The rules of hidato
Hidato is a number-path puzzle invented by Gyora Benedek. Fill the grid with the consecutive numbers 1 through N — N is the total number of cells — so that each number sits in a cell next to the previous number, and every cell is used exactly once. The start (1) and the end (N) are always given as clues. Every puzzle has exactly one solution.
The five rules
- Fill every blank cell with a number from 1 to N, where N is the total number of cells.
- Every number from 1 to N is used exactly once.
- Each number must sit in a cell next to the previous number — along a side or diagonally (all eight surrounding cells count).
- The start (1) and the end (N) are always given as clues.
- There is exactly one solution, reachable by logic.
How to read the grid
The grid is a snaking path of consecutive numbers: 1, 2, 3 … all the way up to N, where N is simply the number of cells in the grid. The numbers already filled in are your anchors — the rest of the path has to thread through them in order.
What "next to" means
Consecutive numbers must sit in cells that touch at a corner or along a side — all eight surrounding cells count as "next to". So the number 15 can sit above, below, left, right, or in any of the four diagonal corners around the number 14. This diagonal freedom is what makes hidato feel different from a plain number maze.
One more thing: every cell is used
The path never skips a cell: every square of the grid receives exactly one number, and the numbers run in order from 1 to N. No cell is left empty and no number is repeated — the path fills the entire grid.