How to play Letter Trail
The rules
- Five squares show letters. Start on the coloured letter.
- Draw one trail through neighbouring squares (not diagonally) that visits every square exactly once.
- You can’t cross a wall (a thick line between two squares).
- The trail ends on a letter.
- The letters, in the order the trail passes them, spell a hidden five-letter word.
Every puzzle has exactly one trail, and you reach it by logic, without guessing.
How to play here
- Drag: pull from the end of the trail. Pull back along the trail to erase. Pressing a square already on the trail cuts the trail back to it.
- Keyboard: the arrows extend the trail from its end. An arrow toward the previous square, or Backspace, removes the last step.
- Under the grid, five slots show the letters you have passed so far. A message tells you when the word is right but squares are left, or when every square is visited and the word is wrong.
- Undo takes back the last move, and a hint shows where to look.
Difficulty levels
| Level | Size | Words | What it takes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Easy | 5×5 | The most common | Tight squares and stretches |
| Medium | 6×6 | Common | Also: no loops |
| Hard | 6×6 | Common | Also: no loops, three times or more |
| Expert | 6×6 | Less common | Also: reach, or no loops five times or more |
Techniques
Find the word
The coloured letter is first, and the trail ends on a letter. Try the other four letters in different orders: usually only one order spells a word.
Tight square
A square in the middle of the trail joins two neighbours; the start and the end join one. A corner, or a square boxed in by walls, often decides the trail.
Stretches
Between two letters the trail is one stretch. Two squares that can’t be on the same stretch can’t be next to each other on the trail.
No loops
The trail never closes a loop. A link that would close one is not allowed.
Reach
For each stretch, check which squares it can reach without passing another letter. A square it can’t reach belongs to another stretch.
Tips
- Never leave a square stranded. A square with only one open neighbour left must be the end of the trail.
- Look at corners and walls first.
- When two orders spell a word, the walls decide which one has a trail.
FAQ
- Can more than one trail work?
- No. Every puzzle is checked before you see it: there is exactly one trail, even when the letters can spell more than one word.
- Which words are used?
- Common English words of five letters, with no letter twice in a word. Harder levels use less common words.
- Do diagonal moves count?
- No. The trail moves up, down or sideways, one square at a time.
- Is there a new puzzle every day?
- Yes. Each puzzle is built from the date, so every day brings a new board at each of the four levels: easy, medium, hard and expert. A word can come back on a later day, but on a different board. Earlier puzzles are in the archive.
- Do I need an account to play?
- No. You play right in your browser, with no sign-up and no cookies. Your progress is saved in your browser.