Slitherlink
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- Category
- Puzzle
- Players
- 1
- Controls
- Tap
- Grid
- 5 x 5
- Loads
- No download
Controls
| Tap between two dots | Draw or erase that segment. |
Next up
| Tap between two dots | Draw or erase that segment. |
Slitherlink asks for one closed loop drawn along the grid lines. Each number tells you exactly how many of that cell's four sides belong to the loop. A zero means none of them, a three means all but one, and the loop must never branch or cross itself.
It is one of the most elegant of the Japanese puzzle types because the constraint is so simple and the consequences are not. Two adjacent threes force a whole pattern of lines between them, and learning half a dozen of those local patterns transforms the puzzle from bewildering to methodical.
Start with the zeros. A cell marked zero has no lines at all around it, which immediately settles four segments and constrains everything touching them.
Look at threes in corners. A three against the edge of the grid has very few arrangements, because the loop cannot leave the board, and that usually forces two segments straight away.
Remember the loop cannot branch. Every dot has either no lines or exactly two, so a dot with two segments already drawn is finished and the rest of its segments are ruled out.
Watch for accidental small loops. Closing a short circuit that misses part of the grid satisfies nothing, so keep checking that your line is still one continuous path.
How many of that cell's four sides are part of the loop.
No. It must be one simple closed loop with no branches or crossings.
No, only some. The unnumbered cells are unconstrained.
Yes. A valid loop is drawn first and the numbers are counted from it.
Nothing at all. The whole of Slitherlink is built into the page itself, which is why there is no loading bar and no waiting before you can play.