Box Pusher is a grid puzzle where the only verb is push. Your mover shoves a crate one square in the direction it is already walking — it can never pull, and it can never move two crates that are touching. There are 16 levels across four tiers, from teaching to hard, and the crate count climbs from 1 to 4. Every level's minimum push count, its par, was proved by exhaustive search rather than estimated, so the efficiency bonus on the summary sheet is a target you can actually aim at. The board is at most 9 columns by 7 rows and always fits on one screen, so you can read the whole route before you commit to it. Undo is unlimited and does not count as a move, which makes walking somewhere to look at it a free action. And when a crate goes somewhere it can never come back from, that crate turns red and grows a lock right then — with an undo and a restart offered next to the warning — instead of leaving you to discover fifteen moves later that the level was already lost. On a keyboard the arrows or WASD walk and push, Z undoes one step, and clicking open floor sends the mover there; on a phone five keys push and tapping open floor walks you there, so one thumb is enough.

The shared computer in the school lab, where the ten minutes between classes were only ever enough for one level; the little stool after homework, nudging crates home one square at a time. What made this puzzle easy to love was that it never hurried you — no countdown, no lives, and taking your hands off the keyboard to stare at the board was a legitimate move. The one thing that made you thump the desk was wedging a crate into a corner with no way back. So this version draws that risk on the floor before you step on it, and puts an unlimited way back next to your thumb.

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【电】 School and home computers · 1993–2003 →

1. 01

   Tap the stage once to start. Nothing on the board moves — the tap only wakes the level up.

2. 02

   Press a direction to walk one square. Walk into a crate and it gives way one square the same direction; it will not move if a wall or another crate is behind it.

3. 03

   Tap open floor and the mover walks there along the shortest route without touching a single crate. Tap again, or press any direction, and it stops on the square it is standing on.

4. 04

   Made a mistake? Press Undo at the left end of the control row. Undo is unlimited, does not count as a move, and takes you and the crate back together.

5. 05

   A crate on every socket clears the level, and the summary shows moves, pushes, par, undos, this run's score and your best on this level side by side.

6. 06

   Need to stop? Press pause in the top bar, or Esc or P. From there you can read the rules, pick any level you have opened, or restart this one — which asks a second time first.

Read the floor before you move. The squares against the walls carry a square dent: a crate pushed onto one can never come back out. Trace that ring once at the start and you know which routes are one-way. Scout with taps. Walking somewhere touches no crates at all, so checking whether a position can actually push is faster done than imagined — and if it was wrong, one undo puts it back. Think about order before you push. When one crate blocks another's only route, which one you move first decides whether the level is solvable at all; every level from the third tier up is built around that. Leave crates where two directions are still open. A crate against a wall has one direction left; a crate in a corner has none. Four crates packed into a two-by-two block hold each other still, and if one of them is off its socket the level can no longer be solved — so do not let crates bunch up while you ferry them. Chase pushes, not moves, if you want the full bonus. Walking is free and undo is free; the score only looks at seated crates and push count. The par on the summary is the exhaustively proved minimum, so it is a number you can genuinely reach. Clear the level first, then come back and shave pushes.

How do you play Box Pusher, and what are the rules?

The goal is to get every crate onto a socket. The mover walks one square at a time, and walking into a crate shoves it one square the same direction. It can only push, never pull, and only one crate at a time — two crates touching will not move. A wall ahead, or a wall behind the crate, means the board simply does not move, and nothing is counted against you. A crate can be pushed back off a socket later, so sockets are not traps. Fill every socket and the level clears.

Why won't the crate move when I push it?

There are only three reasons: a wall ahead of you, a wall behind the crate, or a second crate behind the crate — one crate at a time is the rule, and pulling is never possible. In all three the board does not move a square and nothing is counted against you; walk around to the other side of the crate and push from there instead. The one other case is the 9999-move limit, where further movement is refused and the hint changes — still not a loss, and undo or restart carries on.

A crate is stuck in a corner — what now?

Press Undo at the left end of the control row. It is unlimited, it does not count as a move, and it takes the mover and the crate back together, so you never have to restart the whole level. This version also flags the problem the moment you create it: the crate turns red and grows a lock, and the hint offers both undo and restart, so you never spend fifteen moves discovering the level was already lost.

What is a deadlock in Box Pusher, and how do you spot one?

A deadlock is a board that still moves but can no longer be cleared, and this version marks it the instant it happens: the crates responsible turn red, grow a lock, and a line of text appears. It catches two kinds — a crate pushed onto a dead square, one no crate could ever be pulled back out of, and a group of crates frozen against each other. Dead squares carry a shape on the floor, not just a colour, from the second tier onward; the teaching tier is one-square-wide corridors where a deadlock is structurally impossible. The warning only promises that what it reports is really dead, not that it catches everything — when nothing will move, undo is always right.

How many levels does Box Pusher have, and how is difficulty ordered?

There are 16 levels in four tiers of 4. The crate count climbs from 1 to 2 up to 4, and the minimum push count climbs from 3 to 36; clearing a level opens the next, and any level you have opened can be replayed at any time. From the third tier onward the levels add a second layer of difficulty — push order. When one crate blocks another's only route, the order you move them in decides whether the level can be solved at all.

Any tips for solving the harder Box Pusher levels?

One rule carries the rest: decide the push order before you touch anything. A crate against a wall has one direction left to push it, a crate in a corner has none, so leave crates where two directions are still open. Trace the dead-square marks on the floor at the start and you know which routes are one-way. To check whether a position can really push, walk there and look — walking touches no crates and one undo puts it back, which beats working it out in your head. And never let four crates bunch into a two-by-two block: they hold each other still, and if one is off its socket the level is already lost.

How is the score calculated, and what is par?

Each seated crate is 100 points. On clearing you also get an efficiency bonus: 300 times the level's par divided by the pushes you actually used, rounded. Par is that level's minimum push count, proved by searching every solution rather than estimated, so your push count can never come in under it — and matching it exactly takes the whole 300. Walking and undoing cost nothing, so raising your score means using fewer pushes, not fewer moves. A four-crate level caps at 700.

What are the keyboard controls, and how does it work on a phone?

On a keyboard, the arrows or WASD walk and push, Z undoes a step, R restarts the level, Esc or P pauses, and clicking open floor sends the mover there on its own. On a phone there is nothing to swipe: the bottom row is Undo plus five keys — four directions that each push one square, and a Stop key on the right that cancels a walk in progress. You can also just tap open floor. The board sits above the controls, so a thumb on the keys never covers it.