Slide Puzzle
Fifteen tiles, one gap, zero mercy.
How to play
Tap or click any tile in the same row or column as the gap to slide it — whole segments move in one go. On a keyboard, the arrow keys slide a tile into the gap from that direction; on mobile you can also swipe. The timer starts on your first move and stops the instant the board reads 1 to 15.
What is Slide Puzzle?
Slide Puzzle is the classic 15-puzzle, the pocket brain-teaser that has been frustrating and delighting people since the 1880s. You get a 4×4 frame holding fifteen numbered tiles and one empty gap. The tiles start scrambled; your job is to slide them around — one tile or a whole row segment at a time — until they read 1 through 15 in order, with the gap back in the bottom-right corner.
The version on Play is built for speed. The timer starts on your very first move and stops the instant the board snaps into order, so your score is pure solving time — the lower, the better. Every scramble is generated by making 250 legal moves backwards from the solved position, which means every single board you're dealt is mathematically guaranteed to be solvable. No impossible deals, no excuses. In daily mode everyone on the planet gets the identical scramble, so the daily leaderboard is a straight head-to-head of technique and nerve.
How to play
- Desktop: click any tile in the same row or column as the gap and the whole segment slides toward it in one satisfying push. You can also use the arrow keys — each press slides a tile into the gap from that direction (press left, and the tile to the right of the gap moves left).
- Mobile: tap a tile in line with the gap to slide it, or swipe anywhere on the board in the direction you want a tile to move.
- The move counter tallies every tile that moves, so a three-tile row push counts as three moves.
- Solve the board and your time is submitted automatically — under two minutes is a strong result.
Strategy tips
- Solve top-down, then left-to-right. Lock in the first row, then the second. Finish the last two rows in vertical pairs, working column by column from the left. Once a row or column is set, never disturb it.
- Learn the end-of-row rotation. The last two tiles of each row can't be placed one at a time. Park the row-ender (say, the 4) below its final spot, put its neighbor (the 3) in the corner, then rotate both in with one L-shaped maneuver.
- Use multi-tile slides. One tap can move up to three tiles at once. Sliding segments instead of single tiles is dramatically faster on the clock — and it's how strong players keep their times low.
- Think in cycles, not tiles. Every move rotates a small loop of tiles around the gap. Plan three or four moves ahead as a single rotation instead of chasing one number at a time.
- Don't stop moving. On a timed board, hesitation costs more than the occasional extra move. A steady flow with a few wasted slides beats a "perfect" solve delivered slowly.
FAQ
Is every scramble really solvable?
Yes. Half of all random tile arrangements are provably impossible, which is why we never deal random boards. Each scramble is produced by making hundreds of legal moves from the solved position, so a legal path back always exists — you just have to find a fast one.
What counts as a good time?
Under three minutes is respectable, under 90 seconds is genuinely quick, and sub-45-second solves are elite territory reserved for players who have internalized the rotation patterns. The move counter is tracked too, so you can chase efficiency as well as raw speed.
Is the daily challenge the same for everyone?
Yes. The daily board is generated from a shared seed, so every player faces the identical scramble. Your placement on the daily leaderboard reflects skill alone, not luck of the deal.
Do multi-tile slides count as one move?
No — a slide counts one move per tile displaced, so pushing three tiles along a row adds three to the counter. It's still the right play: one gesture moving three tiles is far faster in real time than three separate gestures.
