Klotski

🕹️ How to play

1. Start on the opening board: The page opens straight onto a playable board — no menu, no sign-up. The grid is 4 columns by 5 rows, the 2×2 block is the one you are trying to free, and the glowing gate at the bottom centre is the way out. Board one takes three moves.
2. Slide a block: Drag a block, or tap it once and then tap one of the highlighted squares. Blocks slide through empty squares only, may travel several squares and turn corners, and can never rotate or jump. Tapping a block that has nowhere to go shakes it and costs nothing.
3. Read the move counter: Sliding the same block again counts as one move — the counter only rises when you switch blocks, which is the rule behind the well-known 81-move figure. The 'cells' reading counts squares travelled, so something always changes on screen. Undo steps back one whole block move; hold it to rewind.
4. Get unstuck: Undo a few moves and try another branch, tap Hint to have the next optimal move played for you, or tap Solve to watch the whole solution and take over whenever you like. Hinted rounds still count as cleared — they just don't earn a star or set a best time.

📖 Rules & variants

The board is 4 columns by 5 rows. One 2×2 block, plus 1×2 tall blocks, 2×1 wide blocks and 1×1 singles, cover 18 of the 20 squares, so exactly two stay empty. Win by sliding the 2×2 block to the bottom centre and out through the gate; no other block may leave.

A move slides one block through empty squares to any square it can reach. The whole path must be clear, corners are allowed, and blocks never rotate, overlap, jump or leave the board. Let go halfway and the block slides back with no move counted and nothing added to the undo stack.

Two readings: moves count block by block (repeat slides of the same block merge into one) and cells count squares travelled. The classic board's famous 81 uses the move reading; counted by squares the same solution runs past 100. Both are shown so any figure you read elsewhere lines up.

24 levels run from a 3-move opener to the classic 81-move board and are never locked, so you can jump ahead at any time. Clear a board at the optimum without a hint for a star, otherwise it is marked cleared. Best figures are written only for unaided clears, and an unfinished round never writes one.

The usual mistake is watching the big block instead of the two empty squares. Decide where the gaps need to go and the big block's route follows. On the long boards, undoing three or four moves and trying another branch beats pushing harder at a dead end.

❓ FAQ