Free puzzle games

What makes a good puzzle game

A puzzle game gives you a board and a small set of rules, and the rest is thinking. You read the numbers, plan a few moves ahead and look for the one placement that has to be right. The fun is the moment something clicks: a row of Sudoku falls into place, a long chain of gems clears, or the last crate slides onto its target. There is rarely a rush, and when there is, it is a clock you chose.

The puzzle games on Kiloo mix the classics with newer ideas. Some are the ones you already know, such as Sudoku, Minesweeper, 2048 and falling blocks. Others turn pipes, bend lasers or push crates around a warehouse. Many of the boards were checked by a solver before they went in, so every puzzle can be finished, and many have undo and a hint for when you are stuck. Your best times and scores are saved in the browser you play in.

Puzzle games to start with

If you want something familiar, start with Sudoku. It has four difficulties, pencil marks that clear themselves and a hint that names the deduction instead of just filling a cell. Minesweeper is the classic logic test, with Beginner, Intermediate and Expert boards and a first click that is always safe. 2048 is the quickest to learn: slide the whole board, merge matching tiles and try to build a 2048 tile, on a 4x4 board or a roomier 5x5 or 6x6.

For quick rounds, Block Drop is falling blocks with a ghost piece, a hold slot and a three-shape preview, and the speed climbs every ten rows. Gem Swap is a match three in ninety-second rounds, or Zen mode with no clock at all. Cave Dash is the most active of them: dig through a cave, collect enough diamonds to open the exit and keep out from under the boulders.

The slower, thoughtful puzzles reward planning. Crate Shove has forty warehouse floors where you can push a crate but never pull it, so the order of your moves is the whole puzzle. Pipe Flow has 120 boards of brass pipes to turn until the water reaches every tank. Laser Maze asks you to turn mirrors and place prisms until a beam lights every sensor on a vault door. Picture Cross is a set of sixty nonograms, where the numbers tell you which squares to fill and the finished grid is a picture.

Controls and tips for puzzle games

On a keyboard the arrow keys move a cursor or the pieces in most of these games, and Space turns a pipe, rotates a mirror or drops a block. Many have shortcuts: U or Z undoes a move, H shows a hint, M mutes, and P pauses in most of them. With a mouse you click a cell and type a digit in Sudoku, click or drag to fill squares in Picture Cross, left-click to reveal and right-click to flag in Minesweeper, and drag or click two gems to swap them in Gem Swap.

On a phone or tablet you swipe in 2048, Block Drop, Cave Dash and Crate Shove, and tap a pipe, mirror or cell in the others. Minesweeper and Picture Cross have a mode for marking squares with one finger. A good habit is to slow down: in Crate Shove and Pipe Flow, look at the whole board before your first move, and in 2048 keep your biggest tile in one corner.

Frequently asked questions