Sliding Puzzle: how to play

Sliding Puzzle is the classic slide-the-tiles game, free to play online. Shuffle the turtle's shell is a sliding puzzle and it has got all muddled: slide the tiles into the gap until the numbers run 1, 2, 3 in order, or switch to picture mode and rebuild a sunny picture of each place. It starts with a gentle 3x3 sliding puzzle and grows to 4x4 and 5x5, and every shuffle can always be solved.

How to play

• This sliding puzzle game is played with one gap. Tap or click any tile in the same row or column as the gap and it slides in (tiles in between slide too). Each tile that moves counts as one move.
• You can also swipe on the board, or use the arrow keys (or W A S D): the tile next to the gap slides the way you press.
• Put the tiles back in order: 1, 2, 3 along the top, row by row, with the gap in the bottom-right corner. The small goal picture beside the board shows what you are making, and each level starts by showing the finished puzzle for a moment.
• Press P or the PICTURE button to switch between number tiles and picture tiles. In picture mode each tile still shows a small number to help.
• Stuck? Press H or HINT and Shuffle makes the next good tile glow, with an arrow the way it goes. You get three hints for each puzzle.
• Each puzzle has a clock. If it runs out you lose one of your three hearts, the clock starts again and the tiles stay where they are, so you can keep going.
• Points: 50 the first time each row above the bottom one is finished, then 200 times the level number for solving it, 2 for every second left and 10 for every move under the move target. Three stars per level: solve it, keep all your hearts, and finish within the move target.

The five levels

1. Lily Pond: a 3x3 sliding puzzle with a gentle shuffle, numbers 1 to 8
2. Blossom Meadow: another 3x3, more muddled: get 1, 2, 3 along the top first
3. Seashell Beach: a 4x4 puzzle (15 tiles) whose top row starts in place: keep it there
4. Coral Reef: a fully shuffled 4x4: top row, then the left column, then what is left is a 3x3
5. Rainbow Island: a 5x5 puzzle with 24 tiles; the top row and left column start in place

Clear Rainbow Island and the five places come round again with new shuffles: from lap 2 no rows start in place, the clocks are a fifth shorter and there is one hint fewer, and lap 3 is shorter again. You have three hearts for the whole run, and the game is the same for everyone each day, so you can compare scores. Press M to turn the sound off or on.

Tips

• Solve the top row first, then the left column. What is left is a smaller puzzle you already know how to do.
• The last two tiles of a row go in together: park the last one in the corner spot first, put the other one just below it, then slide both round into place.
• Don't break a finished row to fix a tile below it. Work in the rows that are still muddled.

Questions

Is Sliding Puzzle free?

Yes. Sliding Puzzle is free to play online in your browser: no download, no sign-up and nothing to buy.

Can I play the sliding puzzle game on my phone?

Yes. Tap a tile or swipe on the board to slide it. On an upright phone the board fills the width of the screen, with the goal picture and the clock above it.

Can every sliding puzzle be solved?

Not every mix of tiles can be, but ours always can. Each shuffle is made so it can be solved, and our own solver checks it and works out the move target.

How do you solve a 3x3 sliding puzzle?

Put 1, 2 and 3 along the top row first. Then bring 4 and 7 into the left column together and finish the last four tiles by circling them round the gap. A hint shows the next good move if you get stuck.