Car Park

Car Park is a sliding puzzle set in a crowded lot. Your red car is boxed in by other cars, and you have to slide them out of the way, one at a time, to open a path to the exit.

How to play

The goal is to drive the red car out through the exit on the right side of the lot.

The lot is a square of six rows by six columns. Every car is two or three squares long. A car can slide only the way it points: a sideways car goes left and right, and an upright car goes up and down. Cars cannot jump over one another, and they cannot turn.

• Moving a car: drag it along its lane. On a small screen you can tap a car first, and then tap one of the dots that show where it can go.
• What counts as a move: one car sliding any distance is one move. Sliding a car three squares in one go costs the same as sliding it one square.
• The red car sits in the third row from the top. It leaves when it reaches the right end of that row.
• Winning: as soon as the red car reaches the exit, you win.

On a computer, click a car to pick it, and then use the arrow keys that match its direction to slide it one square at a time. The page shows your number of moves and the fewest moves that can solve the puzzle, so you know how close you are. Undo and Hint are free, and Restart returns the cars to their first places.

The levels

The levels are sorted by how many moves the best solution needs. Every puzzle was found by a computer search and then checked by a second search that counts the shortest way out.

• Easy: a few cars and a short way out, 8 moves or fewer.
• Medium: more cars to shuffle, from 9 to 16 moves.
• Hard: a crowded lot, from 17 to 30 moves.
• Expert: a real jam that takes 31 moves or more.

The numbers describe the perfect solution. You can always finish with more moves than that, and most players do.

Today's game

The daily game is a Medium puzzle. Everyone who plays on the same calendar day gets the same lot.

Tips

1. Look at what blocks the red car, then at what blocks that car. Work backwards from the exit.
2. Find the cars with room to move first. A car that can slide freely often frees a long line of others.
3. Any car in the red car's way must slide out of that row, so it is an upright car. Ask which of them has free room above or below.
4. Move a car all the way in one slide when you can. It uses a single move, and it often clears a lane for several others.
5. When you feel stuck, use Undo to go back a few moves and try a different car. Undo is free, so experiment.
6. Use Hint once you have thought about it yourself. It shows you one move, and often that is enough to find the idea.
7. Count your moves against the fewest number, but do not worry if you cannot match it. Solving the puzzle is the real prize.

A bit of history

Puzzles that ask you to free one special piece from a crowd of sliding blocks form an old and well-loved family, and the car park is one of its most familiar shapes.

Questions

Can I turn a car around? No. A car keeps its direction for the whole puzzle.

Why can't I move this car? Another car, or the edge of the lot, is directly in its way. Free the car that blocks it first.

Is every puzzle solvable? Yes. Each one comes from a list of puzzles that were found by working backwards from a solved lot, so there is always a way out.

Does a longer slide count more? No. One car sliding any distance in one go counts as a single move.