Sliding puzzle solvers
Free solvers for any sliding tile puzzle. Drag the tiles to match your board or scan a screenshot, even a picture puzzle without numbers, and get the moves step by step. Boards from 3×3 to 8×8.
Free online sliding puzzle solver for every board from 3×3 to 8×8: enter your arrangement, get the moves step by step — optimal on 3×3. Plus a comparison of solving algorithms — BFS, A*, IDA*, walking distance, pattern databases.
Free online 15 puzzle solver: enter your 4×4 arrangement, get the optimal moves with step-by-step playback. Also explains the algorithms behind it (IDA*, Manhattan distance, pattern databases).
How to write an 8 puzzle solver: state representation, A* search, the Manhattan distance heuristic, and a sketch of the inner loop.
A worked solution of the 3×3 slide puzzle, showing the row-and-column method. The base case every larger sliding tile puzzle reduces to.
What a slide puzzle solver does, when humans rarely need one, when developers always do, and how to choose between A*, IDA*, and pattern DBs.
Rather learn to solve it yourself?
Step-by-step guide to solving the 15 puzzle by hand: solve row 1, solve column 1, recurse into the 3×3 subpuzzle. Includes the corner-L manoeuvre.
The general method for solving any sliding tile puzzle by hand: row-and-column reduction with the L-shaped corner manoeuvre. Same at every size.
How to solve the Palia sliding puzzle in the Eye of the Storm quest: the universal row-by-row method for the Silverwing mural at the Temple of the Gales, plus tips for returning to the puzzle room.
Guide to Inscryption's sliding puzzles: how the Act 1 cabin drawer sliders work (win the frozen board by 5 points), and how to solve the two Act 3 robot sliding puzzles for the Mrs. Bomb Remote and the Lonely Wizbot card.
Want to play instead? Photo puzzles in your browser →