Rules and beginner tips
How to Play Sokoban
Push every box onto a target. You can push, but never pull. Learn the rules, recognise traps, and plan a route that leaves room for your next push.
The Sokoban rules
- Move the player up, down, left, or right. Walls cannot be crossed.
- Stand next to a box and move toward it to push it onto the empty square beyond.
- Push one box at a time. Two boxes in a row block a push.
- You cannot pull a box. You need room to stand behind it for every new pushing direction.
- Finish when every box is on a target. Puzzle Push draws boxes as barrels.
Keyboard and touch controls
| Action | Control |
|---|---|
| Move or push | Arrow keys, WASD, or the on-screen direction pad |
| Undo in Practice | Undo button, U, or Ctrl/Command + Z |
| One-step hint | Hint button or H during a Practice run |
| Restart or study | Reset restarts the board. Solution demonstrates a route from the beginning. |
Undo restores the previous board, but the timer keeps running and undone moves stay in your move total. Official Daily Challenge and Battle runs use your own moves without Undo, Hint, or Solution.
Avoid corner deadlocks
A box in a corner with no target cannot be recovered. The two walls prevent you from standing behind it to push away from either wall. A corner containing a target can be a good final destination, but check which box should go there.
Check the square beyond the box
On this lesson board, a leftward push traps the barrel in a non-target corner. The interactive lesson lets you make that mistake, undo it, and find the safe route.
Wall traps can be longer than one square. If a box reaches a wall row with no reachable target, you may lose the pushing side needed to move it back.
Plan box order and leave turning space
- Look at the targets first. For each one, identify where the player must stand for the final push.
- Check the route to that pushing square. A placed box may block a corridor another box still needs.
- Use temporary parking only when you can reach a side that lets you recover the box.
- Move a box off a target when it opens a route. A filled target does not make the box immovable.
What to do when you get stuck
Undo the last push and try a different approach. In Practice, Hint suggests one next move from your current position. If the search reaches its limits, that does not prove the board is impossible. Undo another push or study the full Solution from the starting board.
A replay is most useful when you pause before a push and ask where the player goes next. The guided pages explain these turning points. Replays show valid routes and do not promise the fewest moves or count as your manual clears.
Choose a guided Sokoban level