About Zip
Zip is a free number-path puzzle for kids. A grid of empty squares has numbered dots dropped across it, and the job is to draw one unbroken line that begins at dot 1, touches the dots in order, and fills every single square on the way. The line moves between neighbouring squares only, never diagonally, and it cannot cross itself or double back over a square it has already used.
Those two rules together are what make it a thinking puzzle rather than a drawing one. Because every square has to be covered, a route that feels fine for the first ten squares can quietly leave a corner with no way in and no way out, and there is no fixing it from there — the line has to come back. Level 1 is a 4×4 grid with three dots, which a small child can solve by wandering. By the time the board is 6×6 the wandering stops working, which is the moment the game is built around. If you want the wider case for puzzles that ask a child to stop and look first, we wrote a guide to logic puzzles for kids.
How to play
- Put a finger on the dot marked 1.
- Drag to the next square — up, down, left or right.
- Reach the dots in order: 1, then 2, then 3.
- Drag backwards along your line to rub it out.
- Fill every square on the grid to finish the level.
Everything is done by dragging; there is nothing to tap and no Undo button to find. Backing up is the undo, which matters for a four-year-old who has not yet learned to look for controls at the edge of a screen. Try to reach a dot out of turn and it wobbles and refuses rather than letting the line through.
What it teaches
The skill is looking ahead before committing. A child can see the whole board from the first move, so every mistake in Zip was avoidable and was made anyway — which is a more useful kind of mistake than the ones caused by not having enough information. The second or third time she strands a corner, she starts checking the corners before she sets off. That check is the thing being learned.
It also makes undoing cheap, on purpose. Rubbing the line out costs nothing, and with no clock and no score there is no reason to protect a bad route once she can see it is bad. Children who are anxious about getting things wrong tend to relax with this one, because backing up is the same gesture as going forward. The single-stroke puzzle One Line asks for the same kind of planning with a different shape of board.
Frequently asked questions
What is Zip?
A free single-stroke path puzzle for kids. A small grid has numbered dots scattered across it, and your child draws one unbroken line that starts at 1, visits the dots in order, and covers every square on the board exactly once. It is the same shape of problem as the pencil puzzles where you may not lift the pencil, except the grid tells you immediately when a route will not work.
How do you play Zip?
Put a finger on the dot marked 1 and drag. The line follows from square to square, up, down, left and right but never diagonally, and it will not cross itself. To take back a wrong turn, drag backwards along the line you have already drawn and it rubs out behind you, one square at a time. The level is done when every square is filled and the last dot is reached in order.
What age is Zip for?
Best for ages 4 to 8. Level 1 is a 4×4 grid with only three numbered dots, which is small enough that a four-year-old can solve it by wandering. The grid grows to 5×5 by level 5 and 6×6 by level 13, and the number of dots climbs as it goes, so the point at which guessing stops working arrives gradually.
Can my child lose, or get a board that cannot be solved?
Neither. Every board is built by drawing a complete winning path first and then dropping the numbered dots along it, so a solution is guaranteed to exist before your child ever sees the puzzle. There is no timer, no score and no lives — a child can fill the grid wrongly, rub it all out and start the same board again as many times as she likes.
What happens if my child goes to a dot in the wrong order?
The dot wobbles and the line refuses to go there. Nothing is deducted and no attempt is used up, because there is nothing to deduct — the game simply will not let the mistake happen. That immediate refusal is doing the teaching: it tells her the order matters at the moment she tries to break it, rather than at the end when the board is already ruined.
Is there a timer in Zip?
No. The whole skill is the pause before the finger moves, and a countdown would replace it with hurrying. A child who stops to look at which corner she is about to strand is doing exactly the thing the puzzle is for, and we did not want to punish her for taking a moment over it.
How many levels does Zip have?
Levels keep arriving — the game generates a new board rather than running out. The difficulty does stop climbing, though, and it is worth knowing where: the grid reaches its largest size of 8×8 with seven numbered dots at level 31, and every level after that is a fresh board at that same size. So level 200 is a new puzzle, but it is not a harder one than level 31.
Does Zip save my child's progress?
Yes, on the device. The level she has reached is stored in the browser, along with the particular board she is on, so closing the tab in the middle of level 12 and coming back later gives her the same level 12 puzzle rather than a new one. Choosing Start over from the pause menu clears all of it and begins again at level 1.
Is Zip free? Any ads or sign-up?
Yes, completely free, with no ads, no account and no sign-up. It runs in any browser and can be added to the home screen like an app. Progress is saved on the device and stays there. Like most websites we count basic traffic — which page was opened, and when — but there is no sign-in and nothing is tied to a child.
Want more puzzles that make a child stop and think? Read the logic puzzles guide, try the single-stroke puzzle One Line, or see the list of what each game teaches.