PipeTurn (PuzzleMadness)

About PipeTurn (PuzzleMadness)

Every cell of a PipeTurn grid holds something: a straight, a bend, a T-junction, a crossing, an empty square or a coloured bulb with a short stub of pipe. Nothing moves from cell to cell; you can only turn tiles on the spot. The goal is to turn them so that all the blue bulbs are joined into one network, all the red bulbs into another and so on, without any pipe linking two different colours. Pipes that are part of a finished link take on the colour of their bulbs, so you can see your progress as you go.

Compared with laying pipes freely, the fixed tiles make it a puzzle of orientation: a straight piece has only two positions and a bend four, and the tiles on the edge of the grid cannot point outwards. Today's Medium grid, for example, is 8x8 with blue, red and green bulbs.

PuzzleMadness is a free puzzle website run by Dewi, a software developer who started out making games for the PlayStation 2, Nintendo Wii and DS and now builds the site as a hobby. It carries dozens of puzzle types, from classic sudoku to newer logic grids, and each one gets its own dated puzzle every day at each difficulty. PipeTurn comes in Easy, Medium, Hard and Tough versions plus a Mixed page, and the same day's PipeTurn puzzle is shared by everyone who opens it.

The site checks your grid as you go and tells you when it is finished; it does not publish solutions. Each completed puzzle earns a score, and scores feed a monthly and an all-time PipeTurn leaderboard, where only your best attempt at a puzzle counts. Older days stay in the archive, so a missed puzzle can still be played later and still counts toward the current month. Playing needs no account; a free registration gives you a username on the leaderboards and a cloud save. The pages carry adverts.

How to play PipeTurn (PuzzleMadness)

1. Open today's PipeTurn page on PuzzleMadness and choose a difficulty from the menu above the grid.
2. Click a tile to rotate it; keep clicking until it points the way you want.
3. Join all the bulbs of each colour into one connected network.
4. Make sure no pipe joins two different colours, then the puzzle is complete.
5. The site tells you when the grid is complete and adds your score; registered players appear on the leaderboards.

Screenshots

Tips

• Start at the edges and corners: tiles there cannot point off the grid, so many have only one valid position.
• Bulbs have a single opening, which tells you exactly which neighbouring tile must connect to them.
• Crossing pieces let two colours pass without touching, so they are often the key to a crowded area.
• Missed a day? Earlier puzzles are in the archive, and finishing one still counts toward this month's leaderboard.

Questions