Hashi Puzzle Game: Play Hashi Bridges Free Online

Home » Play Games » Hashi

In this guide

• How to play Hashi — the four rules, explained simply
• Controls — drag or tap, on phone and PC
• The one-network rule — the twist that decides games
• Difficulty tiers — Starter 7×7 to Expert 13×13
• The Daily Hashi — one fresh puzzle a day, with a streak
• Stars, Check and hints — how scoring works
• 7 tips to solve Hashi faster — real solving technique
• Hashi FAQ — quick answers

How to play Hashi

Hashi looks quiet, but it is a pure logic puzzle with a strict little rulebook. Every circle on the board is an island, and the number inside it is a promise: that island must end the puzzle holding exactly that many bridge ends. A bridge is a straight line that joins two islands. One bridge counts once for each of its two islands; a double bridge counts twice. Your job is to place bridges until every island's promise is kept — and the whole map hangs together as one network.

Rule 1 — bridges run straight, between neighbours. A bridge always runs horizontally or vertically along a row or column, and it can only join two islands that have no other island between them. You cannot skip over an island, bend a bridge, or run one diagonally.

Rule 2 — at most two bridges join the same pair. Two islands can be linked by a single bridge or a double bridge, never a triple. In this game you cycle a pair with each action: one drag or tap-pair adds a bridge, a second action makes it double, and a third clears the pair completely, so fixing a mistake is always one or two taps away. One safety detail: if a double bridge cannot fit because an island is already full, that second action clears the pair instead — a bridge can never get stuck on the board.

Rule 3 — bridges never cross. If a bridge already runs across a square, no second bridge may pass through that square from the other direction. This single rule is what makes Hashi a puzzle instead of a drawing exercise: a bridge you place early can quietly block three bridges you need later, so every line has to earn its place.

Rule 4 — every island hits its number, and everything connects. When you think you are done, count again. Each island must hold exactly its number of bridge ends: one too few or one too many and the puzzle is not solved. And even with every number right, the bridges must join all the islands into one single network — no separate little groups allowed. The game checks both halves for you and tells you plainly if your numbers are right but your map is still split.

That is the whole game. No timer pressure unless you chase one, no luck, and — on this page — exactly one solution to every puzzle, so a stuck board always means a deduction you have not spotted yet, never a guess you are forced to make.

Controls: drag, or tap two islands

Building a bridge takes one gesture. Drag from one island toward the island you want to join, and let go on or near it — the game allows a generous margin, so a slightly wobbly drag still lands. Or tap two islands one after the other: the first tap selects an island (it lights up gold), the second builds the bridge. Repeat the same gesture on the same pair to upgrade to a double bridge, and once more to clear the pair — and if a double cannot fit because an island is full, that repeat clears the pair instead, so nothing can ever get stuck. Islands turn green the moment their number is exactly met, which makes the state of the whole board readable at a glance.

Action	Phone / tablet	PC / laptop
Build a bridge	Drag between two islands, or tap one island then the other	Drag with the mouse, or click one island then the other
Make it a double bridge	Drag or tap the same pair again	Drag or click the same pair again
Clear a pair	Drag or tap the pair a third time — or again, when a double cannot fit	Drag or click the pair a third time — or again, when a double cannot fit
Check your bridges	Tap the Check button	Click the Check button
Take a hint	Tap the Hint button	Click the Hint button
Start the puzzle over	Tap the Restart button	Click the Restart button

The game refuses illegal moves instead of letting you build on a broken board. Try to cross an existing bridge and it tells you the path is blocked. Try to add a bridge to an island that already has its full count and it tells you that too, so the count on every island is protected at all times. What the game never does is judge a legal bridge for being wrong — a bridge can follow every rule and still not belong to the solution. Finding those is what the free Check button is for.

The one-network rule: the twist that decides games

New players usually lose their first Hashi boards the same way: every island shows the right number, the board looks finished, and the game calmly explains that the bridges form separate groups. The numbers are only half the contract. The finished map must be one network, where you can walk from any island to any other island along bridges.

This rule changes how you should solve. A small closed loop in one corner — say four islands in a square, each happily holding two bridges to its neighbours — can satisfy four numbers while cutting those islands off from the world. If even one of those islands still needs a link to the rest of the map, the loop is a trap. Experienced players treat connectivity as a budget: islands in a corner have few escape routes, so at least one bridge out of every cluster must stay possible until the cluster is ready to join the mainland.

It also gives you a clean endgame check. When every number is met but the game says the map is split, find the smallest group and look at its islands' numbers again: one of them was supposed to spend a bridge leaving the group. The wrong bridge is almost always a double inside the group that should have been a single, freeing one bridge end to reach outward. Fix that, and the two groups merge.

Difficulty tiers: Starter to Expert

Forty set puzzles, ten in each of four sizes. Bigger boards do not just add islands — they add crossings that never happen, escape routes that almost work, and clusters that beg to close early. Start where the grid feels friendly and climb when a tier stops making you think.

Tier	Grid	Islands	Best for
Starter	7×7	9 islands	Learning the four rules and the one-network habit
Classic	9×9	13 islands	A relaxed daily-style solve of a few minutes
Tough	11×11	19 islands	Longer chains, more crossings to manage
Expert	13×13	26 islands	Patient solvers who want the full workout

Every tier earns the same stars: up to 3 per puzzle, 120 across the whole set. Stars are saved per puzzle on the puzzle list, so you can see at a glance which boards you solved cleanly and which ones cost you hints. If a puzzle defeats you, there is no penalty for leaving — your half-built bridges are saved exactly as you left them, and the puzzle restores itself when you come back.

