Zip: today's path puzzle, free

How to play Zip

Drag from the end of the path to draw it, cell by cell. Pass the numbers in order, never cross a wall, and fill every cell; the last number must be the last cell. Drag backwards to erase, or tap a cell on the path to cut back to it. Arrow keys work too. Full rules with three practice boards on the how to play page.

Want another one? Unlimited Zip has 2,660 boards from 5×5 to 12×12. Missed a day? Every past day is in the archive.

The week's boards

Zip strategy and tips: how to find the one path through every cell

Zip has one rule that does all the work: the path must visit every cell, so any cell that can only be reached one way forces the path through it. Draw from 1 through the numbered dots in order, never cross a wall, never lift the line. On a Monday 6×6 our solver finds that about 61% of the steps along the solution are forced, with no other legal move, and only about 13.8 cells where the path has a real choice. Learn to see the forced steps and a Zip is mostly reading, not searching. These are the ways to see them, with numbers from a year of Puzzlune's daily boards.

Where do you start a Zip puzzle?

At 1, but look at the corners and the last number first. The highest number must be the very last cell of the path, so everything else has to be visited before you arrive there, and the game will not let you step on it early. A corner cell has two neighbours at most; if one of them is already used or walled, the path must enter the corner from the other and leave through... nowhere, so that corner is the path's end, and it had better be the last number. Every dead end on the board is either the start, the finish, or a mistake.

How do you know which way to turn in Zip?

By counting open neighbours. A cell with exactly two open neighbours must be passed straight through: in from one, out through the other. A cell with one open neighbour can only be the end of the path. When your line leaves a cell with three open neighbours, the one you do not take must still be reachable later; if taking the left branch would leave the right branch as a pocket with a single entrance, the pocket must be a dead end, and dead ends are not allowed in the middle. On a 8×8 hard board there are about 29 cells with a real choice and 54% forced steps, so the puzzle is in those 29 cells.

How do the walls work in Zip?

A wall closes one side of a cell, which turns two neighbours into one and one into zero. Walls are the setter's way of forcing a route on big boards: a 6×6 has about 4.1 of them and an 8×8 about 5.6. Read every wall as “this cell has one fewer exit” and recount its neighbours. A row of walls makes a corridor, and a corridor has to be walked end to end, which fixes a long stretch of path at once.

How do you use the numbered dots in Zip?

Between dot k and dot k+1 the path must cover a connected stretch of cells and nothing else; count the cells that are only reachable by going through that stretch and you know whether the leg is long or short. A dot in a corner or against a wall tells you which direction the path arrives from. The number of dots grows with the board, 7.6 on Monday to 12.6 on Sunday, and more dots means more legs, each short and each mostly forced. If a leg looks like it has two routes, check which route leaves the cells of the next leg reachable.

How do you use the Zip hint?

The hint first rolls your path back to the last correct cell if you have taken a wrong turn, then shows the next few cells of the route as a dotted ghost, three to eight cells covering one real decision. The daily allows three. Use one when you are at a decision cell you cannot resolve by counting, and look at what the ghost did at that cell, not just where it went.

Which day has the hardest Zip puzzle?

The weekend 8×8 hard boards, with about 29 decision cells each; Monday's 6×6 easy has half as many. Board size and difficulty follow the weekday. For each, the number of dots, walls, cells where the path has more than one legal continuation, and the share of steps that are forced, over 365 daily boards.

Zip daily, Zip practice or the Zip archive: which should you play?

Play the daily when you have five minutes, practice when you want to get better, the archive when you want a worked example. The daily. One board, the size set by the weekday, the same for everyone. It is the only mode that counts for your streak, and the one to share.

Endless practice. Every size from 5×5 to 12×12 in three difficulties, as many boards as you like. Nothing you do there spoils the daily.

The archive. Every past daily with its route described dot by dot and the solved path. Every page has the full solution, so it doubles as a worked example when a technique from the strategy above hasn't clicked yet.

Zip FAQ

What is the Zip game?

Zip is a path-drawing logic puzzle. Starting on the cell marked 1, you draw one continuous line through neighbouring cells, passing the numbers in order (1, 2, 3 …) and filling every single cell exactly once. Thick lines are walls the path can't cross. Every puzzle has exactly one solution.

Is this the LinkedIn Zip game?

No. Zip is a daily game on LinkedIn with one puzzle a day and no archive. Puzzlune's Zip uses the same rules with boards we generate and check ourselves: a daily puzzle that follows the week from 6×6 to 8×8, unlimited mode from 5×5 up to 12×12, an archive of every past day, hints, undo and dark mode. We are not affiliated with LinkedIn.

How do I draw the path on a phone?

Put your finger on the end of the path and drag. Drag back along the path to erase, or tap any cell on the path to cut back to it. On a keyboard the arrow keys move the path one cell at a time.

What does a hint do?

It rolls the path back to the last correct cell (if you took a wrong turn) and shows the next few cells as a dotted ghost. The daily puzzle allows three hints; unlimited mode has no limit.

Why can't I step on the last number?

The highest number must be the very last cell of the path, so the game only lets you enter it once every other cell is filled. If it refuses, you have empty cells left somewhere.

Is Zip the same as the LinkedIn Zip puzzle, “zip game online” or playzip?

Same rules, different boards. Zip game online, zip puzzle, play zip and zip game unlimited are all searches for this kind of path puzzle; LinkedIn publishes the original once a day, and Puzzlune Zip has its own boards: a free daily, unlimited mode from 5×5 to 12×12 and an archive of every past day with the route.

Do I need an account?

No. Progress, streak and stats are stored in your browser.