Can I play 3 by 3, 4 by 4, and 5 by 5 sliding puzzles?

Yes. Choose a 3 by 3 board for a quick warm-up, the classic 4 by 4 15 Puzzle, or a more difficult 5 by 5 board.

Can I play the 15 Puzzle on a phone?

Yes. The board is responsive and touch friendly, and the controls stay outside the play area to reduce accidental taps.

Free browser puzzle

Play 15 Puzzle Online.
Free, fast, solvable.

Play the classic sliding number game on a 3×3, 4×4, or 5×5 board. Every puzzle is solvable, every move counts, and no account is required.

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Tap a neighboring tile or use arrow keys. Your best time stays on this device.

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Board

The rules

How to play 15 Puzzle

Find the gap

Only a tile directly beside the empty square can move. Tap it to slide it into the gap.

Build in layers

Arrange the top row first, then work downward without disturbing completed rows.

Finish in order

Win when tiles read 1 through 15 from left to right, with the empty square last.

Pick your challenge

Play 3×3, classic 4×4, or 5×5.

The standard 15 Puzzle uses a 4×4 board with fifteen numbered tiles. Smaller and larger boards use the same sliding rule, so you can learn quickly and increase the difficulty without changing games.

3×3

Quick sliding puzzle

Eight tiles make this the fastest board for learning legal moves and planning around the empty square.

4×4

The classic 15 Puzzle

Arrange tiles 1 through 15 in the original format and compare your time, moves, and tiles per second.

5×5

A harder number puzzle

Twenty-four tiles create longer solves and reward careful layer-by-layer planning.

A better solve

Speed comes from structure,
not frantic tapping.

Lock the first row, then the second. Solve the lower-left section before rotating the final tiles into place. A short plan beats dozens of corrections.

Use corners as temporary parking spaces.
Never finish tile 3 before positioning tile 4.
Watch the empty square—the numbers follow it.

100% solvable boards

Boards are generated by legal moves from a completed puzzle, so no run ends in an impossible state.

Quick answers

15 Puzzle FAQ

What is the 15 Puzzle?

It is a 4×4 sliding puzzle containing tiles numbered 1 to 15 and one empty space. The goal is to restore numerical order by sliding tiles.

Is every puzzle on this site solvable?

Yes. Each board begins solved and is scrambled through valid moves, which preserves solvability.

What is a good number of moves?

It depends on the scramble. First aim for a consistent solve, then compare your move count and time across daily boards.

Can I play on a phone?

Yes. The board is touch-friendly, responsive, and keeps controls outside the play area to prevent accidental taps.

Can I play 3×3, 4×4, and 5×5 sliding puzzles?

Yes. Use 3×3 for a quick warm-up, 4×4 for the classic 15 Puzzle, or 5×5 for a longer challenge. Local statistics are kept separately for each size.

Why are some 15 Puzzle arrangements impossible?

Random tile orders can have the wrong inversion parity and cannot be solved by legal slides. This site avoids that problem by scrambling a completed board with valid moves.