LineknollPlay Numberlink

How to play Numberlink

Draw a path between each pair of matching letters. Every square must belong to exactly one path.

  1. Start at a letter and move through neighboring squares, up, down, left or right.
  2. Finish at the matching letter. A path cannot cross itself, another path or a different letter.
  3. Connect every pair and leave no empty squares.
Play a 4 × 4 puzzle

A complete grid

This example has three paths. A connects to A, B to B and C to C. Together, the paths use all 16 squares.

A solved four by four Numberlink puzzleA starts at row 1 column 1, runs right across the top row and down to row 2 column 4. B runs from row 2 column 3 left to column 1, then down and right to row 3 column 2. C runs from row 3 column 3 right to column 4, then down and left across the bottom row.AABBCC

Connecting all letters is not enough if there are empty squares. A longer route may be needed to fill them.

Draw and change a path

Drag from a letter to draw. You can also click a letter, then click each neighboring square. To change a route, click an earlier square on that line to shorten it. Click its starting letter to clear it back to the endpoint.

Undo restores the previous edit. Restart clears this puzzle after you confirm. Choose Keep playing or press Escape to cancel.

Use a hint

Hint checks whether the current lines can still fill the grid. It highlights one next square when a solution remains. Choose Draw step to add it.

If a line blocks the solution, the hint offers to clear that line. The repair can be undone. A search error is shown as an error, not as a claim that the puzzle has no solution.

Keyboard controls

Arrow keys
Move focus around the grid.
Enter or Space
Start at the focused letter, or add the focused neighboring square to your line.
Delete or Backspace
Clear the focused line.
Escape
Stop drawing or dismiss the hint.

Daily and practice

Start with a 4 × 4 board, then try 5 × 5 or 6 × 6. There are eight original puzzles per size. Practice cycles through them; the daily board selects one per size using the UTC date, so each size repeats every eight days. A saved daily stays open across midnight and reopening; Play today asks before opening the new date. Earlier dated records are kept.

Continue practice returns to your saved practice puzzle. Each board size remembers its own practice position. Next puzzle asks before leaving an unfinished attempt.

Lines, time and hints are saved in this browser. Undo history lasts for the current visit. If saving fails, the game shows a recovery action. A damaged record is kept until you explicitly choose to replace it.

Play Numberlink