Hashi Bridges

Overview

A small archipelago becomes a network-planning problem in Hashi Bridges. Each numbered circle is an island, and its number tells you how many bridge ends must reach it. A bridge runs horizontally or vertically to the next visible island. You may draw one bridge or a pair between two islands, but bridges cannot cross or pass through another island. The entire archipelago must become connected: several perfectly numbered little groups do not count as a finished board. This combination of local arithmetic and global connectivity gives Hashi its character. A decision that looks sufficient for one island may cut off the only route to a distant corner. The bundled Bridges engine creates new puzzles and offers different sizes through its Type menu.

How to Play

Press Play, then drag from an island toward another island in the same row or column. Repeat the same drag to change a single bridge into a double bridge; repeat again to remove it. Clicking an island without dragging marks it as finished, which is a bookkeeping aid rather than proof that it is correct. Touch users perform the same short drag. Use Undo to reverse a decision or Restart to return to the starting board. New creates another puzzle with the current settings.

Tips & Strategy

Begin with islands whose numbers nearly exhaust their available directions. An eight with four neighbours needs two bridges in every direction. A corner four with only two neighbours has the same forced pattern. Next look for places where completing two small islands would isolate them from the rest of the map. Keep at least one connection available until the whole network can join. Do not treat a crossed-out island as permanently settled: later connectivity deductions can reveal an earlier mistake. When a bridge would block the only route across a narrow channel, inspect both sides before drawing it.

About this version

Hashi Bridges uses the locally compiled bridges engine from Simon Tatham’s Portable Puzzle Collection. The original authors retain credit under the MIT license. SonoTap provides the browser adaptation and this guide.