Klotski rules and strategy
Klotski has only ten blocks and two gaps, so the rules take a minute to learn — but playing it well does not. This guide goes in order: rules, controls, then tactics.
How to play
- 1
Read the board
The board is 4 columns by 5 rows. Cao Cao covers 2×2, Guan Yu 2×1, each of Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, Ma Chao and Huang Zhong covers 1×2, and four soldiers cover one cell each. Two cells are always empty.
- 2
Slide a block
Press a block and drag it toward the empty space; it snaps to the grid on release. Blocks cannot move diagonally or pass through each other.
- 3
Send Cao Cao out
Move Cao Cao onto the exit at the middle of the bottom row. Moves are counted per cell, so dragging two cells costs two moves.
Tactics that work
- Start from the exit: whether you can free the two cells above it decides the path of every later move.
- Send soldiers first: they occupy one cell and turn freely, which is cheaper than shifting a general.
- Keep vertical generals off the side walls — pinned there they can only move up and down, and you lose mobility fast.
- Keep the gaps together: scattered empty cells rarely buy a useful move.
Difficulty order of the 10 levels
Level 1 needs just 4 moves and teaches the drag. From level 5 you need to plan 40+ moves, and level 10 is the classic Hengdao Lima at a 116-move par. Play them in order — the shuffling habits you build early are exactly what the last level punishes.
Origins
Klotski retells an episode from Romance of the Three Kingdoms: Cao Cao, fleeing through the Huarong trail, is let go by Guan Yu out of old loyalty. Later puzzle makers turned that scene into a sliding-block board, and dozens of classic layouts such as Hengdao Lima have been catalogued since.