About Traffic Jam
The sliding-block puzzle best known as Rush Hour, in the caravan yards of the Strand-and-Anvil House on the Iron Road: hand-carts of hay, barrels, salt and apples and long drays of timber, ore and wine jammed in a walled cobbled yard at loading time, and the Caravan-Master's red wagon that has to leave through the gate.
Every cart rolls only along its length, left and right or up and down; nothing turns, nothing jumps, and the stone wells never move. Drag a cart to roll it, or tap it and then an empty square in its line. One cart rolled any distance is one move.
The 180 yards come from Michael Fogleman's complete study of the puzzle, and each one is the position farthest from solved in its whole family of positions, so no yard is a shortcut into an easier one. The build re-proves every yard's fewest moves with its own search, and each yard shows that number before you start. Six yards of thirty run from the Stable Yard (4 to 8 moves) to the Caravan-Master's Yard (40 to 60), and Today's caravan is the same yard for everyone.
Each yard keeps two records with their holders' names: the fewest moves, which any replay can still improve, and the fastest first solve.
How to play
- Goal
- Slide the carts out of the way until the red wagon can roll out through the gate.
- How it ends
- A yard is solved when the red wagon leaves. There is no way to lose: Undo and Restart are unlimited.
- Record
- Each yard keeps two records, the fewest moves and the fastest first solve, each with its holder's name.
- Drag a cart along its line to roll it: across carts roll left and right, upright carts up and down.
- Clear a road for the red wagon to the gate in the east wall, then roll it out.
- Match the fewest moves shown on the yard: rolling the same cart again straight away is still one move.
Controls
| Drag · Swipe | Roll a cart along its line |
|---|---|
| Tap a cart, then a square | Roll it there |
| Arrows | Along a cart: roll it; across: pick the next cart |
| Z · R | Undo, restart |
| Escape | Back to the yards |
Every yard's fewest moves is proved by an exhaustive search when the game is built; the page ships no solver and no answers, and there is no hint. The clock starts when a yard is opened and never pauses; only a first solve is timed, while the fewest moves can always improve. Your routes, bests and settings stay in this browser under morass.traffic-jam.v1. No ads or analytics run inside the game.
