How to Start

The puzzle starts with two pieces in place at the edge of the puzzle. Your aim is to fill in some of the puzzle squares to create one continuous piece of track so that a train can travel from one edge square to the other. There are horizontal and vertical number clues showing how many pieces of track appear in each row or column.

It’s useful to put in an x if you are sure there is no track in that square. And there is an eraser to rub out mistakes. If you put in a piece that doesn’t make sense it will appear with a red background which means it needs checking.

Strategy

Look at the numbers. With a high number this does not usually mean there is one straight length of track running along the row or down the column. The number 2 shows the track turns back on itself; the number 3 hints that there one curved track turning into the line, one straight track then and a curved track going out of the line. The number 1 means there is just one straight piece of track crossing the row or column. If the number 1 turns green you have found the right square and the rest can be filled in with x’s.

As a start working from the start or finish squares you need lay tracks towards the columns and rows with the higher number of tracks in them. Watch out for putting too many tracks in a row or column but the numbers turn red to warn you and don’t be worried if you need to take up tracks and try another route. This usually happens quite a few times before you solve the puzzle! Sometimes you need to Restart and head in a different direction.

These original puzzles are displayed using a simplified version of the javascript engine courtesy of puzzlemadness.co.uk website which has an extensive range of puzzles for you to enjoy.

History

I believe the idea comes from Philipp Hübner and his son Valentin, an Austrian team specialising in creating logical puzzles for newspapers and magazines. Their puzzle wesite is puzzlephil.com

Solution

I’m sure you won’t need it but here is the solution to the Simple puzzle: