How to play Traffic Jam
Slide cars and trucks along their own lanes until the red car can drive out of the car park. Also known as Sliding car puzzle.
The rules
- Cars are two squares long, trucks three.
- A vehicle slides forwards or backwards in the direction it faces. It can’t turn or pass through others.
- Sliding one vehicle any distance counts as one move.
- The puzzle is solved when the red car reaches the exit on the right.
Playing Traffic Jam on Puzzle Solvers
- Choose a level and press New Puzzle.
- Drag a car or truck forwards or backwards along its own direction. It can’t turn or jump over anything.
- Get the red car out through the gap on the right. Any slide, however far, is one move.
- Hint names the vehicle blocking the way and the best next slide.
A worked example
The red car is blocked by a yellow truck that can only move up or down. Up is blocked by a green car; down needs two empty squares.
Slide the green car left, then the truck can go up and clear the red car’s row.
Strategies
- Start from the red car. List what is in its way. Each blocker must leave the red car’s row.
- Follow the chain. If a blocker can’t move, find what blocks it — and what blocks that — until you reach something that can move.
- Trucks are the problem. A truck in the red car’s row path needs a lot of room to get clear; plan its route first.
- Sometimes go backwards. Moving the red car away from the exit can make room for others to pass.
Common mistakes
- Moving vehicles at random — every move should help clear a blocker.
- Forgetting a truck must move completely out of the red car’s row.
Where it comes from
Sliding-vehicle puzzles became popular as board puzzles in the 1990s and have been loved ever since. These positions are generated and checked by computer.
Frequently asked questions
Does a long slide count as more moves?
No — one vehicle sliding any distance is one move.
Can a car leave the car park?
Only the red car, through the gap on the right.
How is the fewest number of moves found?
Every reachable position is searched, so the count is exact.
Keep going
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