Hex-a-Hop Solver
How to use the hex-a-hop solver
Tap the places on the board to put tiles in or take them out, so the board matches yours. Press Start and tap the tile you begin on. Press Solve: the solver numbers every tile in the order you should stand on it, and you can step through the hops or press Play to watch the tiles sink one by one.
The rules of hex-a-hop
You stand on a tile of a board made of hexagons. Each turn you hop to a tile beside you, and the tile you leave sinks. The puzzle is solved when only the tile you are standing on is left, so every tile has to be visited exactly once. A route like this is what mathematicians call a Hamiltonian path.
How to solve hex-a-hop
Mind the dead ends. A tile with only one neighbour can only be your last tile, so a board with two of them, neither where you start, cannot be cleared. Do not split the board. A hop that cuts the remaining tiles into two groups strands one of them. Visit awkward tiles early. Going first to the tile with the fewest ways onward, as the solver does, keeps the easy tiles for later.
How it was checked
The solver was run on all 110 boards of the daily hex-a-hop and cleared every one, each route checked hop by hop. On boards that cannot be cleared it searches every order of hops and says so.
More puzzles
There is a new daily hex-a-hop every day. The knight's tour is the same kind of route on a chessboard, and the Zip solver draws one through a grid. For puzzles you hold in your hands, see our brain teasers. There are more solvers on the puzzle tools page.
Puzzles you can hold
More puzzles from the shop.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you solve hex-a-hop?
Visit every tile exactly once, hopping to a neighbour each time. Watch for tiles with only one neighbour, which can only be your last tile, and never hop so that the tiles left split into two groups.
What are the rules of hex-a-hop?
You hop from your hexagonal tile to one beside it, and the tile you leave sinks. The board is cleared when only the tile you stand on remains.
Can every hex-a-hop board be cleared?
No. A board with two dead-end tiles away from the start, or one that splits apart, cannot be. The solver searches every order of hops and says so when there is no route.