How to play Box Pusher: rules and strategy

Box Pusher puzzles are short, but every push counts. A box pushed into the wrong square can make a level impossible. These ideas help you spot trouble before it happens.

The rules

You’re the warehouse keeper. Walk around one square at a time and push every box onto a target. You can only push a box by walking into it, you can never pull, and you can only push one box at a time: not into a wall, and not into another box. When every target is covered, the level is solved.

Dead squares

A dead square is one where a box can never be moved to a target again. Learn to see them:

• Corners. A box in a corner can never move. Unless that corner is a target, the level is now lost.
• Walls with no target. A box pushed against a wall can only slide along that wall. If there’s no target along it, the box is stuck for good.
• Two boxes side by side against a wall. Neither can be pushed away from the wall.
• Four in a square. Four boxes (or boxes and walls) in a 2×2 block can’t move.

Plan the order

Fill the targets that are hardest to reach first, usually the ones furthest from the open space. A box sitting on a near target can block the path to the far ones.

Think about where you’ll stand

To push a box left, you have to stand on its right. Before pushing a box somewhere, check that you’ll be able to get behind it for the next push.

Use undo freely

Box Pusher is a puzzle of experiments. Undo steps back one move at a time, and Restart puts the whole level back. Once you’ve solved a level, try again to match the fewest pushes shown at the end.