Pipes

What is Pipes?

Pipes is a quiet logic puzzle about water and plumbing. The board is a grid of pipe tiles: straights, corners, three-way joints and dead ends, all turned the wrong way, with a source of water in the middle. Turn the tiles until every pipe end meets another and the water runs through the whole network.

Every board is grown as a single network with no loops, so there is one way for it to fit together, and it can always be found by reasoning rather than 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

Tap a tile to turn it a quarter clockwise.

• Water. Water runs from the source through every pair of pipe ends that meet, and the tiles it reaches glow.
• Solved. The board is solved when the water reaches every tile and no pipe end points at nothing.
• Edges. No pipe may point off the board, so tiles along the edge have fewer ways to sit.
• Score. Your score is the time to solve the board. Every board size has its own leaderboard.

Strategy tips

1. Start at the edges. A tile on the edge cannot point outward, and a corner tile has even fewer choices; they often fit only one way.
2. Dead ends are clues. A tile with a single pipe has to point at something; next to the edge or another dead end, its choices shrink fast.
3. Straights split the board. A straight pipe runs one of two ways only, and each choice rules out a lot around it.
4. No loops. The network never closes a circle, so if a turn would join two tiles that are already connected another way, it is wrong.
5. Follow the water. Working outward from the source keeps the glowing part of the board correct and the rest easy to read.

FAQ

Is Pipes free to play?

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

Does every board have a solution?

Yes. Every board is grown as one connected network and then turned at random, so it can always be put back.

Does the number of turns count?

No, only the time does. A solve with no wasted turn earns a badge, though.

What is the daily board?

Every day everyone plays the same medium 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 moment the water reaches every tile. Lower is better.