How to Play Solvix

A complete guide — read it once and you'll never need it again.

The single rule that governs every puzzle

Every Solvix board is a grid of square cells. Nine of those cells contain numbers from 1 to 9. To solve a puzzle you must draw one continuous path that:

  1. Starts on the cell marked 1.
  2. Visits each numbered cell in ascending order: 1 → 2 → 3 → … → 9.
  3. Fills every cell on the board, not just the numbered ones.
  4. Never crosses itself, never skips a cell, never jumps over a wall.

That's it. If you complete a path that satisfies all four conditions, the puzzle is solved. If you can't reach the next number without leaving cells empty, the path is wrong and you need to rethink it.

Drawing the path

On a touch device, press your finger on the cell marked 1 and drag without lifting. The path follows your finger from cell to cell, moving only up, down, left, or right (no diagonals). On desktop, click 1 and drag the mouse — same idea.

If you make a mistake, drag back along your path. The trail erases itself behind your finger. You can also tap the ↺ restart button below the board to clear the whole path and start fresh.

Tip: The path can only move between cells that share a side. If two cells are diagonal neighbors, you cannot connect them directly.

Reading the board

Walls

From level 21 in Arcade onward (and from the Medium level in Classic), some cell edges are blocked by walls. Your path cannot cross a wall. Walls are drawn as thick, glowing lines between two cells. Treat them as solid barriers and plan a detour.

Moving walls

In Arcade chapter 5 and on Classic Hard, walls shift every 10 seconds. The solution path always stays open after a shift — you'll never be in a state where the puzzle is impossible. But your current drawn path can get blocked, so don't get attached to a route. You can feel a slight tremor on the board for about a second before each shift.

Fog of war

In Arcade chapter 3 (fog levels) and as a custom modifier in multiplayer rooms, most of the board is hidden. You can only see cells within a small radius of where your path's head currently is. Move carefully — exploring blindly is a trap.

Time pressure

Timed levels show a countdown in the header. If the timer reaches zero before you finish, the round ends. In single-player it counts as a loss for that puzzle and you restart. In multiplayer, the player with more progress at zero wins.

Hints

Stuck? Tap the 💡 hint button below the board. The game reveals the next few correct moves from wherever your path currently ends. If you drew yourself into a dead end, the hint automatically backtracks to the last valid point and shows you the right route forward.

Each hint costs five sparks for signed-in players. New guest users get one free hint per session. You earn sparks by beating boss levels in Arcade mode (Mini Boss = +1, Chapter Boss = +2, Act Boss = +5).

Modes at a glance

Classic

Three back-to-back puzzles — 5×5 Easy, 6×6 Medium, 7×7 Hard. Your total time is logged to the leaderboard. The Hard board uses moving walls, so finish before they shift twice if you can.

Arcade

200 levels organized into 8 chapters. Each chapter introduces a mechanic — walls, fog, timer, moving walls, expert combos. Boss levels every 25 levels reward sparks. Levels save automatically — close the app and pick up where you left off.

Multiplayer

Quick Match pairs you with a similarly rated player for a ranked 7×7 race. Create Room makes a private room with a 6-character code; share it with friends and toggle any modifiers you like — dense walls, moving walls, a 90-second timer, fog of war.

Common mistakes

â–¶ Play a puzzle now