Puzzle Rules

Every puzzle on Puzzle.now shares one honest promise: the whole challenge sits on the board in front of you. There is nothing hidden to draw and no opponent making secret moves. You are simply handed a goal, a small set of legal moves and the freedom to think for as long as you like. This page collects the rules for all seventeen games in one place, so you can learn the goal, the moves and the winning condition for each before you dive in.

The games fall into six families - sliding, logic, memory, blocks, colour and word - and each family rewards a slightly different way of thinking. If you are brand new, skim the quick table below, then read the family that catches your eye. Every puzzle name links straight to its board, so you can go from reading to playing in one click. You can also look up any unfamiliar word in the puzzle glossary or print a blank grid from the printable puzzles page.

Jump to any puzzle

Sliding: Slide Puzzle · 2048 · Klotski · Rush Hour

Logic: Lights Out · Hanoi · Nonogram · Sokoban · Connect · Peg Solitaire

Memory: Memory · Simon

Blocks: Blocks

Color: Flood It · Water Sort

Word: Word Search · Word Scramble

The seventeen puzzles side by side

Skim the whole line-up first, then drop down to the full rules for anything that looks fun.

PuzzleFamilyBoard optionsDifficultyGoal
Slide Puzzle Sliding 3×3 (8 tiles), 4×4 (15 tiles), 5×5 (24 tiles) Easy to learn, hard to master Arrange the tiles in ascending numerical order, left to right and top to bottom, with the empty square finishing in the bottom-right corner.
2048 Sliding Classic 4×4, Tight 3×3, Roomy 5×5 Simple rules, deep endgame Combine tiles until one of them reads 2048. You can keep playing afterward to chase 4096, 8192 and beyond until the board fills up.
Lights Out Logic 3×3, 5×5 (classic) A true logic puzzle Switch off every light on the board. A cell is solved only when the entire grid is completely dark at the same moment.
Hanoi Logic 3 discs, 4 discs, 5 discs, 6 discs Elegant and logical Rebuild the entire starting stack, in the same size order, on a different peg. The puzzle is won when every disc sits on the target peg.
Nonogram Logic 5×5 (starter), 10×10 (classic) Deductive and rewarding Fill the cells that the clues describe and leave the rest empty. When every row and column matches its numbers exactly, the hidden picture is complete.
Memory Memory Easy (4×4, 8 pairs), Medium (6×4, 12 pairs), Hard (6×6, 18 pairs) Relaxing but sharp Find every matching pair and turn the entire board face up. The game is won when no face-down cards remain.
Blocks Blocks One 8×8 board Easy to start, endless to master Keep placing blocks for as long as possible, scoring points for every cell you place and a bonus for every line you clear. The game ends only when no offered block fits anywhere.
Flood It Color Small (12×12), Large (18×18) Quick and clever Turn every cell on the board into a single colour before you run out of moves. The flood always starts from the top-left corner and grows outward.
Word Search Word Easy (words across & down), Medium (adds diagonals), Hard (adds backwards) Relaxing and searchable Find and mark every word on the list. The puzzle is solved when all the listed words have been located in the grid.
Sokoban Logic Easy, Medium, Hard Logical and moreish Push every box onto a target square. The level is finished the moment all the marked squares are covered, no matter which box ends up on which target.
Water Sort Color Easy (6 colours), Medium (8 colours), Hard (10 colours) Relaxing but tricky Sort the colours so that each tube ends up holding just one colour, filled to the level it started at, with any leftover tubes standing empty.
Klotski Sliding Huarong Pass, Warm-up, Expert A sliding-block classic Slide the single large block to the exit at the bottom of the tray. The puzzle is solved the moment that big piece reaches the opening, whatever the smaller blocks are doing.
Simon Memory Classic (4 pads), Expert (6 pads) A memory endurance test Repeat the flashing colour sequence back correctly for as long as you can. Reaching the target length wins the round, and each round adds one more flash to remember.
Rush Hour Sliding Easy, Medium, Hard A sliding logic jam Slide the red car along its row and out through the exit on the edge of the board. The puzzle is won the instant the red car leaves the grid.
Connect Logic 5x5, 7x7, 9x9 Connect-the-dots logic Join every pair of matching coloured dots with a path, and fill every square on the grid. The board is solved only when all pairs are linked and no cell is left empty.
Peg Solitaire Logic English cross, Triangle A classic board puzzle Remove pegs by jumping until only one is left. On the classic cross board the prized finish leaves that final peg sitting in the centre hole.
Word Scramble Word Short words, Medium words, Long words A quick word game Rearrange the jumbled letters to spell the hidden word. Every letter of the answer is already on the rack, so the whole task is finding the right order.

