Pipes

How it works

What you get from it

A hands-on, visual kind of logic. You see the network grow in coral as pieces join, and each tile you settle limits the tiles around it.

It rewards looking at the edges and the ends, a habit that helps in plenty of puzzles. And turning tiles is simply pleasant to do.

Rules

Every tile is an end, a straight, a corner or a tee, and every tile starts turned wrong. Turn them so every pipe joins one network: no loose ends, no pipe pointing off the board, and no loops. Exactly one network fits.

No loose ends means every opening on a tile meets an opening on its neighbour.

How to play in Rather

Tap a tile to turn it a quarter clockwise. Pipes joined to the centre tile draw in coral, the rest in ink.

With Notes on, a tap locks a tile so it won’t turn. Undo steps back through every turn and lock.

Each tap is a quarter turn, so any tile is at most three taps from where you want it.

Where to start

Start at the edges. Pipes can’t point off the board, so a corner tile in a corner of the grid has one way to sit, and a tee on an edge has one.

Then use what’s settled. A tile next to a fixed pipe has to meet it, or turn away from it. Two ends can’t face each other: they would join into a piece cut off from the rest. And a turn that closes a loop is never right.

Use locks. When you’re sure a tile is right, lock it with Notes, and it won’t turn by accident while you work around it.

Watch the coral. Pipes still in ink aren’t joined to the centre yet, so that’s where the work is.

When you’re stuck

Tap Hint. It turns the next tile the rules settle and says why: “Pipes can’t point off the board, so this one turns this way.” If you locked a wrong tile, it unlocks and turns it.

There is no Errors in Pipes: the coral network is the feedback.

The tile glows once, and the neighbours or loop the reason reads are outlined.

Sizes

• Easy 5×5 25 tiles.
• Medium 6×6 36 tiles.
• Hard 7×7 49 tiles.

Questions

Does the grid wrap around?

No. A pipe can’t leave one edge and come in at the other.

Does a straight pipe count either way up?

Yes. It looks the same after two turns, so both count.

Why are some pipes coral?

They join the centre tile. Pipes in ink aren’t connected to it yet.