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Number Path is a logic puzzle in the tradition of Japanese Numberlink and Hidato-style "find the path" puzzles. You're given a grid with several numbered cells scattered across it. Your task is to draw a single, continuous path that passes through every numbered cell in ascending order, moving only between cells that share an edge — no diagonals, no crossings, no revisits.
It rewards three skills together: spatial reasoning (visualising the shape of a route), planning ahead (anticipating where the path has to be many steps from now), and elimination thinking (ruling out impossible moves rather than guessing). Unlike a maze, there are no walls — the constraints come entirely from the numbered targets and the no-crossing rule.
Number-link puzzles originated in Japan as Numberlink (sometimes called Flow Free in mobile form). They're part of the broader Nikoli puzzle family alongside Sudoku, Hashi (Bridges) and Slitherlink. The Hidato variant — where you connect a continuous sequence of numbers — was invented by Israeli mathematician Gyora Benedek in the early 2000s.
The cells with the fewest options are the most informative. Corner cells have only two neighbours; edge cells have only three. A numbered cell sitting in a corner with only one viable approach direction is essentially a free hint — its incoming and outgoing path is forced.
Always scan for these forced cells before doing anything else. Mark the obvious segments first, then work outward into the more open middle of the grid where you have multiple choices. This eliminates the most possibilities with the least guessing.
If a numbered cell has exactly one empty neighbour, the path has to use that neighbour. Mark it immediately — then check whether that newly-marked cell now has only one remaining option, and chain the deductions outward.
Don't only build forward from 1. The path must also arrive at the highest number, so work backward from that end too. Often the segment from the second-highest to the highest number is heavily constrained, and walking the path backward reveals forced moves that aren't obvious forward.
When you've built forward from 1 and backward from the highest number, the two segments have to meet in the middle. The remaining gap is usually small and tightly bounded — much easier to solve than the full path would be from scratch.
A forced move is any cell where only one direction is available — every other neighbour is either filled, off the grid, or would block another segment. Forced moves are free; they don't require guesswork. Find as many as possible before considering any branching choice.
Forced moves often appear after you've placed a partial path. A previously-open cell may now have only one neighbour left, because the path has surrounded it on three sides. Rescan the grid after every few moves — new forced cells appear constantly as the path grows.
The worst Number Path mistake is committing to a route that can't possibly reach the next number — because there aren't enough free cells between here and there. Before you draw a long stretch, mentally count: how many cells of free path do I need to get from this position to the next number? Are there that many empty cells available in roughly the right direction?
The same counting catches another failure: leaving cells stranded. If your path blocks off a region of empty cells from the rest of the board, those cells become unreachable and the puzzle is dead. Always check that every empty region remains connected to the path's continuation.
Desktop: Click the first numbered cell to start. Click an adjacent cell to extend the path one step, or click-and-drag to draw multiple segments in one motion. Click on an existing path cell to erase from that point onward.
Mobile / Tablet: Tap the starting numbered cell, then drag your finger through adjacent cells to draw the path continuously. Tap any path cell to erase from that point to the end.
The grid is sized to fit any screen and works well in either portrait or landscape orientation.
Number Path comes in many shapes and difficulty levels. The MindArena hub mixes several variants so the challenge keeps evolving:
Beginners should start with 4×4 or 5×5 standard puzzles; obstacle and wraparound variants are best left until the basic mechanics feel automatic.
Draw a single continuous path through adjacent cells of the grid that visits all the numbered cells in ascending order — 1, 2, 3, 4 and so on — without crossing or revisiting any cell. When every numbered cell is reached in order on one unbroken path, the puzzle is solved.
Both are Japanese-style routing puzzles. Numberlink (a Nikoli puzzle) asks you to connect several separate pairs of numbers with non-crossing paths. Number Path (closer to Hidato) asks for a single path that visits all the numbers in order. They share the no-crossing rule but use different goals.
Start by identifying forced moves — cells where only one direction is possible. Work both forward from 1 and backward from the highest number; the two halves of the path must meet. Always count empty cells before committing to a route, and pay extra attention to corners and edges where options are limited.
Yes — every well-designed Number Path puzzle has exactly one valid solution, by design. Puzzles with no solution or multiple solutions are considered broken. The MindArena puzzles are all generated to guarantee a unique, fair solution.
A 4×4 or 5×5 grid is ideal to start. The smaller board makes forced moves easy to spot and prevents the planning load from getting overwhelming. Once you can solve 5×5 puzzles consistently, step up to 7×7 and beyond.
Both are logic puzzles in the broader Nikoli puzzle family — alongside Hashi, Slitherlink and others — and both rely on deduction with no guessing required. But the mechanics are different: Sudoku is about filling cells with digits under row/column constraints, while Number Path is about drawing a single non-crossing route.
Put the forced-move and counting strategies to work on a fresh grid.
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