NUMBER SLIDE · GAMESHUSH
Number Slide guide: make space for the next number
Slide one tile into the empty square. Finish with every number in ascending row order, from left to right and top to bottom, and the blank at the bottom right.
Your first legal move
Imagine a 3×3 board whose rows are 1, 2, 3 / 4, 5, 6 / 7, blank, 8. Tile 8 can move left into the blank to finish. Tile 5 could move down instead, but that would not solve this position. Tile 6 is diagonal from the blank, so it cannot move in one slide.
Controls that follow the tile
- Tap or click a tile directly above, below, left or right of the blank. Peach tiles mark these available choices. There is no diagonal movement, wrapping, merging or tile dragging.
- Arrow keys move a tile in the arrow’s direction into the blank. For example, Left moves the tile on the blank’s right side leftward. Tab focuses tile buttons and controls; Enter or Space activates them.
- Each legal single-cell slide counts as one move. Brief input locking during a tile transition prevents overlapping moves. A reduced-motion system preference removes tile transitions.
Choose your board
Sizes run from 3×3 through 8×8. A 3×3 board has eight numbered tiles; an 8×8 has 63. The target is always 1 through N²−1 in row order. How to play displays the exact target for the selected size.
Larger boards give you more positions to organize, rather than a guaranteed difficulty level. The board fits the available screen space. Open Menu for Larger tiles, which allows scrolling inside the board. Use the mode that suits your screen and touch comfort.
Time, pause and a fresh start
The timer starts on your first legal move, stops on completion and pauses while you are paused, in a dialog or away from the game. Reloading a started puzzle brings it back paused. Pause hides the board; Resume returns to it. There is no countdown and no loss condition.
Restart asks for confirmation, then restores the same initial arrangement with zero moves and time. New puzzle generates another arrangement. Changing board size also replaces current progress after confirmation. Canceling keeps the current puzzle. Sound is optional and defaults off.
Solvable does not mean easy
New arrangements are corrected for solvability and reject very small total tile-to-target distances. A route to the target exists, but the game does not claim an optimal solution, named difficulty or a short solve. There is no hint, auto-solver or undo control.
Watch where the blank goes
Moving a tile toward its target changes where you can move next. Sometimes a correctly placed tile must move away temporarily to open a route. Try our complete six-slide example before treating finished tiles as untouchable.
Progress and personal records
One current puzzle is saved locally, together with its starting arrangement, moves, active time and sound preference. Records are separate for each size. Best move count and fastest time are independent: they may come from different solves.
Saves do not follow you automatically to a different browser, profile or device. Clearing site data removes them. If storage fails, the game reports it and remains playable. An installed browser PWA uses the web game’s storage context; it is not a separate cloud save or a promise of cross-browser sharing.
Browser installation
Play online first so the web app can cache its files successfully. Where installation is supported, use the optional Install app action in the win dialog or your browser’s install menu. Install options offers browser-specific instructions when needed. The action is hidden in detected standalone mode and the native Android app. The game can then load offline from its cache. An Android APK is a different app package with separate app data; no APK is needed for browser or PWA play. The signed Android preview is available for direct testing. Physical-device testing is still pending.