | A palette you tap | The piece itself |
| Chance of a mistake | You can fill the wrong region | None — a number goes where it goes |
| Session length | Fixed by the picture | 20 to 500 pieces, your choice |
Why the most structured mode is often the best one
There is a real finding underneath this, covered in more depth in our guide on coloring and anxiety: in controlled studies, the anxiety benefit of coloring attached to structured tasks, not to free drawing. A blank page and an open choice did not help. A defined task with the decisions already made did.
By-numbers is the purest version of that in the app. It asks nothing of you. On a day when choosing a color feels like one decision too many, it is the mode to open.
Picking a piece count
- 20 to 50 pieces — a coffee, a bus ride, a wind-down before bed.
- 100 to 200 — an evening with something on in the background.
- Up to 500 — a long project you come back to across several days. It saves itself between sessions.
Getting started
- Pick any model. All three modes work on all 250+ of them, so you are not choosing from a smaller by-numbers catalogue.
- Choose by numbers on the model screen, then a piece count.
- Spin as you go. Two fingers orbit — the numbers you need are often round the back.
- Stop whenever. Progress is written to the device, and picked back up where you left it.
One thing to know before a flight. A puzzle needs a single connected moment the first time you open it, to fetch the artifact's original colors. After that it plays anywhere. See the offline guide.
Nothing to work out. Pure flow.
By numbers works on every model in the museum, from 20 pieces to 500. Free to download, no account.
Free to download · iPhone & iPad · Works offline