Light Switch Grid
Light Switch Grid is a 5x5 board of amber lights with one simple rule. Pressing a cell flips it, along with the cells directly above, below, left and right of it. Your goal is to switch every light off.
Because one press changes up to five cells, randomly tapping tends to make things worse. The game has a retro terminal look and opens instantly on the page with no setup, which makes it a quick puzzle on a school laptop.
How to play Light Switch Grid
Some cells start lit. Tap any cell to swap it and its side neighbors between on and off. Diagonal cells stay as they are, and cells on the edge just have fewer neighbors to affect.
A status line tells you how many lights remain, and a counter records each press. When the board goes fully dark, you see your move total. Beat your lowest total for that difficulty and it becomes your new Best.
Easy, Medium and Hard set how scrambled the board starts. Each one begins on a daily puzzle, and the new button rolls a random one. Undo takes back a single press, while reset restores the starting pattern.
Controls
| Action | Keyboard | Mouse | Touch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Press a cell | — | Click the cell | Tap the cell |
| Undo one press | — | Click undo | Tap undo |
| Back to the starting pattern | — | Click reset | Tap reset |
| Choose difficulty or a random board | — | Click Easy, Medium, Hard or new | Tap Easy, Medium, Hard or new |
| Help page | Esc or Q to close | Click ? man to open | Tap ? man to open |
Tips
- Work from the top down. For each lit cell in a row, press the cell right underneath it. Keep sweeping downward until the last row holds every remaining light.
- Whatever stays lit on the last row is a code for where to begin a second pass along the first row. Press those, then sweep downward again.
- Pressing the same cell twice does nothing but add two moves, since the second press cancels the first.
- The order of presses does not change the final board, only which cells you pressed. Plan the full set first, then tap them in any order.
- If a sweep goes badly, reset is quicker than a long string of undos and puts the move counter back to zero.
If you like Light Switch Grid, try these
Flood Fill PuzzleEach move changing many cells at once also defines this color puzzle, where your corner patch spreads until the board matches.
Light Up Lamp PuzzleLights and grids meet again, but this time you place bulbs by deduction so every square glows without any lamp seeing another.
Questions
Is every Light Switch Grid board solvable?
Yes. Each board is made by pressing cells on a dark grid, so reversing those presses always works. Easy starts from 3 scrambling presses, Medium from 6 and Hard from 10.
What is the daily board?
The first puzzle at each difficulty is chosen from the current date in UTC, so it stays the same all day. Press new whenever you want a random board instead.
Does Light Switch Grid save my best score?
Yes. Your lowest move count for each difficulty is kept in your browser and shown as Best.
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