Shift

About Shift

Shift takes the classic eight-tile sliding puzzle and makes it a daily race. Each day has one numbered board with tiles 1 to 8 in a scrambled order and one empty space, and every player starts from the same scramble.

You tap a tile next to the empty space to slide it in, or use the arrow keys. The goal is to arrange the tiles from 1 to 8, left to right and top to bottom, with the empty space ending in the bottom right corner. A timer runs to the hundredth of a second and counts your moves.

Because the board is small, the puzzle is less about whether you can solve it than how cleanly: a player who sees the route places the top row and then the rest in a handful of efficient moves, while trial and error costs seconds. The fastest time of the day wins.

You can sign in to keep your place on the leaderboard. It runs in any browser.

How to play Shift

1. Press Play Today's Puzzle to start the timer.
2. Tap a tile next to the empty space to slide it, or use the arrow keys.
3. Arrange tiles 1 to 8 in order with the gap in the bottom right.
4. Check your time and moves against the leaderboard.

Tips

• Solve the top row first, then the left column, and finish the last four tiles together.
• Plan the first few moves before you start, since the timer begins at once.
• Arrow keys are usually faster than tapping on a computer.

Questions