Sokoban is the box pushing puzzle in which a warehouse worker has to shove every crate onto a goal square, and the catch is that crates can be pushed but never pulled. This version has 445 levels from well-known published collections in seven worlds, plus six short tutorial levels. Every level shows its proven fewest pushes, and a crate turns red the instant a push makes the level impossible.
The name is Japanese for "warehouse keeper" (倉庫番), and the first commercial version came out in Japan in 1982.
You move the worker a square at a time in any of the four directions, and stepping into a crate shoves it one square ahead. You win as soon as all the crates are resting on goals. There is no timer and no limit on pushes or moves.
Goals are marked by a gem in the floor, one for each crate. A crate will not budge with a wall or another crate behind it, so two crates in a line cannot be pushed together. Because you cannot pull, a crate pressed against a wall can only slide along it until the wall ends. A crate already on a goal can be pushed off again, and some levels need exactly that to make room.
The game counts pushes, the squares a crate travels, and moves, every step the worker takes including pushes. Next to them the status line shows "best", the fewest pushes the level can be solved in.
Tap any floor square to send the worker there along the shortest path. Tap a crate and the worker goes around to a square behind it, then the cells it can reach in a straight line light up. Tap one to push the crate there. On a computer you can also drag a crate, or use the arrow keys or WASD with Z to undo, Y to redo, R to restart and H for a hint. On a phone, a swipe takes one step and holding keeps walking. Wide levels stand upright on narrow screens, and the controls turn with them.
Smart push, off by default in the settings, lights up every cell a selected crate can reach, even around corners, and the worker walks around to deliver it. It still counts as solving the level yourself.
Undo has no limit, and each press removes a push along with the walking that led to it. Holding Undo keeps stepping back, and even a restart can be undone. Switching to another level keeps your position on the one you left, for up to 30 levels.
A deadlock is any position from which the level can no longer be solved, and it usually comes from one careless push. After every push this game checks for the three most common kinds, turns the trapped crates red and warns that the level is now unwinnable and can be undone.
A wall with a goal on it is a different story. In tutorial level 3, both crates sit against the bottom wall with both goals on that same wall, so each slides two squares along it and the level takes four pushes. Crates on goals turn teal, so they are easy to tell from red ones.
Not necessarily. The red warning only appears when the game is certain, so it never gives a false alarm, but some deadlocks only show several pushes later, such as a crate parked across the only corridor another crate needs. If you suspect one, press Hint. It gives the next push when the level can still be finished and tells you plainly when it cannot.
Every level is open from the start, so you can jump anywhere through Levels, where solved levels get a tick and fewest-push solutions a star.
| World | Levels | Main collections | Median fewest pushes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Town Warehouse | 64 | Microban | 12 |
| Harbor Docks | 64 | Microban, with two Microcosmos levels | 36 |
| Snowy Hut | 64 | Microcosmos and Nabokosmos | 32 |
| Desert Temple | 64 | Nabokosmos and Picokosmos, then GRIGoRusha | about 50 |
| Jungle Ruins | 63 | GRIGoRusha | 65 |
| Underground Mine | 63 | GRIGoRusha | 96 |
| Star Observatory | 63 | GRIGoRusha, then 8 Sasquatch levels | 104 |
David W. Skinner made Microban and Sasquatch, Aymeric du Peloux the three Cosmos sets, and GRIGoRusha (Grigoriev) the rest, and every level is used unchanged. Microban's 126 levels keep their author's own order rather than being sorted by difficulty, while the GRIGoRusha levels run from easy to hard. The last worlds reach ten crates, and one level needs 186 pushes.
Your first visit starts with the six tutorial levels, small maps that each teach one idea, the first two guided step by step. Replay the tutorial in the settings brings them back.
The "best" figure is a proven minimum, not an estimate. Solve a level in that many pushes without a hint and you earn "★ Fewest pushes", which also puts a star on the level in the picker. Otherwise the game records your best push count, and Replay gives you a clean attempt at the badge.
Not all at once. Hint starts from the position in front of you and shows only the next push, with the crate glowing, arrows for the direction and a dashed ring where you should stand. It never pushes for you and has no limit, and a level finished with a hint still counts as solved, just without the star.
Before the first push, find the squares no crate should ever enter, the goal-free corners and goal-free walls that end in corners. Keep crates out of those and most red warnings never happen.
Then look at the hardest goal to reach. A corner goal can only be filled from two directions, and one at the end of a corridor from one. Decide which crate goes there and from which side, and the order of the level often follows. Fill the deepest goals first and the ones near the entrance last, or you will wall yourself out.
Sometimes a crate must go the wrong way first. In tutorial level 2 it sits in a narrow neck with the goal behind you. Push it up one square and you are trapped in the neck, so push it up two, walk around the room and push it back down four, six pushes in all. Keep the open middle of a room free for turning crates, and remember that only pushes count toward the star, so an extra walk always beats an extra push.
The six tutorial levels are this site's own; the levels in the seven worlds come from collections their authors have published.
Every level is used unchanged, and Microban and the others keep their authors' own order. Copyright stays with the authors.