Sliding puzzles

Slide Puzzle

Sliding · Easy to learn, hard to master · Every scramble we deal is guaranteed solvable

The goal: Arrange the tiles in ascending numerical order, left to right and top to bottom, with the empty square finishing in the bottom-right corner.

  1. Sliding a tile. Click or tap any tile in the same row or column as the empty square and it slides into the gap. You can move a whole line of tiles toward the gap in one click.
  2. The empty square. Only the space beside the gap can move. The empty square is your tool - think of yourself as steering the hole around the board rather than shoving tiles at random.
  3. Building order. Lock in the top row and the left column first, then treat the smaller remaining block as its own puzzle. Solved tiles should stay put while you work the rest.
  4. Winning. The puzzle is complete the instant all tiles read in order. Your move count and timer stop, and a lower move count beats a fast but sloppy solve.

Play Slide Puzzle → Back to top ↑

2048

Sliding · Simple rules, deep endgame · Reaching 2048 is achievable; the board can still deadlock

The goal: Combine tiles until one of them reads 2048. You can keep playing afterward to chase 4096, 8192 and beyond until the board fills up.

  1. Sliding. Use the arrow keys or swipe to push every tile in one direction. Tiles travel until they hit a wall or another tile, all in a single move.
  2. Merging. Two tiles with the same number that bump into each other merge into one tile of double the value. Each tile can only merge once per move.
  3. New tiles. After every move that changes the board, a new 2 or 4 spawns in a random empty cell. If a move would not shift anything, it does not count.
  4. Game over. The game ends when the grid is full and no two neighbours share a number, so no merge is possible. Your score is the sum of every merge you made.

Play 2048 → Back to top ↑

Klotski

Sliding · A sliding-block classic · Each layout is solvable in a known minimum number of moves

The goal: Slide the single large block to the exit at the bottom of the tray. The puzzle is solved the moment that big piece reaches the opening, whatever the smaller blocks are doing.

  1. Sliding blocks. Drag or click a block to slide it into the empty space beside it. Pieces move only up, down, left or right, and only as far as the free cells allow, never lifting out or rotating.
  2. Working the gaps. The tray holds just a couple of empty cells, so most of your moves shuffle the small blocks to create room. Think of the empty space as the thing you are really steering.
  3. Freeing the big block. The large piece needs a clear column beneath it to slide down. Much of the puzzle is arranging the other blocks so that path opens at the right moment.
  4. Winning. Guide the big block through the exit to win. The move counter tracks your efficiency, so try to approach the known minimum on repeat attempts.

Play Klotski → Back to top ↑

Rush Hour

Sliding · A sliding logic jam · Every jam is solvable - reset and retry as often as you like

The goal: Slide the red car along its row and out through the exit on the edge of the board. The puzzle is won the instant the red car leaves the grid.

  1. Moving a vehicle. Drag a car or truck forwards or backwards along the lane it is parked in. Vehicles never turn, so a horizontal one only slides left and right, and a vertical one only up and down.
  2. Clearing the way. Each vehicle can only move into empty cells, so freeing the red car's row usually means shifting several others out of it first, in the right sequence.
  3. Trucks and cars. Cars take up two cells and trucks take up three, so trucks are harder to tuck out of the way and often decide how tight the whole jam really is.
  4. Winning. Get the red car to the exit to solve the jam. Every puzzle has a solution, so if you paint yourself into a corner you can reset and try a different order.

Play Rush Hour → Back to top ↑

Logic puzzles

Lights Out

Logic · A true logic puzzle · Every puzzle we generate has a guaranteed solution

The goal: Switch off every light on the board. A cell is solved only when the entire grid is completely dark at the same moment.

