Sliding tiles

How it works

What you get from it

Planning a few moves ahead. You can’t place one tile without moving others, so you learn to think in short sequences and to put a tile in place without undoing the last one.

It’s tactile and calm. There is no move counter, only the clock, so you can take the long way and still finish.

It’s about order and movement rather than deduction, which makes it a good change of pace.

Rules

A square board of numbered tiles with one gap. Slide tiles into the gap until the numbers run 1, 2, 3 and on, in reading order, with the gap last. Every puzzle can be solved.

Easy is 4×4 with fifteen tiles. Medium and hard are 5×5 with twenty-four. Hard starts from a full shuffle.

How to play in Rather

Tap any tile in the gap’s row or column. That whole line slides one space towards the gap, so a tile two away moves two tiles at once. Swiping a tile towards the gap does the same. A tap anywhere else does nothing.

Undo steps back through every tap.

Tiles glide into place. With Reduce Motion they jump and fade in instead.

Where to start

Work the top row first, left to right. The last tile of a row is the tricky one: bring it in below its spot, then turn the row’s end around it.

Then the left column, top to bottom. What’s left is a small block where the last tiles go round in a loop until they sit in order.

The shortest route for an easy puzzle is 20 to 26 moves. Don’t worry about matching it.

Don’t fight a tile you’ve already placed. If it has to move to make room, let it, and bring it back in the same few moves.

On a 4×4, do the top two rows first. What’s left is two rows of four, which you finish column by column from the left.

On a 5×5, finish the top row and the left column first. What’s left is a 4×4, so carry on as above.

When you’re stuck

Tap Hint. It slides the next tile along the route the puzzle shipped with. On easy and medium that’s the shortest route: “One step along the shortest way.” On hard it’s at most twice the shortest, so the hint says “One step along the way through.” If you’ve left the route, it takes back your last move until you’re on it again.

It never looks for a new route. It brings you back to the one the puzzle shipped with.

Sizes

• Easy 4×4 20 to 26 moves at best.
• Medium 5×5 38 to 48 moves at best.
• Hard 5×5 A full shuffle. 72 moves or more at best.

Questions

Does it count my moves?

No. The clock and the stars are the only score.

Does it show which tiles are in place?

Yes. A tile on its own spot turns light green.

Can a puzzle be impossible?

No. Every puzzle has a route to the finished layout.