Pipes
Turn the pipe tiles until water reaches every pipe.
How to play Pipes
Pipes is a calm logic puzzle, also known as Net or NetWalk. The board is a square of tiles. Each tile holds a piece of pipe: a straight, a bend, a T-junction or a dead end. In the middle sits the water source. All the tiles have been turned the wrong way, and your job is to turn them back.
Goal
Rotate the tiles so that every pipe joins into one network fed by the source. When the puzzle is solved, no pipe end is left open, there are no loops, and water flows to every tank at the end of a pipe.
Turn by turn
- Tap or click a tile to turn it a quarter turn clockwise. Shift+click turns it the other way.
- Pipes that are joined to the source fill with blue water right away, so you can see how far your network reaches. The bar above the board shows how much of it is connected.
- When you are sure a tile is right, lock it: right-click it, press L, or switch on Lock mode and tap it. A locked tile cannot turn by accident.
- Made a mistake? Press Undo as often as you like. Stuck? Hint turns one wrong tile the right way and locks it.
Board sizes
Easy is 5×5, Medium is 7×7 and Hard is 9×9. Every board is made fresh for you, and the game checks that it has exactly one solution, so you can always solve it by logic alone.
Keyboard
Move with the arrow keys. Press Enter or Space (or E) to turn clockwise, Shift+Enter (or Q) to turn anticlockwise, and L to lock.
End of the game
The puzzle ends as soon as every pipe is filled with water. Your moves are compared with par, the fewest turns needed. Like linking puzzles? Try Number Link.
Strategy tips
- Start at the edges. A pipe can never point off the board, so tiles on the border and in the corners often have only one possible way to sit.
- Straights on the edge are fixed. A straight pipe on the border must run along the edge. A T-junction on the border must have its flat side facing out.
- Dead ends never meet. Two tanks side by side cannot point at each other, or they would close off a tiny network with no source.
- Avoid loops. The finished network is a tree. If a turn would close a circle of pipes, it is wrong.
- Lock what you know. Each locked tile gives a fixed side to its neighbours, and the next tile often follows from it.
Pipes FAQ
Does every puzzle have one solution?
Yes. Each board is checked by a solver before you get it, and only boards with exactly one solution are used.
What does par mean?
Par is the smallest number of quarter turns that solves the board from the start. Match it without hints for a perfect score.
Why are some pipes not blue?
Water only fills pipes that are joined to the source in the middle. A pipe with a dark, empty channel is not connected yet.
Is this like the Net puzzle?
Yes. Pipes follows the same rules as Net, also called NetWalk or FreeNet, on a board without wrap-around edges.
