Number Path

What is Number Path?

Number Path is a logic puzzle of numbers on a grid. A few squares hold numbers to start with, and you write a number in every other square so that the board holds every number from 1 to the last exactly once, and each number touches the next one across a side. Squares that meet only at a corner do not count. Together the numbers make a single path that winds through every square of the board: 1, 2, 3 and on to the last.

Every board has exactly one answer, and it can always be reached by reasoning, never by guessing. Boards come in three sizes, 5 by 5, 7 by 7 and 9 by 9, and a new board, the same for everyone, arrives every day.

How to play

Put your finger on a number and drag it across the free squares.

• Laying numbers. Every square your finger passes takes the next number, so a drag from 5 writes 6, 7 and 8 as you go. Drag back one square to take the last number off again.
• Passing through. Drag over a number that is already in its place to carry on past it. A number you wrote somewhere else moves to where your finger goes, and the numbers given at the start never move.
• Counting down. Once the next number already sits beside a number, a drag from it lays the numbers before it instead, so you can fill a gap from either end.
• Showing the way. While you drag, the free squares where the next number can go light up, the next number on the board waits in a ring, and the line under the board counts the numbers still missing before it. Tap a number given to see its gap.
• Clearing. Tap a number you wrote to clear it, and Undo takes back your last move, a whole drag at a time. On a computer, the arrow keys move a cursor, Shift and an arrow lays the next number that way, and Backspace clears.
• Score. Your score is the time to fill the whole board, plus 30 seconds for every hint. Every board size has its own leaderboard.

Strategy tips

1. Count the steps. Two numbers four apart stand at most four steps apart on the board. When the distance is exactly the difference, the path between them has no room to wander: along a row it runs straight, and with one step to spare it makes a single small bend.
2. Think of a chessboard. Every step changes the colour of the square, so all the odd numbers sit on one colour and all the even numbers on the other. A square of the wrong colour is never the place for a number.
3. Watch the dead ends. A free square with only one free square beside it can only start or end the path, or link to a number right next to it. Corners are dead ends early on.
4. Work along the edges. Squares on the edge have fewer ways in and out, so the path near the edge is often forced. Follow it from a number given, one step at a time.
5. Measure the walled-in patches. When numbers wall off a patch of free squares, count it: whole runs of missing numbers have to fill it to the last square, and often only one run has the right length.

FAQ

Is Number Path free to play?

Yes. Like every game on Play, it runs free in your browser, with no download and no account needed.

Can the path go diagonally?

No. Each number touches the next one across a side. Two squares that meet only at a corner are not next to each other on the path.

Is the 1 always given?

No. The first and the last number are not always on the board, and finding where the path starts and ends is part of the puzzle.

What does a hint do?

It first puts right a number you wrote in the wrong square, if there is one; otherwise it writes the next number that follows by logic from the board, and the line under the board says why. Each hint adds 30 seconds to your time.

What is today's path?

Every day everyone plays the same medium 7 by 7 board, so times compare directly on the leaderboard.

How is my score counted?

Your score is the time from the first look at the board to the last number that completes the path, plus 30 seconds for every hint. Lower is better.