Synthmaze

Synthmaze, by heliante.io, is a grid puzzle drawn in neon pinks and purples, with an optional synthwave soundtrack. Its board is split into nine panels of three by three cells. A rocket waits at one edge and a flag at another. Arrows in the cells turn the rocket as it flies over them, white crosses are blocks it must not hit, and suns are there to be collected.

You do not move single cells. You drag whole panels and drop them on another panel to swap the two, so every move rearranges nine cells at once. Some panels are locked in place (in the daily of 26 October 2026 it was the centre one). When you think the route is right you press Launch and watch the rocket fly. If it crashes or leaves the board, the button turns into Try again and you can rearrange and launch as often as you like.

Later boards add more pieces. Outlined arrows are frail and give way once the rocket has used them, a lightning tile gives the rocket a shield, and warps carry it across the board. The game's tips say that every arrow is meant to be used on the way to a full score, so a leftover arrow is a sign of a wrong route.

The daily maze sits apart from the levels. The game holds a list of mazes keyed by date, one for each day from 1 April 2024 into 2029, so everyone gets the same board on the same day, and its three suns take the place of the levels' stars. Solved dailies count towards milestones at 5, 10, 25, 50, 100 and 200, and collecting 100 suns opens Time Travel, a calendar of every past daily. A finished maze shows your time and move count with a share button.

The levels are grouped into seven quadrants named Alpha to Eta, with 500 stars to win. Stars from one quadrant open the next. Progress is kept in the browser, with no account and no ads, and the board fits a phone screen as well as a desktop.