Zip #20 Solution (October 15, 2026): Route, Decision Points and Answer

Zip #20 was the 7×7 medium board of Thursday, October 15, 2026: 9 numbered dots, 4 walls, and one path that visits all 49 cells in order. Our solver, a line-for-line port of the app's, needed 736 search nodes to prove the path unique, which puts the board at 5 of 5 on the difficulty scale. Along the answer, 56% of the moves had only one legal continuation; the other 21 steps offered a real choice, and those are where you have to look ahead. The path turns at 60% of its cells, and its longest straight run is 7 cells. The longest leg, between two consecutive dots, is 14 cells.

Zip #20 in numbers

Board	7×7, Medium
Numbered dots	9
Walls	4
Cells on the path	49
Solver search nodes	736 (5/5)
Moves with a single legal continuation	56%
Decision points	21
Turns along the path	60%

Zip #20 route, dot by dot

How many cells each leg takes and which way it runs, reading from dot 1. “Right 3” means three steps to the right.

Leg	Cells	Directions
1 → 2	4	up 1, left 1, down 1, left 1
2 → 3	1	up 1
3 → 4	6	left 1, down 5
4 → 5	10	down 1, right 2, up 1, left 1, up 3, right 1, down 1
5 → 6	14	down 1, right 1, down 2, right 1, up 1, right 1, down 1, right 1, up 5
6 → 7	9	up 1, left 2, down 1, right 1, down 3, left 1
7 → 8	3	up 2, left 1
8 → 9	1	down 1

Where the choices are: step 1 at row 2, column 4 (2 ways), step 2 at row 1, column 4 (2 ways), step 5 at row 2, column 2 (3 ways), step 9 at row 3, column 1 (2 ways), step 10 at row 4, column 1 (2 ways) and step 11 at row 5, column 1 (2 ways) and 15 more. Everywhere else only one move keeps the board solvable.

Zip #20 solution

The number in each cell is its position on the path; the dots keep their own numbers and are highlighted.

73323938378241404169202184742351019594643341118232474433417162528293213141526273031

Back to the Zip archive, today's puzzle, or how to play Zip.

Zip #20 (October 15, 2026): solution and route

Zip #20 in numbers

More free daily puzzles