Rules & objective
Arrange the numbered tiles in order, leaving the bottom-right space empty.
- Only a tile sharing an edge with the empty square can move into it. Diagonal moves are not allowed.
- Easy and Medium use tiles 1–8 on a 3 × 3 board. Hard uses tiles 1–15 on a 4 × 4 board.
- Every shuffle is made using legal moves from a solved board. The scramble length describes the mixing process, not a promised minimum solution length.
Key terms
- Blank
- The empty square into which a neighboring tile can slide.
- Solved row
- A row whose tiles occupy their final ordered positions.
- Cycle
- A sequence that moves tiles around a small region using the blank.
Difficulty levels
| Level | What changes |
|---|---|
| Easy | 3 × 3 board, scrambled by 12 legal moves. |
| Medium | 3 × 3 board with a longer, 80-move scramble. |
| Hard | 4 × 4 board with a 240-move scramble. Undo stays available. |
Changing difficulty starts a fresh round. Personal bests are tracked separately.
This version on puzzle free online
Click a neighboring tile or use the directional keyboard controls. A left key moves a tile left into the blank, so the blank moves right. Undo is available; fewer moves is the better recorded result.
Common questions
Is this a large-block Klotski puzzle?
The site’s Sliding Puzzle uses numbered square tiles, not differently sized blocks.
Can I swap two tiles directly?
No. Every rearrangement must happen through legal slides into the blank.