Daily Train Tracks Puzzle

The weekly rhythm

The daily puzzle changes at midnight US Eastern time. Every one has exactly one solution and can be solved by logic. If you miss a day you can still play it below, though only same-day solves count towards your streak.

Why the week gets harder

The rhythm is there so the puzzle teaches as it goes. Monday and Tuesday warm you up with counting moves on a small grid. Wednesday to Friday add length, so you have to join several pieces of track without closing the route too early, and some days need the parity rule. The weekend grids open with very little help and may need one short “what if” test, where you assume a square is empty and see whether that breaks a rule.

If Saturday’s puzzle stops you, that is normal. Go back to Thursday or Friday in the archive, solve it slowly and notice which move unlocked it. The same moves appear again on the bigger grid, only further apart.

Getting unstuck on the daily

• Start with the extremes: rows and columns marked 0, the full width, or 1.
• Mark empty squares as soon as you know them. An empty square often forces the track next to it.
• Before you join two loose ends, check that every row and column the route still owes squares to can still be reached.
• Still stuck? The strategy guide explains each technique step by step, and the rules page has a full worked puzzle.

Prefer paper? The printable puzzles come in all four sizes, with answers.