  1. Pressing a cell. Click or tap any cell to toggle it and its four orthogonal neighbours between lit and unlit. Corners and edges simply toggle fewer neighbours.
  2. Order does not matter. You can make your presses in any sequence and reach the same result, and pressing a cell twice undoes it - so the whole puzzle is about which cells to press, not when.
  3. Light chasing. Work top to bottom: for each row, press the cells directly beneath any light still on above you. This 'chases' the lit cells downward until only the bottom row is left to reason about.
  4. Winning. The puzzle ends the instant the last light goes dark. Fewer presses makes for a cleaner solve, and the timer and move count track how efficiently you cleared it.

Play Lights Out → Back to top ↑

Tower of Hanoi

Logic · Elegant and logical · Always solvable in a known, minimum number of moves

The goal: Rebuild the entire starting stack, in the same size order, on a different peg. The puzzle is won when every disc sits on the target peg.

  1. Moving a disc. Click a peg to pick up its top disc, then click another peg to drop it. You can only ever move the single topmost disc of a peg.
  2. The golden rule. A disc may only be placed on an empty peg or on top of a larger disc. Dropping a big disc onto a smaller one is never allowed.
  3. Think in sub-towers. To shift a tall stack, first move the smaller tower above your target disc onto the spare peg, move the big disc, then move that tower back - the same idea repeats all the way down.
  4. Winning. The moment the full stack is reassembled on a new peg you have solved it. Matching the minimum move count of 2^n - 1 is the mark of a perfect solve.

Play Hanoi → Back to top ↑

Nonogram

Logic · Deductive and rewarding · Every puzzle has one unique, fully logical solution

The goal: Fill the cells that the clues describe and leave the rest empty. When every row and column matches its numbers exactly, the hidden picture is complete.

  1. Reading a clue. Each number is the length of a solid run of filled cells in that line, listed in order. A clue of '4 2' means four filled cells, at least one empty cell, then two filled cells.
  2. Filling and marking. Left click to fill a cell you are sure belongs to a run. Right click (or the mark tool) to cross out a cell you have proven must stay empty - those crosses are as valuable as the fills.
  3. Overlap reasoning. For long runs in a line, the cells that a run must cover no matter where it slides are guaranteed filled. Start with those forced overlaps to get a foothold.
  4. Winning. The puzzle is solved when every line satisfies its clues at once. There is only one correct picture, so no guessing is ever required to finish.

Play Nonogram → Back to top ↑

Sokoban

Logic · Logical and moreish · Every bundled level is solvable - reset any time you get stuck

The goal: Push every box onto a target square. The level is finished the moment all the marked squares are covered, no matter which box ends up on which target.

  1. Moving the keeper. Use the arrow keys or tap a direction to walk one square at a time. You can only step onto empty floor or a target square, never through a wall or a box.
  2. Pushing a box. Walk into a box to push it one square ahead of you. There must be empty floor on the far side, you can never pull a box back, and you can only push one crate at a time.
  3. Avoiding dead ends. A box shoved into a corner, or pinned along a wall away from any target, can never move again. Think through a box's whole path before you commit to the first push.
  4. Winning and resetting. Cover every target to solve the level. If you box yourself into a hopeless position, reset and start the layout over, since every bundled level has a clean solution.

Play Sokoban → Back to top ↑

Dot Connect

Logic · Connect-the-dots logic · Every board can be filled completely with no crossings

The goal: Join every pair of matching coloured dots with a path, and fill every square on the grid. The board is solved only when all pairs are linked and no cell is left empty.

  1. Drawing a path. Press on a coloured dot and drag through the squares to its partner. Paths run horizontally and vertically between neighbouring cells, never on the diagonal.
  2. No crossings. Two paths can never share a cell or cross over each other. If your new line runs into another colour's path, one of them has to take a different route.
  3. Filling the grid. A correct solution covers the whole board, so a short direct link is often wrong. You usually have to bend paths the long way round to leave no empty squares.
  4. Winning. Connect all the pairs and cover every cell to complete the board. Redrawing a path automatically clears whatever it overwrites, so you can adjust freely.

Play Connect → Back to top ↑

Peg Solitaire

Logic · A classic board puzzle · The classic board can be cleared down to a single peg

The goal: Remove pegs by jumping until only one is left. On the classic cross board the prized finish leaves that final peg sitting in the centre hole.

