Hashi
Build bridges between islands to match every number.
How to play Hashi
Each numbered island must connect to others with exactly that many bridges. Drag between two islands to lay a bridge (up to two between any pair); bridges run only straight across or down and may never cross. When every island has its exact count and the whole network is connected, the puzzle is solved.
Find the islands that force themselves
Hashi rewards you for spotting the islands that can only be solved one way, then building out from them. Any pair of islands can carry at most two bridges between them, and bridges run in the four straight directions only. Do the arithmetic and some islands have no choices at all. A corner island can see at most two neighbours, so a corner 4 must run double bridges to both. An edge island tops out at three neighbours, so an edge 6 is forced: two bridges each way. And an 8 in open ground needs the maximum in all four directions. Lay those bridges first. They're free, and everything else tightens around them.
The one-short trick
The next tool covers islands one below those maximums. Take a 7 in open ground. Its four neighbours could carry two bridges each, which is 8 in total. Skip any single direction entirely and the other three supply at most 6, one too few. So a 7 must send at least one bridge every way. The same logic hands a corner 3 at least one bridge to each of its two neighbours, and an edge 5 at least one in all three directions. You don't yet know where the second bridges go, but the first ones are certain, and in Hashi certain bridges are the currency.
Small versions of the same count carry the middle game. A 3 that can only see two neighbours must send at least one bridge to each, because two is the cap on any single link. String little deductions like that together and most boards unravel without a single guess.
A corner, worked through
Say the top-left island is a 3, with a neighbour to the right and a 1 below. The one-short trick says the 3 sends at least one bridge each way. But the 1 below can only ever hold a single bridge, so the downward link is exactly one, and the remaining two bridges must both run right. Three bridges placed by pure counting. Check it yourself: one down plus two right makes three, and no other split obeys the caps. Now the right-hand island has two of its total spoken for, and whatever that does to its own arithmetic is your next move. Hashi is this over and over: each placed bridge changes a neighbour's math, and the map solves in ripples.
Don't seal off an island
The rule that turns Hashi from arithmetic into a real puzzle is connectivity: when you finish, every island must reach every other through the bridge network. That outlaws some tempting moves. Two 1-islands sitting side by side look like an easy pair, but joining them satisfies both numbers while walling the pair off from the world, which the rules forbid unless those two are the entire puzzle. The same trap wears a second suit: two 2-islands joined by a double bridge. Full, satisfied, and stranded. Ban both plays on sight. A good habit for the middle game: before laying any bridge that completes both of its islands at once, pause and check that the pair still has an open door somewhere else in the network.
- Bridges may never cross, so every span you lay is also a wall. Check what routes it closes before you draw it.
- Start from the big numbers; they have the fewest legal layouts.
- When an island reaches its number, mentally cross it off. Full islands are walls too: no new bridge may land there.
- Near the end, look at the whole map as one network. If it's drifting toward two separate clumps, the last bridges must be the ones that marry them.
Build bridges, says the name
Hashi is short for Hashiwokakero, which roughly means build bridges in Japanese. It comes from Nikoli, the Tokyo puzzle magazine that made Sudoku famous, and it first appeared in their pages in 1990. English collections often sell it as plain Bridges. Part of its charm is how visual it is. A number grid fills in; Hashi draws itself. You watch a little archipelago knit together span by span, and when the last island joins the network the whole map suddenly reads as one thing. Nikoli puzzles are famous for needing no arithmetic beyond counting and no luck at all, and this one might be the family's best argument.
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Hashi: frequently asked questions
How many bridges between two islands?
At most two, and they can never cross another bridge.
What does the number mean?
The total number of bridges that must touch that island.
How many bridges can connect two islands?
At most two. A single pair of islands can share one bridge or two, but never three, so an island with a high number has to spread its bridges across several different neighbours rather than piling them onto one.
What does the number on an island mean?
It's the exact total of bridges that must touch that island. An island marked 3 finishes with three bridges connecting it to its neighbours (no more, no fewer), which is the main constraint you're solving around.
Why can't I just connect two islands to complete their numbers?
Because every island has to end up part of one connected network. Joining two islands only to each other can satisfy their counts while cutting them off from the rest of the board, and an isolated group like that breaks the connectivity rule.
Can bridges cross each other?
No. Bridges run only horizontally or vertically and may never cross another bridge or pass over an island. That's why placing one bridge frequently blocks a route you were counting on elsewhere, so order matters.
Where is the best place to start a Hashi puzzle?
With the islands whose numbers force their bridges: a 4 in a corner, a 6 on an edge, an 8 in the middle, or any high number hemmed in by few neighbours. Those give certain bridges you can lay without guessing, and everything else follows from them.
What does Hashi mean?
It's short for Hashiwokakero, roughly build bridges in Japanese. The puzzle was first published in 1990 by Nikoli, the Tokyo magazine behind Sudoku's rise, and English puzzle books often just call it Bridges.
Is Hashi free to play?
Yes. Hashi is completely free on Inkplay, with no download, no sign-up, and no in-game purchases. Open the page and play instantly on desktop or mobile.
Can I play Hashi unblocked?
Yes. Hashi runs entirely in your browser with no download, install, or plugins, so it loads instantly and keeps working even on school or work networks where bigger game sites get blocked.
More games to play
In the mood for more? Try 2048, Memory Match, Lights Out, Minesweeper, or browse all puzzle games and the full games list on Inkplay. Hashi also appears in Logic Puzzles.