Sliding Tile Puzzle
The classic sliding tile puzzle — free to play in your browser, no download, no sign-up.
What is the sliding tile puzzle?
A sliding tile puzzle is a tray of numbered tiles with one empty space. You slide tiles into the gap, one at a time or a whole row or column at once, until the numbers read in order from the top left with the gap in the bottom-right corner.
The 4 × 4 version, with tiles 1 to 15, is the famous 15 puzzle. The 3 × 3 version is the 8 puzzle, and the 5 × 5 version is the 24 puzzle. Here you can play all three in your browser, free.
How to play
- Click or tap a tile in the same row or column as the gap. It slides into the gap, pushing any tiles between them along.
- On a keyboard, the arrow keys or W, A, S and D slide a tile into the gap. On a touch screen you can also swipe.
- Put the tiles back in order: 1, 2, 3… left to right and top to bottom, with the gap last.
- Your moves and time are counted. Solve a level in few moves to earn up to three stars, and clearing it opens the next one.
What you can play here
- 34 numbered levels, from 3 × 3 warm-ups to 5 × 5 boards, getting harder as you go.
- 8 picture levels, where each tile shows part of a picture. Peek at the whole image any time, and keep small number hints on or turn them off.
- Every level is a fixed puzzle with a known optimal solution, so everyone plays the same board and results can be compared.
- Anonymous leaderboards for the fastest time and the fewest moves on every level.
- Challenge links: share a result and dare friends to beat it on the same level.
- Wood and paper themes, matching sound packs, and adjustable animation speed.
- Free, with nothing to download and no account to create.
How to solve a sliding puzzle
The reliable method is to solve the board in layers, so tiles you have finished never need to move again.
- Solve the top row from left to right. For the last two tiles of the row, move the second-to-last tile into the corner and the last tile just below it, then slide both into place together.
- Solve the next row the same way, and keep going until only two rows are left.
- Solve the last two rows column by column, from left to right. Place the two tiles of each column as a pair, using the same trick as for the end of a row.
- Finish the last 2 × 2 corner by cycling its tiles around the gap until they drop into order.
Think about where the empty space needs to go, not which tile to move. Small loops of the gap around a 2 × 2 block shift tiles without disturbing the rows you have already solved.
Read the full step-by-step guide, with boards to practise onLatest guides
- How to Solve a Sliding Puzzle, Step by StepA reliable layer-by-layer method for any sliding tile puzzle, from the 8 puzzle (3×3) to the 15 puzzle (4×4) and 5×5, with boards to practise on as you read. · 6 min read
- How to Solve the Last Two Rows of a Sliding PuzzleWhy the last two rows of a sliding puzzle feel stuck, the column-by-column pair method that solves them, and how to escape the position that traps everyone. · 7 min read
Frequently asked questions
Is this sliding puzzle free?
Yes. All 42 levels are free to play in your browser. There is nothing to download and no account to create.
Is every sliding puzzle solvable?
No. Exactly half of all possible arrangements cannot be solved. Swapping any two tiles of a solved board, as in Sam Loyd's famous 14–15 puzzle, makes it impossible. Whether a board can be solved depends on the parity of the number of tile pairs that are out of order, together with the gap's row on boards of even width. Every level here has been solved by computer, so all of them can be finished.
What is the trick to solving a sliding puzzle?
Solve it in layers. Finish the top row, then the next, until two rows remain, then finish those column by column. Place the last two tiles of each row or column as a pair, and plan where the empty space needs to go rather than which tile to move.
What is the fewest number of moves needed to solve it?
It depends on the starting board. Any 3 × 3 puzzle can be solved in 31 moves or fewer, and any 4 × 4 puzzle in 80 moves or fewer, counting each tile that slides as one move. Every level here has a known optimal solution, worked out by computer, and three stars go to solves close to it.
How are moves counted?
Every tile that slides counts as one move. Pushing three tiles along at once counts as three moves, and an undo counts as a move too. This is the same way optimal solutions are measured.
How do stars work?
Any solve earns one star. Finish in close to the optimal number of moves for three stars, or within about double for two. Time does not affect stars, but it counts on the leaderboards.
Is my progress saved?
Yes, in your browser on this device. Cleared levels, best results and settings are kept without an account. Clearing your browser data or switching to another device starts you fresh.
Can I play on my phone or tablet?
Yes. The puzzle works in any modern browser on phones, tablets and computers. Tap or swipe on a touch screen, or use the mouse and the arrow keys on a computer.
Are sliding puzzles good for your brain?
They exercise planning and spatial reasoning, and they are a calm way to practise patience on a problem that resists you. There is no solid evidence that they raise general intelligence, but like other puzzles they keep you focused on one problem at a time.
Who invented the 15 puzzle?
It is usually credited to Noyes Palmer Chapman, a postmaster in Canastota, New York, who applied for a patent in 1880, the year the puzzle became a craze across the United States and Europe. Sam Loyd claimed the invention from 1891 onward, but research by Jerry Slocum and Dic Sonneveld (2006) showed he had no part in it.