  1. Making a jump. Click a peg, then click an empty hole exactly two spaces away in a straight line with a peg in between. Your peg leaps over that neighbour and lands in the hole.
  2. Capturing. The peg you jumped over is taken off the board. Every legal move captures exactly one peg, so the board steadily empties as you play.
  3. Straight lines only. On the cross board, jumps go up, down, left or right, never diagonally. A move is only legal when there is a peg to leap over and an empty hole to land in.
  4. Winning. Reduce the board to a single remaining peg to win. Leaving several scattered pegs with no jumps between them means the puzzle is stuck and needs a reset.

Play Peg Solitaire → Back to top ↑

Memory puzzles

Memory Match

Memory · Relaxing but sharp · Always winnable - the only limit is your memory and move count

The goal: Find every matching pair and turn the entire board face up. The game is won when no face-down cards remain.

  1. Taking a turn. Click one card to flip it, then a second. If the two symbols match, they stay revealed; if not, both flip back face down after a moment.
  2. Remembering. Every card you flip - even in a failed pair - tells you where a symbol lives. Hold those positions in mind so you can claim the pair on a later turn.
  3. Building chains. Once you have seen a card's partner earlier, go straight for the pair. Late in the game a good memory lets you clear several pairs in a row without a single miss.
  4. Winning. Match all the pairs to clear the board. Your move count is the number of turns you took, so the fewer mismatches you make, the stronger your result.

Play Memory → Back to top ↑

Simon

Memory · A memory endurance test · Reach the target sequence length to win; one slip ends the round

The goal: Repeat the flashing colour sequence back correctly for as long as you can. Reaching the target length wins the round, and each round adds one more flash to remember.

  1. Watch the sequence. At the start of every round the pads light up and play their tones one at a time. Watch and listen all the way through before you touch anything.
  2. Your turn. Tap the pads in the same order they just flashed. The game waits for you, so there is no rush to begin, only the need to get the order exactly right.
  3. One mistake ends it. A single wrong pad, or a pad out of order, ends the round immediately. There are no second chances within a round, which is what makes a long streak feel earned.
  4. Winning. Match the sequence up to the target length to win. On expert the ring has more pads, so each new colour is harder to place and the pressure climbs faster.

Play Simon → Back to top ↑

Block-dropping puzzles

Block Puzzle

Blocks · Easy to start, endless to master · An endless score chase - survive as long as your placements allow

The goal: Keep placing blocks for as long as possible, scoring points for every cell you place and a bonus for every line you clear. The game ends only when no offered block fits anywhere.

  1. Placing a block. Drag one of the three offered shapes onto the grid. It drops wherever it fully fits on empty cells - blocks cannot be rotated, so plan around their given orientation.
  2. Clearing lines. Complete any full row or full column and it clears instantly, whether you filled it horizontally, vertically, or both at once for a combo.
  3. Using all three. You must place all three shapes in a set before a new set appears. If none of the remaining shapes can fit anywhere, the game is over.
  4. Scoring. You earn points for the cells you place and larger rewards for clearing multiple lines together. A tidy board that survives longer always outscores a flashy early clear.

Play Blocks → Back to top ↑

Colour puzzles

Flood It

Color · Quick and clever · Every board can be flooded within the move limit with good play

The goal: Turn every cell on the board into a single colour before you run out of moves. The flood always starts from the top-left corner and grows outward.

  1. Choosing a colour. Pick a colour from the palette. Your entire controlled region instantly becomes that colour and absorbs any adjacent cells that already share it.
  2. Growing the flood. Cells join your territory when they touch it and match your latest colour choice. Your region only ever grows, never shrinks, so every move expands your reach.
  3. The move budget. Each board gives you a limited number of colour changes. Clearing the board within that budget is the win; running out first ends the round.
  4. Winning. The puzzle is solved the instant the whole grid is one colour. Solving with moves to spare is the mark of an efficient flood.

Play Flood It → Back to top ↑

Water Sort

Color · Relaxing but tricky · Every deal is generated by reverse moves, so it is always solvable

The goal: Sort the colours so that each tube ends up holding just one colour, filled to the level it started at, with any leftover tubes standing empty.

  1. Pouring. Tap a tube to lift it, then tap another to pour. The top colour of the first tube flows across, and it moves as a group when several of that colour are stacked together.
  2. The pouring rule. Liquid only pours onto an empty tube or onto the very same colour already on top, and never past the top of the receiving tube. If those conditions fail, the pour simply will not happen.
  3. Keeping space. An empty tube is your most useful tool. Use it to park a colour for a moment so you can reach the ones trapped beneath it, then pour that colour back where it belongs.
  4. Winning. The deal is solved when every colour is gathered into its own tube. If you run out of legal pours, reset and try a different order of moves.

