Number Path
Puzzle · 9 playsNumber Path
Fill the grid with one unbroken chain of numbers — every step beside the last, no diagonals.
About Number Path
A wonderfully calm logic puzzle. A handful of numbers are given; your job is to fill every cell so that 1, 2, 3 and onwards snake through the whole grid in a single connected path, each number sitting directly beside the one before it — up, down, left or right, never diagonally. Every puzzle is freshly generated with exactly one solution, from a gentle 5×5 Easy board up to a proper 8×8 Expert grid, and the first and last numbers are always given to anchor you. Tap a cell and type, or drag along from a placed number to lay a whole run in one smooth stroke. The clock remembers your best time for each size, and a hint is waiting if a corner has you truly stuck. Free to play in your browser — no download, no sign-up.
How to Play
Fill the grid so 1 up to the last number form one connected path — no diagonals. Tap a cell and type, or drag from a placed number to lay a run of cells. Every puzzle has exactly one solution. Four sizes, from 5×5 Easy to 8×8 Expert. Solve quickly for a better score — hints help, but cost points.
Tips & Strategy
Count the gaps first. Take two given numbers and compare their difference with the walking distance between them (counting only up-down-left-right steps): when the difference equals the distance, the path between them is forced into the one shortest route, and you can ink it in immediately. When the difference is larger, the path must wander — but never further than the spare moves allow, which rules out whole regions at a glance.
Work the edges and corners. A corner cell has only two neighbours, so the number in it is always the middle of a tight elbow — its predecessor and successor must be those two cells. Border cells have three. Whenever a cell has exactly two free neighbours left, any part of the path entering it is forced straight through, and marking those forced turns is what cracks the middle game. Extend runs from both ends of each clue, not just upwards: growing 17 down to 15 is as good as growing it up to 19.
Use the drag stroke for runs you are sure of and the keyboard for single deductions, and when the board fights back, hunt for the region test: a pocket of empty cells must be filled by exactly one continuous stretch of numbers, so count its cells and check which clue-to-clue span could supply them. If nothing fits, something earlier is wrong. The wrong-cell flash will show you conflicts, and a hint will place one true number — but each one costs 20 points off a score that also burns by the second, so on the bigger boards deduce first and hint only to break a genuine deadlock.