Sliding Puzzle
In Sliding Puzzle you slide the numbered tiles back into order on a 4 by 4 board. Every shuffle is guaranteed solvable. Free, no install, no sign-up.
In Sliding Puzzle there are fifteen numbered tiles and one empty square. Slide them around until the numbers run one to fifteen with the gap in the bottom right corner.
about 17.9 KB
Works offline after the first visit. No install, no sign-up.
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How to play Sliding Puzzle
How tiles move
Only a tile directly beside the empty square can slide into it — same row and adjacent, or same column and adjacent. Tiles that can move are outlined, so you do not have to test them one by one.
Every round is guaranteed solvable
The board is not filled with random numbers. It is built in the finished order, then scrambled by repeatedly sliding tiles the legal way. Since every scramble step is a legal move, reversing them always leads back to the solution — solvability is guaranteed by how the puzzle is made, not by a promise.
Why that matters
A randomly filled 4 by 4 board is unsolvable roughly half the time, and there is no way to tell by looking. Those boards leave a player stuck with no idea whether they are playing badly or the puzzle is broken. Scrambling by legal moves removes that situation entirely.
Your moves are counted
Every slide adds to the move counter, and the count is your result. There is no time limit and no move limit.
Keyboard support
On a computer the arrow keys push the empty square around, which is the same thing as sliding the tile it moves into.
Sliding Puzzle Tips and Strategy
Place the highest tiles first
Get 15 into the bottom right corner and lock it there, then 14, then 13, working backwards up the rows. A tile already placed can still be knocked out by a careless move, and putting it back costs several slides. Solving in reverse means the last tiles you place are the ones you never touch again.
Fill the last row last
The bottom row can only be assembled once the three rows above it are correct, so treat it as a fixed strip you are building towards. Solving it early means shuffling tiles that are already right purely to get at it. Keep it as the destination you are working down towards, and never use it to park a spare tile.
Circulate the empty square
Move the gap in a consistent rotation around the board, which keeps every row reachable without moving a finished tile. When you need to get from the bottom row to the top, drive the gap up one side and back down the other. Random sliding looks harmless but it undoes work you already counted.
Sliding Puzzle — Frequently Asked Questions
Is every puzzle solvable?
Yes, always. The scramble is made by sliding tiles from the solved position, so a route back to the solved position always exists by construction.
Why can I not move a tile that looks close?
Only tiles directly beside the empty square can move — sharing an edge, not a corner. Tiles that can move right now are outlined.
Is there a move or time limit?
Neither. The only measurement is how many slides you needed.
Does it need installing or an account?
No. It runs in the browser on a phone, tablet or computer and works offline after the first visit.
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