Play Water Sort → Back to top ↑

Word puzzles

Word Search

Word · Relaxing and searchable · Every listed word is always present and findable

The goal: Find and mark every word on the list. The puzzle is solved when all the listed words have been located in the grid.

  1. Finding a word. Click or tap the first letter of a word and drag to its last letter. If the straight line you draw spells a listed word, it locks in and gets crossed off the list.
  2. Which directions. Words may run across, down and diagonally, and on harder settings they can also be spelled backwards. The difficulty you pick decides which directions are in play.
  3. Reading the list. The word list beside the grid is your guide. Words share a theme, so knowing the topic helps you predict letters and spot likely matches faster.
  4. Winning. Cross off the final word to complete the puzzle. There is no penalty for a wrong drag, so you can search freely until every word is found.

Play Word Search → Back to top ↑

Word Scramble

Word · A quick word game · Every word can always be unscrambled from its letters

The goal: Rearrange the jumbled letters to spell the hidden word. Every letter of the answer is already on the rack, so the whole task is finding the right order.

  1. Moving letters. Tap or drag the letter tiles to swap them around and build your word. You can rearrange them as many times as you like before you settle on an answer.
  2. Checking a word. When you think you have it, submit the arrangement. A correct spelling locks in and clears the round, while a wrong one simply lets you keep shuffling.
  3. Using the letters given. Nothing is missing and nothing extra is added, so if a letter is on the rack it belongs in the word, and if you are not using every tile you have the wrong word.
  4. Winning. Spell the hidden word to solve the round. Longer words on the harder settings have far more possible orders, so they take more searching to crack.

Play Word Scramble → Back to top ↑

Ideas that show up in more than one game

The move

A move is one legal action: a tile slid into the gap, a cell pressed, a piece lifted to another spot. Nearly every puzzle counts your moves, and finishing in fewer of them is a cleaner result than rushing to the end.

The board

The board is the whole play area, usually a grid of cells or a small set of pieces. Learning to read it as rows and columns, rather than one square at a time, is the fastest way to improve at every game on the site.

The clue

In the logic games a clue is a fact you are handed for free, such as a run length beside a Nonogram row. Good solvers treat crossing out an impossible cell as seriously as filling in a certain one.

The solve

A solve is a finished board: every tile in order, every light dark, every word found. Some games instead track how long you last, so survival and a high score take the place of a single winning moment.

Ready to put the rules to work? Take on today's daily challenge, race someone in multiplayer, or browse the whole puzzle library.

Frequently asked rules questions

What counts as a puzzle game?

A puzzle game gives you a clear goal and a fixed set of moves, then asks you to think your way to the finish. There is no opponent to outguess and, on this site, no random draw to blame. Sliding tiles into order, filling a grid from number clues and spreading a colour across a board are all puzzles, because each one is solved by planning rather than luck.

Do I need to be good at maths to play?

Not at all. A couple of games use numbers, like 2048 and the Slide Puzzle, but you only ever add or compare small values. Most of the puzzles lean on spotting patterns, remembering positions and planning a move or two ahead, which are skills you already use every day.

Which puzzle is the easiest to pick up?

Word Search and the Slide Puzzle are the gentlest starts. A word search has no clock and no wrong moves, so you hunt at your own pace, and the Slide Puzzle teaches its whole method on a small 3x3 board in under a minute. From there the other games feel familiar fast.

Can every puzzle here really be solved?

Yes, with one honest exception. Every board we hand you for the Slide Puzzle, Lights Out, the Tower of Hanoi, Nonograms, Memory Match, Flood It and Word Search is built to have a solution. 2048 and Block Puzzle are open-ended score chases, so instead of one win screen they reward how far you can push the board before it fills up.

What is the difference between a logic puzzle and a memory puzzle?

A logic puzzle, such as a Nonogram or Lights Out, lays every clue in front of you, so the answer follows step by step from what you can see. A memory puzzle, like Memory Match, hides information and asks you to recall it, so success comes down to paying attention and holding positions in your head.

Want more answers? The full puzzle FAQ covers dozens of common questions, and the glossary defines every term you will meet.