Strategy games & brain teasers
Classic board games to play against the computer — Tafl, Bagh Chal, Lambs and Tigers, Nim — and brain teasers solved one move at a time: sliding tiles, disc towers, traffic jams, water jugs and capture puzzles.
Where to start
New to these? Begin with Tangram, Traffic Jam or Sliding Tiles — the gentlest rules here — then work along the list. Every puzzle has easy levels and a guide.
All 18 games and teasers
Lambs & Tigers
An ancient South Indian hunt game: three tigers try to capture five lambs; fifteen lambs try to trap all three.
Bagh Chal
Nepal's tigers-and-goats game: four tigers try to capture five goats; twenty goats try to trap every tiger.
Tafl
The Viking board game: the king must escape to the edge or a corner while attackers try to surround him.
Nim
Take turns removing objects; play the right move and you can always win — the maths tells you which.
Peg Solitaire
Jump pegs over each other to remove them; finish with one peg — ideally in the centre.
Last One Standing
Every move captures. Keep going until one piece is left standing — with pieces that each move their own way.
Traffic Jam
Slide cars and trucks along their lanes to get the red car out of the jam.
Disc Towers
Move the stack to the last peg without ever putting a big disc on a small one. A classic puzzle in recursion.
Sliding Tiles
The classic 8 and 15 tile puzzle, with numbers or pictures. Hints follow the shortest route home.
Light Switch
Switch all the lights off. Each press flips a square and its neighbours — a classic puzzle with a neat mod-2 solution.
Matchstick Equations
An equation made of matches is wrong. Move one match to make it true.
CodeBreaker
Find the hidden 4-digit code from Bulls and Cows feedback — deduce, don't guess.
Code Breaker
Guess the hidden code of coloured pegs using black and white pins. A classic deduction game.
Logic Grid
Work out who owns which pet, drinks what and plays which sport from a few clues.
Knight's Tour
Move the knight in its L-shape to collect stars, find the shortest route or visit every square of the board.
Questions
Can I play against the computer?
Yes — the board games (Tafl, Bagh Chal, Lambs and Tigers, Nim) let you play either side against the computer, or against a friend on the same screen.
Do the brain teasers have hints?
Yes. The one-move-at-a-time puzzles have hints and can show the shortest solution.
Everything else: all puzzles A–Z · how to play every puzzle · maths puzzles for kids · puzzles for the classroom.