One Short

The sliding tile puzzle: a square tray of tiles with one empty space. Slide a tile into the space, then another into the space it left, until the numbers are back in order or the picture is whole again. There are two trays: fifteen numbered tiles on a four-by-four, and a picture cut into eight tiles on a three-by-three, for a shorter puzzle. Tap any tile in line with the gap and the whole line slides in one go, and every tile that moves counts as a move.

Every puzzle can be solved. Exactly half of all the ways to lay out the tiles can never be put back in order, so each tray is checked by the rule before you see it, and if it fails, two tiles swap places. No numbers puzzle starts close to finished: its tiles are at least 24 steps from home between them.

On the picture tray, the game knows the shortest way. It searches all 181,440 positions that tray can reach, there in the page, and when you finish it tells you how many moves the shortest way takes, as information and never as a target. The first picture is a short one, and the next two are longer.

The pictures are painted by the game's own code, such as a hot-air balloon, a whale or a castle. Small numbers can go in the corners of their tiles for anyone who is stuck. At the finish the numbers light up in order, or the last piece fills the gap and the seams fade.

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HOW TO PLAY

A tray is solving itself when the page opens. Tap anywhere to start a picture, or tap Numbers for the four-by-four. Tap a tile next to the gap to slide it in, or one further along the same row or column to slide the whole line. Or drag a tile toward the gap: let go once it is 40% of the way there and it goes in; short of that it slides back. 123 puts the small numbers on a picture. New puzzle deals another, and once you have moved it takes a second tap, as switching trays does.

With a mouse, click or drag the same way. On a keyboard, the arrow keys slide the tile next to the gap in that direction, and Enter or Space plays again. P and N switch between the picture and the numbers (partway through a puzzle, press twice), and M turns the sound on and off.

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