Number Path
Number Path is a pure-logic grid puzzle. Every board hides one snaking route that visits all of its cells exactly once, numbered 1 upward. A handful of those numbers stay printed as clues and the rest are blank. Your job is to rebuild the missing stretches by dragging from a number into a touching empty square, closing the gap between one clue and the next until the whole grid is numbered.
The loop feels closer to knitting than to arithmetic. There is no adding or subtracting, only spatial reasoning about where one unbroken line can physically fit. Dragging lays numbers down in a single continuous gesture, and tapping any number you placed unwinds the route back to that point, so backtracking costs nothing but time. A clock starts on your first placement, which turns each solved board into a record to beat.
There are 200 puzzles. The opening ten are gentle 4x4 boards with roughly three-quarters of the answer already printed. Grids then widen to 5x5, 6x6 and finally 7x7 while the share of visible clues falls towards one in five. An early puzzle is usually a half-minute diversion; a late one can hold you for several minutes, so the set suits a short break and a long sitting equally well.
How to play Number Path
Each grid conceals a route numbered 1 to N that passes through every square exactly once. Restore the missing numbers by tracing that route yourself.
- Check the Next indicator in the header — it always names the number you are about to place.
- Press on the number immediately before it and drag into a horizontally or vertically touching empty square to write the next number there.
- Keep dragging without lifting your finger to lay down a whole run of numbers in one stroke; the traced line shows the route so far.
- Steer around the printed clues so the route reaches each one exactly when its number comes up.
- Tap any number you placed yourself to rewind the route back to that square, or press Undo to step back one square at a time.
- Press Hint when a section defeats you — it fills in the number that is due and adds fifteen seconds to your clock.
- Fill every square in the grid to solve the board and move on.
Tips and strategy
- Work outward from the longest confirmed stretch rather than always from 1. The more clues that bracket a gap, the fewer ways the line can cross it.
- Count the squares between two consecutive clues. A jump from 12 to 17 has to be crossed in exactly four moves, which usually eliminates every route but one.
- Watch for squares the route would seal off. If a line walls a blank cell in on all four sides before that cell's number is due, the line is wrong even though every step so far was legal.
- Corners and edges have the fewest neighbours, so the route almost always has to pass straight through them. Pin those down first and the middle of the board opens up.
- Only a deliberate tap on an illegal square costs a life, and you have three. Dragging your finger across squares that turn out not to work is free, so explore with a drag and commit with a tap.
Features
- 200 puzzles that grow from 4x4 up to 7x7 grids as the clue density drops
- Seeded generation, so puzzle 87 is the same board on every device
- Daily Path: a date-seeded puzzle that changes every day, with a streak counter for consecutive days solved
- A three-mistake limit, shown as hearts, that gives an otherwise relaxed puzzle real stakes
- Hint button that reveals the number currently due, at a fifteen-second cost on the clock
- Undo, plus tap-to-rewind on any number you placed yourself
- Per-puzzle timer, best-time record, puzzles-solved total and your current puzzle number all saved in the browser
- Plays with touch or a mouse, and keeps working offline after the first load
Frequently asked questions
Do I always have to start from number 1?
No. You continue from wherever the route has already reached. The Next indicator names the number that is due, and it goes in a square touching the one before it. Early boards hand you a long printed stretch to continue from.
Can the path move diagonally?
No. Every step goes one square up, down, left or right. Diagonal neighbours never count, and that restriction is what keeps the number of possible routes small enough to reason about.
What happens when I make a mistake?
Deliberately tapping a square that cannot legally take the next number costs one of your three lives and flashes the square red. Lose all three and the run ends. Sweeping a drag across squares that do not work costs nothing.
What is Daily Path?
It is a separate board picked by today's date from the first fifty puzzles, so everyone plays the same one on the same day. Solving it advances a streak counter, which resets if you skip a day.
Is every puzzle guaranteed to be solvable?
Yes. Each board is built by generating a complete route through the grid first and then hiding numbers from it, so a valid solution always exists before the puzzle reaches you.
Where is my puzzle progress stored?
No. Your current puzzle number, puzzles solved, best time and daily streak are all written to the browser's local storage as you play, so the menu picks up where you stopped. Clearing site data for this domain resets them.
