Cobble Paw

About Cobble Paw

Cobble Paw is a daily path puzzle played in the browser. Each board is a small grassy island seen from above at an angle, with a dog on one square, its house on another, and trees, rocks and streams in between. A tray at the side holds a set of trail pieces, straight runs and corners, and your job is to lay them on the free squares so the path runs from the dog to the shelter.

The day is made of six boards: two easy, two medium and two hard. The set is built from the date, so everyone playing on the same day gets the same islands. You can look a board over before pressing Start; from then on you have three minutes, and the clock follows real time, so it keeps running even if you close the tab.

Scoring rewards a tidy solution more than a fast one. A path that passes through every piece in the tray is worth 80 points, fewer pieces earn less, and speed adds up to 20 more, for 100 a board and 600 a day. Once the path connects you can send the dog off with pieces to spare, or keep looking for a route that uses them all. Revealing the solution, running out of time or leaving a board half done scores zero.

A day counts toward your streak once all six boards have been played, and there are trophies for things like a perfect board, a full day or a week in a row. The game needs no account or install and has English and French versions. Its footer links to the same makers' other daily games, Septonum, Septogrid and CityDeck. It suits players who like pipe and track puzzles and want a short, calm set with a gentle time limit.

How to play Cobble Paw

1. Open cobblepaw.com and choose a difficulty: Easy, Medium or Hard, with two boards in each.
2. Study the island, then press Start to begin the three-minute clock.
3. Pick a trail piece from the tray on the left and tap or click a lit square to place it.
4. Turn a piece with the rotate button, the mouse wheel, or by tapping it once it is down; use Undo to take one back.
5. Join the dog to its shelter in one unbroken trail, then send the dog off or keep going to use the remaining pieces.
6. Play all six boards to complete the day and keep your streak, then copy your result to share it.

Screenshots

Tips

• Use the time before pressing Start: the clock only begins when you do, so plan the route first.
• Every piece the path runs through counts toward 80 of the 100 points, so a slower route that uses the whole tray beats a quick short one.
• Start from the squares next to the dog and the house: their openings narrow down which pieces fit there.
• A piece parked off the path earns nothing, so do not fill gaps just to empty the tray.
• Avoid the solution button during play; it sets that board's score to zero. Looking at a solution after the board is over costs nothing.

Questions