PuzzleBeat

Crate Shift

 

How to play

Push every crate onto a target (a dashed square). Move with the four arrow buttons, the arrow keys, or by tapping a cell next to the player. Walking into a crate pushes it one cell if the cell beyond is free; crates can be pushed but never pulled.

Par is the fewest moves possible. Undo and Restart are counted. You get 3 hints: each shows the next move of a shortest route as an arrow and rules out gold and silver. If no crate can move any more a notice appears. Give up shows one solution and completes the day with no medal.

Frequently asked questions

How do you play Crate Shift?
You control a small player token on a grid with walls, crates and target cells (dashed squares). Move with the four arrow buttons, the arrow keys, or by tapping a cell next to the player. Walking into a crate pushes it one cell if the cell beyond is free. Crates can only be pushed, never pulled. Cover every target with a crate to solve the day.
What happens if a crate gets stuck?
A notice appears as soon as no crate can move any more, with the plain reason: every crate is blocked by a wall, the edge of the board or another crate. Use Undo to take moves back, or Restart to put everything back at the start. Both are counted.
What is par and how are medals decided?
Par is the fewest player moves that solve the puzzle, found by a breadth-first search over every position of the player and the crates. Gold: no hint and at most two undos plus restarts. Silver: no hint. Bronze: any solve. Moves versus par are shown on the end screen and in your share text.
Can I get hints?
Yes, three per puzzle. A hint shows the next move of a shortest route as an arrow on the player and on the matching arrow button, with one sentence about what it does. Using a hint rules out gold and silver. Give up shows one valid solution and completes the day with no medal — it still counts for your streak, but not as a puzzle solved.
Is every puzzle solvable?
Yes. Each puzzle is built by starting from the solved layout and pulling the crates backwards one legal reverse move at a time, so a way to solve it always exists. Today's puzzle is the same for everyone (US Eastern date); open a past day with ?d=YYYY-MM-DD. The board grows through the week, from 5×5 with one crate on Monday to 7×7 with three crates on the weekend.