8/15 Slide Puzzle

Use the mouse or keyboard to move the tiles. Use Hint when you get stuck, or Auto Play to let the computer play for you.
Color gradient theme
Orange theme
Monochrome theme
Letters theme
Glow theme

Let's get sliding

The 15 Puzzle was a popular board game invented more than a century ago. Yes, those times when we did not have the internet. I used to play it a lot, and loved the challenge and the perceived simplicity.

So sure enough it raised the question, can I write an algorithm to solve any valid board in the least amount of moves, and find the solution fast enough to run in a browser?

I took on the challenge and implemented a modified version of the A* algorithm, that uses a heuristic based on the Manhattan distance of each title to its final position. It works pretty fast for 3x3 and 4x4 boards. It solves most of the boards in less than a second. Any board larger than that and you will need a much faster computer than your regular laptop.

The rest of the project was just building a Flutter app around this idea, and the hackathon came at the right time. I used Visual Studio Code to develop the app, and deployed the game on 3 platforms, Web, iOS, and Android. I really enjoyed building some alternate themes to pick for the board. Use Auto Play to let the computer play for you, and just sit back and enjoy the zen.

I took inspiration from the great sample app provided by the guys at Very Good Ventures, especially theming, state management, and keyboard support. Great work guys.

So why not take if for a spin, and let me know what you think. Try it on web: https://babaosoftware.app/slidepuzzle iPhone or iPad: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id1610901038 Android device: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.babaosoftware.slidepuzzle You can find the entire source code here: https://github.com/babaosoftware/slidepuzzle