No — the three Sokoban levels in this product are not official, classic, or historically attributed Sokoban puzzles. They are deterministic fixtures authored specifically for this tool, bundled with the client component and processed entirely in your browser tab. Each layout is a small, fixed warehouse authored to teach one specific movement idea: Straight Start introduces the direct push, Upper Turn teaches moving around a box after pushing it toward the top wall, and Wall Detour places an interior wall between the worker and the first useful pushing position. The puzzles are not sourced from Sokoban Perfect, Microban, or any other published level set. They are not imported, not historically attributed, and not labeled as the original 1982 Thinking Rabbit release. Every Restart returns to the same first layout, which makes the rules easy to learn and the result straightforward to reproduce. The score for finishing all three is fixed at exactly 1,000 points, awarded as 300 + 300 + 400. Points are determined by the level, not by speed, device performance, input method, or animation timing.
What These Three Sokoban Levels Actually Are
These three Sokoban levels are original deterministic layouts — not classic Sokoban puzzles and not officially attributed historical levels. Every board is a 7-by-7 grid parsed into immutable wall and goal sets plus a fixed starting position for the worker and the box. The product description states plainly that the layouts "are not presented as classic, official, historical, or externally sourced Sokoban levels."
The word "Sokoban" itself refers to the original 1982 push-the-box game designed by Hiroyuki Imabayashi and published by Thinking Rabbit. Classic and historically attributed level sets associated with that lineage include Sokoban Perfect, Microban, Sokoban Original, and the various Boxing Boy and Sokoban competition collections. None of those level sets are used here.
What you are playing instead is a compact three-warehouse product authored to demonstrate push-only movement in its purest form. The fixed layouts are suitable for learning how push-only movement differs from ordinary pathfinding: walking is reversible in many positions, while a careless push may remove the access needed to continue. Every push, undo, restart, and score is reproducible across sessions because the inputs, the validation rules, and the level data all live in the same client bundle, with no upload, account request, network opponent, or runtime level download.
How Each Sokoban Layout Plays
Each of the three layouts isolates a single movement idea so the rule can be observed without distraction. Each layout has exactly one box and one goal, allowing the interaction to focus on the movement rule instead of visual clutter.
Straight Start is the introduction. The worker can walk up to the box and push it one cell at a time directly toward the goal. No detour is required. It introduces the core rule: a box cannot be pulled, pushed through a wall, or pushed into another box.
Upper Turn requires moving around a box after pushing it toward the top wall. Once the worker has pushed the box to a row near the top wall, the next push cannot continue straight because the box would land against the wall. The worker must walk around to the other side of the box before the next push can continue. This is the classic trap that teaches you to plan two moves ahead rather than one.
Wall Detour places an interior wall between the worker and the first useful pushing position. The route begins by walking around that obstruction before any useful push can be made. This level teaches the same lesson as Upper Turn in a slightly different shape: a careless first push can leave the worker on the wrong side of a wall.
| Level | Movement idea | Points awarded |
|---|---|---|
| Straight Start | Direct push into the goal | 300 |
| Upper Turn | Walk around the box after pushing toward the top wall | 300 |
| Wall Detour | Route around an interior wall before pushing | 400 |
| Completed three-level run | Three authored warehouses, deterministic | 1,000 |
How to Play the Sokoban Levels Step by Step
The product's verified operating steps are the exact procedure for clearing the three authored Sokoban layouts.
- Move the worker with Arrow keys, WASD, or the four on-screen direction buttons; walk beside a box before pushing it toward the marked goal.
- Press U or choose Undo after a legal move, including a corner deadlock; use R or the shared Restart control to reset the complete three-level run.
- Clear each fixed board, choose Next level after the first two, and finish the third to earn the exact 1,000-point completion score.
Each legal step moves the worker by one orthogonal cell. When a box occupies that destination, the same input attempts to push the box one additional cell. If the cell beyond is a wall or another box, nothing moves and the move counter does not change. Tap the four on-screen direction buttons on a narrow phone, or use Arrow keys or WASD on a keyboard.
Sokoban Rules, Controls, and Recovery
The Sokoban movement rule is simple and the failure modes are explicit. The worker can walk through open floor and can push one box into an empty floor cell. A box cannot be pulled, pushed through a wall, or pushed into another box. Those small rules create the central challenge: before each push, you must consider both where the box will land and whether the worker can still reach the side needed for the next push.
Accessible labels announce walls, floor, goals, boxes, and the player independently of the visible marks. P marks the player, B marks a box, and a centered dot marks an uncovered goal. All seven columns fit within the game card, and the mobile buttons remain available instead of requiring swipe gestures.
When a box enters a non-goal corner — meaning the box has a blocked vertical neighbor and a blocked horizontal neighbor — the game identifies the position as deadlocked and pauses directional movement. The final push remains visible, and Undo stays available to restore the previous playable position. Restart is always another recovery path. A box resting on an actual goal is excluded from corner-deadlock detection because that placement is successful rather than trapped.
Undo stores exact snapshots of the worker position, box positions, and current-level move count. It does not try to infer a reverse move, so reversing a push never behaves like an illegal box pull. This distinction matters after a mistake, because pressing Undo after pushing a box into a wall never produces a phantom pull through a wall or another box.
How the 1,000-Point Completion Score Works
The fixed terminal score for clearing all three authored Sokoban levels is exactly 1,000 points, awarded as 300 for Straight Start, 300 for Upper Turn, and 400 for Wall Detour. Points are fixed by level; they do not depend on speed, device performance, input method, or animation timing.
A cleared intermediate level freezes until you choose Next level, and the completed third level freezes permanently until Restart. This makes a score stable once earned and prevents repeated input from awarding a level twice. The shared game shell stores the best score locally when browser storage is available and provides the site-wide double-Escape boss key.
The 1,000-point result is only a product-defined completion marker for these three authored boards. The game does not claim to measure intelligence, planning ability, cognition, dexterity, health, or workplace performance. Treat it as a completion flag, not as an assessment.
How This Sokoban Differs From Classic Sets
Because the question is often "are these official or classic Sokoban levels?", it is worth listing the specific boundaries of this product so the answer is unambiguous.
The three layouts are not a port of the original 1982 Thinking Rabbit release. They are not Sokoban Perfect, Microban, Sokoban Original, or any other attributed level set. The product does not include a procedurally generated or random Sokoban generator; all three layouts are bundled with the client. The game does not upload progress, request an account, fetch levels at runtime, or contact a network opponent. The score is not a measurement of planning ability, cognition, dexterity, or any other personal trait — it is only a fixed completion flag for the three boards.
Use this Sokoban game when you want a short, auditable push-box sequence with meaningful recovery controls. The fixed layouts are suitable for learning how push-only movement differs from ordinary pathfinding: walking is reversible in many positions, while a careless push may remove the access needed to continue. Check the destination and the space behind the box before committing, use Undo when the corner warning appears, and advance through all three warehouses to complete the run.