The Daily Hashi

Alongside the set puzzles there is a Daily Hashi: one fresh 10×10 puzzle every day, with 15 islands, the same for every player in the world. It is generated on your own device from the date alone — no server, no download — so your phone and your PC show the identical board on the same day. Solve it and your streak grows; miss a day and the streak restarts, which is exactly the gentle pressure that turns a puzzle into a habit.

The Daily sits between Classic and Tough in difficulty: big enough to make you plan, small enough to finish with a coffee. You can replay it as often as you like — the streak counts the day once — and a Daily you leave half finished on the same day is restored when you return. Yesterday's puzzle is replaced at midnight your time.

Stars, Check and hints

Stars reward clean solving. Finish a set puzzle with no hints used and no wrong Checks and you earn 3 stars. Use at most one hint and at most one wrong Check and you still earn 2. Any other finish earns 1. The Daily pays streak days instead of stars.

Check is free and unlimited. Press it whenever you like: it counts the placed bridges that do not belong to the solution and tells you only the count, never which bridges are wrong. A Check that finds a wrong bridge is a "wrong Check" for the star rule; a clean Check costs nothing at all. Used well, Check is a compass — if it says two bridges are wrong, you know the area of the board you misread is small.

Hints place real progress. You get 3 per puzzle. A hint adds one bridge section that belongs to the solution — or, if a wrong bridge of yours is in the way, removes a wrong section first. Either way the board moves one true step closer to solved. Hints never mark a cell and walk away; they build.

7 tips to solve Hashi faster

1. Start with the 1s. An island numbered 1 has a single bridge to place, and it often has only one or two neighbours it can reach. A 1 in a corner or on an edge is the freest deduction on the board — take it, and watch what it forces next door.

2. Count neighbours before bridges. An island can only connect to the nearest island in each of its four directions. An island with a big number and few neighbours is heavily constrained: an 8 must double-bridge to all four neighbours, and a 7 doubles to three of them. Read those first and the board opens up.

3. Use the crossing rule as a wall. When you place a bridge, every potential bridge that would cross it dies. Sometimes that is the real value of a move: a single bridge across a busy square can settle four arguments at once. When stuck, look for a square where two possible bridges cross — one of them is forbidden, and whichever survives reshapes its whole neighbourhood.

4. Never close a group early. If a cluster of islands has all its numbers met but is not joined to the rest of the map, something inside is wrong — usually a double that should be a single, with the spared bridge owed to the outside. Keep one exit open for every cluster until you mean to close it.

5. Work the edges inward. Edge and corner islands have the fewest directions available, so their bridges are the most forced. Clearing the border first shrinks the board and gives the middle islands fewer, clearer choices.

6. Leave doubles for last. A single bridge keeps both options alive — it can still become a double, and its island can still spend its remaining count elsewhere. Upgrading every bridge the moment you place it spends numbers you may need for a neighbour. Place singles, satisfy the forced counts, then double where the numbers demand it.

7. Check with a purpose. Do not Check to fish. Check when you believe a whole region is right: a clean result locks that region in your mind, and a count of one or two wrong tells you the error is recent and local. It is the fastest way to shrink a 13×13 board back down to size.

Hashi FAQ

Is Hashi free to play?

Yes. Hashi is 100% free: the Daily and all 40 set puzzles are included. You play right on this page, with no download, no sign-up and no payment.

What are the rules of Hashi?

Join the numbered islands with bridges. Bridges run straight along rows and columns, only between islands with no island in between, and at most two bridges can join the same pair. Bridges never cross. Every island must end with exactly the number of bridges its number shows, and all islands must form one single connected network.

Does every Hashi puzzle here have exactly one solution?

Yes. Before a puzzle ships, our solver counts its solutions from the island numbers alone. A puzzle is used only when the count is exactly one, and the Daily is generated on your device with the same check. You never need to guess: there is always a logical path to the single solution.

What is the Daily Hashi?

The Daily Hashi is one fresh 10×10 puzzle per day, the same for every player, built from the date alone. Solve it to grow your daily streak. A new puzzle arrives at midnight your time, and yesterday's puzzle is replaced.

Do Check and hints cost anything?

Check is free and unlimited. It tells you how many placed bridges are wrong, never which ones. A Check that finds a wrong bridge counts against your stars. Hints add or fix one true bridge section, you get 3 per puzzle, and each hint used lowers the stars you can earn on that puzzle.

Does Hashi save my progress?

Yes, in your own browser. Stars, best times, your streak and solved Dailies save automatically, and a puzzle you leave half finished is restored exactly where you left it when you come back. Nothing leaves your device and there is no account to make.

A note on the name: the bridges puzzle was created and popularised in Japan by Nikoli under the name Hashiwokakero — Hashi for short, also known simply as Bridges. This page is an independent, unofficial GameOLL game: every puzzle here is original, generated by GameOLL's own software, and this site is not affiliated with Nikoli.

Last updated: November 8, 2026. Hashi v1.0 — the first release of our original bridges game, with a Daily Hashi, 40 set puzzles in four sizes, solver-proven single solutions, free Check, hints and star ratings. An original GameOLL browser game. Found a bug? Tell us in the comments and we will fix it in the next version.