About Sliding Blocks
Sliding Blocks is one of the oldest moving puzzles there is: a tray packed with wooden blocks, two empty squares and one big block that wants to get out. The blocks only slide, never lift, so every block you move makes room for another. Bring the big red block down to the gap in the bottom edge and it slides out of the tray. Every board is searched completely before it is used, so the fewest possible moves is shown next to your count.
How to play Sliding Blocks
- Drag a block into empty squares, or tap it and use the arrow buttons. Blocks slide in straight lines and never pass over each other.
- Bring the big red block down to the gap in the bottom edge of the tray: it slides out and the puzzle is solved.
- Sliding one block any distance is one move, and sliding the same block again straight after (round a corner, say) is still that move. The fewest possible is shown.
- Fewest moves wins, then the fastest time. Easy trays take about 8 to 18 moves, medium 24 to 45, and hard days use a taller tray and 50 moves or more.
Tips & strategy
- Keep the two empty squares together when you can: a two-square gap lets the wide and tall blocks through, two separate holes rarely do.
- Before chasing the big block, think about where the gap must be for its next step down, and walk the empty squares there.
- A block can go round a corner in one move: slide it again straight away and it still counts once.
- Small blocks are the oil of the puzzle. Park them where they can slip out of the way later, not in the middle of the big block’s path.
Sliding Blocks: questions and answers
What counts as a move?
Sliding one block anywhere it can go in one go. Sliding the same block again straight after, even round a corner or back, is still the same move; sliding it back to where it started costs nothing.
Is the fewest possible moves exact?
Yes. Every board was solved by a complete search of every position its blocks can reach, so the number shown is the true minimum.
How is Sliding Blocks ranked?
Fewest moves first, then the fastest time. Only a member’s first solve of the day counts.
What changes with the difficulty?
Easy trays need about 8 to 18 moves and medium trays 24 to 45. Hard days use a taller tray of four by six squares and need 50 moves or more.