Best Puzzle Games Online — How to Choose
Twenty-one puzzle games sorted by what they ask of you — logic, matching, fitting, sorting, moving, physics. Which to open when, and which can be lost.
Twenty-one puzzles is a lot to choose from, and they are not variations on one idea — they ask for quite different things. So this page sorts them by what they demand of you, which is a better way in than working down a list of names.
Which one to pick
You want never to have to guess
Sudoku, Nonogram, Kakuro and Mine Field. Each gives you enough information to reason your way to the end, and Mine Field's first tap is always safe, so even the opening move cannot punish you.
You want nothing counting down
Nearly all twenty-one. Only a handful have any limit at all — Color Fill's 25 moves, Marble Lines' three-marble penalty, Orb Pop's board filling up — and not one of them is on a clock.
You want to be able to walk away
Gem Match, Block Fit, Nonogram and Jigsaw. Nothing falls, nothing times out, and Gem Match will rearrange the board rather than leave you staring at one with no move on it.
You want the picture to be the point
Jigsaw, Nonogram, Tangram and Hex Puzzle. These four finish when a shape is complete rather than when a counter reaches a number.
All of them
- Sudoku Puzzles
- Nonogram Puzzles
- Mahjong Solitaire Puzzles
- Jigsaw Puzzles
- Sliding Puzzle Puzzles
- Tangram Puzzles
- Kakuro Puzzles
- Pipe Connect Puzzles
- Block Fit Puzzles
- Color Fill Puzzles
- Gem Match Puzzles
- Tube Sort Puzzles
- Tile Link Puzzles
- Hex Puzzle Puzzles
- Mine Field Puzzles
- Box Push Puzzles
- Loop Line Puzzles
- Maze Run Puzzles
- Physics Puzzle Puzzles
- Marble Lines Puzzles
- Orb Pop Puzzles
How they differ
Logic you can check as you go
Sudoku, Nonogram, Kakuro and Mine Field. All four are solved by deduction, and all four let you see your own mistakes without handing you the answer: Sudoku flags a conflict the moment it appears, Nonogram lets you mark a square as definitely empty, and Mine Field numbers every square you uncover. Kakuro is the useful odd one out — it checks your grid against the clues, never against a stored solution, so any filling that satisfies every clue is accepted.
Matching pairs and groups
Mahjong Solitaire, Tile Link, Gem Match, Orb Pop and Marble Lines are all about clearing by matching, and they differ in the one thing that matters: what happens when you run out of matches. Gem Match never lets that happen, because it rearranges the board automatically. Tile Link hands you a shuffle button, but only while you are genuinely stuck. Mahjong Solitaire promises nothing of the sort — its layouts are generated rather than checked, so a round can end with tiles that match nothing. Marble Lines charges you: every move that clears nothing adds three new marbles. Orb Pop simply ends when the board runs out of moves.
Fitting pieces into a space
Jigsaw, Sliding Puzzle, Tangram, Hex Puzzle and Block Fit. The first four can all be finished, and they tell you so up front: every Sliding Puzzle shuffle is solvable, every Tangram set can be completed, every Hex Puzzle board can be filled, and Jigsaw's pictures are drawn by the page rather than loaded from anywhere. Block Fit is the exception on every count — there is no solution to find, only rows and columns to clear, and the round ends when the pieces stop fitting.
Sorting and flooding
Tube Sort and Color Fill both ask you to spread one thing across everything else, and both give you a hard budget of working space. Tube Sort's trap is the nearly-full tube, and a pour you regret can be recovered from. Color Fill is the stricter of the two: exactly 25 moves, and a colour that touches only one region is a move you have effectively thrown away.
Moving through a space
Maze Run, Box Push, Pipe Connect and Loop Line. The first three are about getting something from one place to another, and each shows its progress visibly — Maze Run draws your route behind you, Pipe Connect shows the water flowing, Box Push fills the marked spots. Loop Line has to be judged differently: it has many valid answers rather than one intended solution, so being told you are not finished is not the same as being wrong.
Built on a simulation, not a rule
Physics Puzzle stands alone here. It is the only one of the twenty-one where the result depends on a simulation rather than on a rule you can work out from the board — which makes it the one puzzle on this page where a plan can look perfectly sensible and still finish in the wrong place.
How to start
Open any of them
All twenty-one load straight in the browser. Nothing to install, no account, and they keep working with no connection after the first visit.
Pick by appetite, not by difficulty
Color Fill, Orb Pop and Block Fit are short — a few minutes each. Sudoku, Nonogram, Kakuro and Jigsaw are the ones to sit down with.
When you are stuck, look for the free information
Every board here gives something away: Jigsaw snaps pieces that are close enough, Pipe Connect marks dangling openings in red, Mine Field's first tap is safe, and Tangram tells you whether an angle is right before you commit to it.
Best Puzzle Games Online — Frequently Asked Questions
Is every puzzle guaranteed to be solvable?
Nearly. Sliding Puzzle, Tangram, Pipe Connect, Hex Puzzle, Tube Sort and Maze Run all guarantee it up front, and Sudoku and Nonogram are built with exactly one solution. There are honest exceptions: Mahjong Solitaire's layouts are generated rather than checked, so a round can end with no pair left; and Kakuro and Loop Line accept any valid answer rather than expecting one particular one.
Which of these have a limit?
Color Fill is the clearest — 25 moves and then the round is over. Marble Lines adds three new marbles for any move that clears nothing, and Orb Pop ends when the board runs out of moves. Sliding Puzzle and Maze Run count your moves without limiting them.
Do any of them have a timer?
No. There is no clock on any of the twenty-one, and nothing counts down while you think.
Which is best for a beginner?
Orb Pop or Block Fit for something immediate, and Nonogram if you want to learn a logic puzzle properly. Sudoku is the most familiar place to start, and Mine Field's first tap is always safe, which removes the worst opening mistake.
Do I need to install anything or make an account?
No. Everything runs in the browser, loads nothing from anywhere else, and keeps your records on your own device.