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Sliding Puzzle

Slide the numbered tiles back into order using the one empty space.

Medium

Moves: 0⏱ 00:00

Click a tile next to the empty space to slide it. Tiles already in their correct spot glow green. Every shuffle is guaranteed solvable.

About Sliding Puzzle

The sliding puzzle was invented by Boston postmaster Noyes Chapman and became a genuine craze in 1880, when the 15-puzzle emptied lecture halls and frustrated clergy across two continents — half of its random arrangements are mathematically unsolvable, which only added to the mania. Sam Loyd later made the unsolvable 14–15 swap infamous. It remains the purest possible spatial-reasoning puzzle: one blank space, and order to restore.

Vimzify's version is guaranteed fair. Instead of shuffling randomly (which would deal an impossible board half the time), the puzzle is scrambled by making 200 random legal slides from the solved state, so a solution always exists — reverse the chaos and you are home. You can play the warm-up 3×3 (8 tiles) or the classic 4×4 (15 tiles), which is the board the game opens with. Tiles already sitting in their correct position glow green so you can build around them, and your moves and elapsed time are counted from your first slide: your final solve is announced with both figures, making it a tidy personal speedrun.

How to Play Sliding Puzzle

The board opens as a shuffled 4×4; use the 3 × 3 button for the smaller 8-tile version, or Shuffle to re-scramble the current size.

Click or tap any tile directly beside the empty space (up, down, left or right — not diagonally) to slide it into the gap.

Your move counter increments with every slide and the timer starts on your first move.

Work towards the solved arrangement: numbers in reading order, 1 top-left through to the last tile bottom-right, with the empty space in the final corner. Tiles in their correct spot glow green.

Complete the grid and the game announces your solve with your move count and time. Start a new shuffle to go again.

Controls

Click / Tap a tileSlide it into the adjacent empty space

3 × 3 / 4 × 4 buttonsStart a new puzzle of that board size

ShuffleRe-scramble the current board size

Tips & Tricks

💡Solve the top row first, but place its last two tiles as a pair: position them stacked in the last column, then rotate them in together — trying to slot the final tile of a row directly is the classic beginner's trap.
💡After the first row is done, never touch it again. Treat it as sealed and solve the next row in the shrunken board; repeat until only a 2×2 or 2×3 region remains, which is solved by simple rotation cycles.
💡On the 4×4, switch strategy for the last two rows: solve them column by column from the left, again placing each column's final two tiles as a pair.
💡Use the green glow as a progress check, not a goal — early tiles often must pass through their correct squares and leave again. Only trust the glow once you are solving that tile's row or column on purpose.

Sliding Puzzle — Frequently Asked Questions

Is every puzzle solvable?+

Yes, guaranteed. The board is scrambled by performing 200 random legal slides starting from the solved state rather than by shuffling tiles arbitrarily, so unlike a physical 15-puzzle dealt at random, a solution always exists.

What is the difference between 3×3 and 4×4?+

The 3×3 has 8 tiles and most players solve it in a few dozen moves — ideal for learning the pair-placement technique. The 4×4 is the classic 15-puzzle, far deeper: good solvers finish in 100–200 moves, and optimal solutions can still run to 80 moves in the worst case.

How are moves and time counted?+

Every tile slide counts as one move, and the timer starts on your first slide and stops when the final arrangement is completed. Your solve banner reports both, so you can chase fewer moves or a faster clock across attempts.

Why do tiles glow green?+

A tile glows green whenever it is currently sitting in its correct final position. It is a visual aid for tracking progress — but tiles frequently glow and then have to move away again while you manoeuvre others, which is normal solving, not a mistake.