Sliding-block puzzle
Unblock
Blocks slide, never rotate. Clear the yellow car's way to the exit.
One puzzle a day, the same for everyone
The day's board is drawn from the date, then run through a breadth-first search that calculates its minimum number of moves. Only boards of medium difficulty are kept; the too-easy ones are discarded before being shown.
- The same board for everyone, until midnight in your device's time zone.
- The minimum shown is the true minimum, calculated by the solver, not an estimate.
- Undoing as much as you like carries no penalty: only your final move count matters.
- Completing a challenge, any of the four, extends your streak by one day.
The Free play / Daily challenge toggle sits at the very top of the board. The challenge never touches your free-play best scores, and free play stays unlimited.
Five steps to your first win
- Find the yellow car.It's the two-cell horizontal block on the exit row, on the right side of the board.
- Pick a block.Click it: it gets a yellow outline. A horizontal block only slides left and right, a vertical block only up and down.
- Make room for it.Slide the blocks that are in the car's way, then the ones that are in their way.
- Clear the exit row.When nothing is left between the yellow car and the right edge, the way is clear.
- Drive the car out.Bring it all the way to the right edge. The minimum shown tells you how many moves it could have taken.
What you need to understand
One input for every way to play
Mouse and trackpad
Click a block to select it, then click a cell in its row or column to slide it there, as far as the path is clear.
Touchscreen
Blocks take up wide cells. No finger dragging is required: tap the block, then the spot to bring it to.
Keyboard
Move focus to a block with Tab, then the arrow keys move it one cell along its axis. Focus returns to the block after each move.
Five things worth knowing
- The yellow car only moves along its row. All the work comes down to clearing that row in front of it.
- A block never rotates. A horizontal block stays horizontal, a vertical block stays vertical: that's what makes some traffic jams so stubborn.
- Back up to move forward. You often have to move the car away from the exit to free a block before coming back.
- The minimum shown comes from a breadth-first search: it's the true shortest path, not an estimate. Matching it is a fine goal.
- Undoing doesn't count against you: only your move count at the moment of exit is kept as a best score.
Unblock, in detail
Each block slides along its single axis: a horizontal block goes left and right, a vertical block goes up and down. None of them rotate. The goal is to bring the yellow car to the exit on the right.
Select it, then point to where you want it: it slides as far as the path is clear along its axis, without passing through another block or the edge. On the keyboard, each arrow key moves it one cell.
It's the smallest number of moves needed to get the car out, calculated by a breadth-first search before the board is shown to you. It's not an estimate: no sequence of moves does better.
A move is one displacement of a block, whatever the distance covered. Sliding a block three cells in a single motion counts as one move, as in the original game.
No. You can undo as much as you like and start over without penalty. Only your move count at the moment the car exits is kept as a best score.
Yes. Every board goes through the solver before it's shown; if it isn't solvable, it's discarded. The solver also provides the minimum number of moves that the page displays.
It's the same kind of puzzle. Rush Hour is a registered trademark of ThinkFun, with whom we have no affiliation. Our game is called Unblock and its boards are generated by our own code.
The day's board is drawn from the date, verified as solvable and of medium difficulty, then offered to everyone until midnight. The minimum shown is calculated from that board. Only your first win of the day is recorded.
Keep exploring the site
All four games play right on the page, with no account and no download.