Flip Lights
Press a lamp to flip it and its neighbours. Turn every light off.
How to play Flip Lights
Flip Lights is a short puzzle with a simple idea. The board is a grid of lamps, and some of them are lit. Pressing a lamp flips it, and it also flips the lamps right above, below, left and right of it. Lit lamps go dark and dark lamps light up.
Goal
Switch every light off. Each board was made by pressing lamps on a dark board, so it can always be solved.
Step by step
- Tap or click any lamp. That lamp and its four neighbours flip. Lamps on the edge have fewer neighbours, and corners have only two.
- Keep pressing until the whole board is dark. The counter under the board shows how many lights are still on.
- The status bar shows your moves and the par: the fewest presses that can solve this board.
- Stuck? Press Hint (or H). A ring marks one lamp that belongs to the shortest way out from where you are now.
- Press Undo (or Ctrl+Z) to take a press back. With a keyboard, move with the arrow keys and press Space or Enter.
Two facts that make it easier
The order of presses does not matter: pressing A then B gives the same board as B then A. And pressing the same lamp twice undoes itself, so a perfect solution never presses a lamp more than once.
Levels
Easy is a 4×4 board solved in 4 to 6 presses. Medium is the classic 5×5 board with a par of 7 to 11. Hard is 6×6 and can take more than 20 presses.
End of the game
You win as soon as the last light goes out. Match the par for a perfect score. Your board is saved in this browser. For another quick puzzle, try the Sliding Puzzle.
Strategy tips
- Chase the lights down. Work row by row. For each light in the top row, press the lamp right below it. Then do the same for the next row. In the end, only the bottom row has lights left.
- Learn the bottom row patterns. When only the bottom row is lit, the right presses in the top row will fix it after another chase. Use a hint to discover them.
- Never press a lamp twice. Two presses on the same lamp cancel out, so they only waste moves.
- Order is free. Since order does not matter, plan the set of lamps to press and do them in any order you like.
- Aim for par. Solving is the first goal. Solving in the fewest presses is the real challenge.
Flip Lights FAQ
Can every board be solved?
Yes. Every board is made by pressing lamps on a dark board, so there is always a way back to all dark.
What does par mean?
Par is the smallest number of presses that can solve the board, worked out by the game. Solve it in that many moves for a perfect game.
How does the hint work?
The game finds the shortest solution from your current board and rings one lamp that is part of it. Press it to get one step closer.
Is this the same as Lights Out?
It is the same kind of puzzle, similar to the Lights Out handheld game. Here the boards come in three sizes and are always solvable.
