Arrow Puzzle Strategy: 8 Techniques for Hard Levels

Every arrow puzzle can be solved, and no move can ruin a level. What makes a board hard is finding the next free arrow among dozens of blocked ones. These eight techniques make that search fast.

1. Start at the edges

An arrow whose head sits on the outer ring and points out of the board has nothing in front of it, so it can always leave. On a new board, sweep the four edges first and tap every arrow pointing outward. Each one you remove can open a line for an arrow further in.

Green: on the edge, pointing out, always free. Red: its line runs into the top arrow.

2. Scan lines, not arrows

Checking arrows one by one is slow. Instead, look for rows and columns that are empty between an arrow head and the edge. Any arrow pointing down an empty line is free, however crowded the rest of the board is.

The second row is empty ahead of the green arrow, so it flies. The red arrow's row ends at another arrow.

3. Ignore the body

Long, winding arrows look like they should get stuck, but the body simply follows the head along its own path. Only the cells in front of the head decide whether an arrow can leave, so judge every arrow by its head and nothing else.

The green arrow winds through five cells, but the one cell in front of its head is empty: it is free.

4. Follow blocking chains backwards

When an arrow you want is blocked, look at what blocks it, then at what blocks that one, until you reach an arrow that is free. Clear the chain from that end. On hard boards most of the work is reading these chains.

The left arrow waits for the middle one, which waits for the top one. Clear it from the end: top, middle, left.

5. Clear the outside to open the middle

The centre of a crowded board is boxed in on all sides. Every arrow that leaves from the outside opens lines into the middle, so work from the outer rings inward instead of staring at the centre.

6. Any free arrow is a safe move

Removing an arrow only ever empties cells. An arrow that is free stays free, and blocked arrows can only become free. That means there is no wrong order in an arrow puzzle: if the level has a solution, tapping any free arrow keeps it solvable. Every level on this site is checked by our solver before it is published, so you can tap with confidence.

7. Use hints and undo to learn

A miss costs nothing but a number on the results screen. Hint highlights one arrow that can move right now; Undo puts the last arrow back. Use them to test an idea, then try the next level without them.

8. Plan spike levels round by round

Spike levels (marked with a flame) are much harder than the levels around them. A good way to measure that is in rounds: remove every free arrow at once, count one round, and repeat until the board is empty. Spike levels on this site take 8.5 rounds on average, against 4.2 for the other levels after level 1. Level 2, the first spike, has 20 arrows, only 9 of them free at the start, and needs 10 rounds. On these boards, clear everything that is free, then look again: each round opens new lines.

Ready to try? Start with level 1, or jump straight to the first spike, level 2. The full list of spikes is levels 2, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30.