How to Solve Zip Puzzles: 8 Path Puzzle Tips

Path puzzles look like they're solved with your finger, but they're really solved with your eyes. The fastest players don't draw quickly; they spend the first few seconds reading the board, then draw the whole line in one smooth move. This guide teaches you what to look for. Everything here works for LinkedIn's Zip and for Trail, our free daily path puzzle, since they share the same rules.

The rules in one paragraph

Start on the 1. Draw a single line through every cell of the grid, moving up, down, left or right, never diagonally. The line must pass the numbered stops in order (1, 2, 3 and so on) and end on the highest number. It can't cross a wall and can't visit a cell twice. Every board has exactly one solution, which means that if you're careful, you never have to guess.

Tip 1: Count each cell's open neighbours

This is the foundation of everything else. A cell in the middle of the grid has four neighbours. A cell on an edge has three, and a corner has two. Each wall next to a cell removes one more.

Now think about what the line does in each cell. Apart from the start and the end, the line enters every cell once and leaves once, so it uses exactly two of that cell's open neighbours. If a cell has only two open neighbours, both connections are forced. You can draw those two short segments in your head before you touch the board.

Tip 2: Corners and walled pockets come first

Corners are the obvious case of Tip 1: two neighbours, two forced connections, as long as the corner isn't the start or the end. Walls create more of these. A wall that runs along the side of an edge cell leaves it with two exits, and a cell boxed in by two walls in the middle of the board is just as constrained.

Make a habit of sweeping the board for these cells before your first move. On many boards they lock in a third of the line before any real thinking is needed.

Tip 3: Never leave a dead end

A dead end is an empty cell that has only one open neighbour left that the line could still use to reach it. The line could enter it but never leave, so it can only be the very last cell, the one with the final number. If you spot a dead end that isn't the final stop, your current line is wrong: undo until the problem disappears.

The flip side is useful too. When you're deciding between two moves, check whether one of them would create a dead end. If it would, the other move is the right one.

Tip 4: Never split the board

If your line ever cuts the empty cells into two separate groups, one of those groups will be left unvisited, because the line can't jump. Before committing to a move along a narrow corridor, ask: "If I go this way, can I still get back to everything on the other side?"

This is the most common reason beginners get stuck at 90% complete with a little island of cells they can't reach. Good players spot the danger several moves earlier.

Tip 5: Use the gaps between stops

The numbers tell you more than the order. Compare how far apart two consecutive stops are on the board with how many cells there are to fill.

If stop 3 and stop 4 are neighbours, but there's a big empty area next to them, the line probably can't go straight from 3 to 4. Something has to fill that area, and often it's the stretch between those two stops. Conversely, a long empty stretch between two stops that are far apart can usually be drawn quite directly. Reading these gaps tells you where the line has to take a detour.

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Tip 6: The checkerboard parity trick

This one feels like magic the first time it works. Imagine the grid coloured like a chessboard. Every move goes from one colour to the other, so the line alternates colours: black, white, black, white.

That gives you two useful facts:

• The ends of the line. On a board with an even number of cells, such as 6×6 (36 cells), the line uses 18 of each colour, so the start and the end are on opposite colours. On an odd board such as 7×7 (49 cells), one colour has 25 cells and the other 24, so the line must start and end on the colour with 25.
• The steps between stops. If two consecutive stops are on the same colour, the number of steps between them must be even. If they're on different colours, it must be odd. When you're unsure whether a detour fits, this quickly tells you whether the count can work.

You won't need parity on every board, but on the hard ones it often breaks the deadlock.

Tip 7: Work from both ends

You don't have to draw the line in order. The start, the final stop and every numbered stop in between are fixed points, and the cells around them are often just as constrained as corners. Figure out how the line must leave stop 5 and how it must arrive at stop 6, and you've shrunk the problem from both directions.

In Trail you still draw from the 1 onwards, but you can plan any part of the route in your head first. Many good solves begin by mentally fixing the last few cells before the first drag.

Tip 8: Back up early, not late

When something feels off, undo right away. In Trail you can drag back along the line to remove steps, or tap any cell on the line to cut it back to that point. Backing up three moves costs a second; finishing a doomed line and starting over costs a minute.

A good routine when you're stuck: cut the line back to the last numbered stop, re-scan the board for forced cells (Tips 1 to 3), and try again from there.

Common mistakes to avoid

Even experienced players fall into the same traps. Watch out for these:

• Hugging the walls by habit. Running the line along the edge of the board feels safe, but it often leaves a strip of cells one row in that can no longer be reached. Check the cells beside your line, not just in front of it.
• Rushing to the next number. It's tempting to head straight for the next stop. Remember the line has to fill everything, so a direct route often strands cells that should have been visited on the way.
• Forgetting the walls are two-sided. A wall blocks movement in both directions. It's easy to remember it when you approach it, and forget it when the line comes back from the other side later.
• Ignoring the final number. The last stop must be the very last cell. If your line passes next to it with lots of the board still empty, make sure you'll be able to come back to it at the end.

A solving routine that works

Put together, here's how strong players approach a new board:

1. 1Sweep for forced cells: corners, walled cells and anything with two open neighbours.
2. 2Note where the line must start and end, and check parity if the board is large.
3. 3Read the gaps between stops to find the detours.
4. 4Draw, checking for dead ends and split regions as you go.
5. 5If stuck, cut back to the last stop and re-scan.

Practise on paper

Path puzzles are surprisingly good on paper: you can sketch the forced corners first and draw the line in pencil. Our free printable pack has 12 Trail puzzles (six 6×6, six 7×7) with the rules and every solution.

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Practise without waiting for tomorrow

The fastest way to get better is volume. Trail's practice mode generates a new board every time you ask, each one checked by a solver to have exactly one solution, so you can try these tips ten times in a row instead of once a day. Start with Normal (6×6, nine stops), then move to Hard (7×7, fewer stops), where Tips 5 and 6 really start to pay off.

If you're looking for a free, no-account version of Zip, our LinkedIn Zip alternative guide explains how Trail compares. And if you enjoy reasoning about grids, try Plots next, a rectangle-splitting puzzle with its own solving guide.