Ringtrace
Ringtrace is an original square-grid logic puzzle about deciding which cell edges belong to one closed loop. Each numbered cell tells you how many of its four surrounding edges must be selected, while the finished path must stay connected, closed, non-empty, and free of branches or separate loops. Daily gives one pinned UTC puzzle per date, while Practice offers Beginner, Easy, and Standard puzzles from the build-time-qualified v1 corpus. Players can draw edges, mark exclusions with X, Undo or Redo deductions, use a non-mutating public-rule Nudge and explanation, run a public-rule Check, and continue with mouse, touch, or keyboard controls.
How to play
Mark grid edges until every numbered cell has exactly that many selected sides and every selected segment belongs to one non-empty connected closed loop. A clue from 0 to 3 counts only the four edges around its cell; blank cells have no clue count. The finished path cannot have loose ends, branches, or separate loops. Click or tap an edge to cycle blank to line to X and back to blank. Keyboard players can move the edge cursor with the arrows, use Space or Enter to cycle, L to draw, X to exclude, and Delete or Backspace to clear. Undo and Redo restore deductions. Nudge highlights and explains a forced public-rule step without making the move; Check reports contradictions already implied by the visible board. Either assistance marks the run Assisted rather than Clean. Daily uses one pinned puzzle per UTC date and preserves an unfinished run across rollover. Practice offers Beginner, Easy, and Standard puzzles; the Hard profile is not a Practice selector in v1. A solved board stays visible for review before you continue.
Controls
Tips for this game
- Treat X marks as deductions, not decoration. When a clue has already received all of the line edges it needs, mark the remaining sides X; when enough sides are excluded that the rest must be lines, draw those forced edges. Around a used grid point, the final loop must enter and leave, so a vertex can have two selected edges but never one loose end or three-way branch in a solved board.
- Watch for a small loop closing too early. A group of selected edges can satisfy nearby clues yet still be wrong if it seals itself off while other selected or still-required edges remain elsewhere. Keep the global one-loop rule in mind together with the local clue counts; Ringtrace's public deduction system includes premature-loop and component-escape reasoning for exactly this situation.
- Use Nudge when you want the next public-rule deduction rather than an answer reveal. It highlights a forced step and Explain can expand the reason, while the board itself stays unchanged until you choose an edge. Check is different: it reports contradictions already implied by the visible state. Both forms of assistance are recorded, so Undo can change the board but does not turn an Assisted run back into a Clean one.
Common questions
What do the numbers 0, 1, 2, and 3 mean?
A number tells you exactly how many of that cell's four sides belong to the loop. The clue describes only those four surrounding edges. A blank cell has no clue count, although its edges still have to obey the vertex rules and the requirement that the final answer is one connected closed loop.
Can I finish with two closed loops if all the clues are correct?
No. Satisfying the numbered cells is necessary but not sufficient. Every selected edge must belong to the same non-empty connected closed loop. Separate loops, open paths, dead ends, and branches are rejected even when the local clue counts happen to match.
What does an X on an edge do?
X means you have ruled that edge out of the loop. It is a player annotation that helps record deductions; it is not another kind of line. Tap or click the same edge through blank, line, X, and back to blank, or use the keyboard shortcuts to set or clear the state directly.
Does Nudge solve the next edge for me, and when does the Daily puzzle change?
Nudge does not place an edge. It points to a forced deduction based on the public rules and can explain the reason, after which you still make the move. Using Nudge or Check marks the run Assisted. Daily is keyed to the UTC calendar, and an unfinished Daily is preserved rather than silently swapped out when the date changes.