PlankwayFirst steps: how to start a Plankway puzzle
An empty board can look like a wall of numbers. The trick is that you never have to look at the whole board at once. Every Plankway puzzle can be solved by finding one certain bridge at a time, and each bridge you place makes the next one easier to see.
The rules in one minute
- The number on an island is exactly how many bridges end on it.
- Bridges run straight, horizontally or vertically, between two islands. There are at most two bridges between the same pair.
- Bridges never cross each other, never pass over an island and never pass over a reef.
- When you are done, every island is part of one single network.
That is all. There is no hidden information and no luck: every puzzle has exactly one solution, and you can always reach it by reasoning.
Look at the corners and edges first
An island in a corner can see at most two neighbours; an island on an edge at most three. Fewer neighbours means fewer choices, and fewer choices means a certain bridge sooner. Big numbers with few neighbours are the best place to start.
The 4 in A1 has only two neighbours: the 3 to the right and the 2 below. Two bridges per neighbour is the maximum, and 2 + 2 is exactly 4. So both connections must be double bridges. This is the technique called every bridge counts.
Let one bridge lead to the next
After those two double bridges, look at the islands they touch. The 2 in A4 now has its two bridges: it is a full island, so it gets nothing else. Its connection to the 1 in D4 is ruled out.
The 3 in D1 has two bridges and needs one more. Its only other neighbour is the 1 in D4, so that is where the last bridge goes. The 1 is then complete too.
Habits that help
- Work in small steps. After every bridge, check its two islands again: one of them is often finished now, or down to a single option.
- Cross out in your head what is impossible. A connection that is ruled out is just as useful as a bridge, because it reduces the choices of both islands.
- Keep the network in mind. Near the end, a group of islands that is complete but not connected to the rest is a sign of a mistake. In Plankway such a group gets an orange flag.
- Never guess. If you are stuck, look for an island with few remaining options, or read about the techniques below. The hint button shows you the next logical step, and points out a bridge that does not belong in the solution. In the daily, each hint adds 10 seconds to your time.
Where to go next
The techniques in this guide are ordered from simple to advanced. Monday and Tuesday puzzles only need the first few. Later in the week you will meet avoid isolation and the only way out, and on Saturday and Sunday sometimes try and see. The puzzle archive shows, for every past daily, which techniques it needed and in what order.