Ice Sliding Maze verifies its minimum move counts with an independent breadth-first search over every reachable stopping state. The checker does not estimate a route from visual distance or count each square crossed. A complete slide is one move. For every fixed seven-by-seven rink, the checker rebuilds the grid from literal wall coordinates, identifies each square where the puck can legally stop, and connects those squares when one legal arrow input travels between them. Its own slide loop determines each endpoint rather than calling the game's production movement function. Breadth-first search then looks for the goal by increasing numbers of slides. Separate literal routes are proven at minimum lengths of three, four, five, six, and seven moves, and the same process confirms that each rink is solvable. That separation makes the result meaningful rather than circular: the playable game and the checker must independently agree about every legal endpoint and the shortest route to a resting STOP position.
What the move counter actually measures
The strict movement rule makes each arrow input a committed slide. Once a direction is selected, the puck continues through open cells until the next step would leave the seven-by-seven boundary or enter a blocked square. You cannot release the key early, tap twice to brake, or stop on an arbitrary open tile. The move count therefore measures completed directional slides, not the number of cells covered during those slides. The final resting square becomes the puck's next position.
A minimum-move route must be expressed through those legal slide transitions. The goal marked STOP counts only if the puck actually comes to rest there. Passing across STOP during a longer slide does not clear the rink. A direction that cannot move because of an adjacent wall or boundary is an atomic no-op: it does not increase the move counter, change the last path, or register a false failure. These rules ensure that only meaningful slide transitions affect the verified move count.
How the independent shortest-path check works
The automated checker represents each rink as a stop-state graph. Every reachable stopping square becomes a node. Every legal arrow input creates an edge from the current node to the square where that complete slide finishes. Because each edge represents exactly one slide, the depth of a route through the graph is its move count. Cells traveled along the way do not add extra edges or extra moves.
Breadth-first search examines possible routes in increasing numbers of slides. If the search reaches a state where the puck rests on STOP at depth d, and no goal state appears at an earlier depth, then d is the shortest possible slide count. A shorter visual path would not matter if it required braking or stopping between slides, because those actions are not legal transitions in the game.
The oracle implements its own slide loop instead of calling the production movement function. That distinction is important: if both the checker and the game reused the same potentially flawed movement code, their agreement would not provide an independent check. Instead, the checker reads literal wall coordinates, reconstructs the stop-state graph, confirms that every level is solvable, verifies that each displayed minimum is correct, and checks that every literal solution route reaches STOP in the minimum number of slides.
Verify and play a minimum-length route
- Open Ice Sliding Maze and locate the puck labeled ICE, the outlined destination labeled STOP, the solid dark wall blocks, and any cracked stopping cells marked with a visible cross. The telemetry panel shows cleared rinks, committed slides, current row and column, level moves, and crack count.
- Choose a direction with an arrow key or the four-button touch direction pad. Arrow keys work anywhere on the game, while the touch controls are at least 44 pixels high. Both input methods use the same movement reducer and therefore follow identical stopping, scoring, trap, and terminal rules.
- Think in stopping squares rather than individual cells. From the puck's current position, work out where each available arrow would leave it after the complete straight-line slide. Select the move whose endpoint supports a shorter route toward a resting position on STOP.
- Compare your committed level moves with the verified minimum for that rink listed below. If the current sequence uses extra slides, use Restart to return to the canonical initial state and revise the order of the stopping points. Restart also removes any crack-related failure state.
- Avoid cracked stopping squares. Reaching a crack resets the puck to that rink's start. Repeating the same crack signature does not add another mistake, but reaching a second distinct crack closes the run until Restart, so a route should be checked for trap endpoints as well as distance.
- Finish a slide with the puck resting on STOP. Merely crossing the destination during a longer slide does not count. A valid finish earns exactly 200 points and advances to the next fixed rink.
- Continue through all five rinks. Once the fifth rink is complete, gameplay freezes until Restart so later inputs cannot change the completed result.
Use the telemetry rather than the number of highlighted cells to judge your route. The recent-path accent shows where the puck has traveled, but the minimum is based on legal stop-to-stop transitions. A long slide still counts as one move, while an immediate no-op counts as none.
Verified minimums for the fixed rinks
Each fixed layout has an independently proven shortest length. These are exact search results rather than estimates based on apparent path distance.
| Level | Rink | Verified minimum | Points per clear |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Split Shelf | 3 moves | 200 points |
| 2 | Cold Stair | 4 moves | 200 points |
| 3 | Blue Switchback | 5 moves | 200 points |
| 4 | Frost Relay | 6 moves | 200 points |
| 5 | Long Thaw | 7 moves | 200 points |
Because the levels are fixed rather than randomized, players and the automated test suite encounter the same walls, starts, goals, cracked stops, and intended routes. Every valid solution can therefore be reproduced, and the shortest-path proof remains applicable to the exact board shown in the game.
Why the live board and solver agree
The game exposes the information needed to follow a stop-state route. Solid dark blocks are impassable, the puck is labeled ICE, and STOP is both outlined and labeled. Cracked stopping cells use a visible cross, while the most recently traversed cells receive a restrained accent. These visuals help you identify whether a slide ended safely, crossed the goal without finishing, or landed on a trap.
The solver and live game describe the same deterministic rules but reach their results through separate implementations. The playable reducer evaluates a player's committed input, while the oracle reconstructs legal endpoints from wall coordinates and searches the resulting graph. Because the rinks do not change, a mismatch would expose a genuine movement or graph-construction error rather than a different randomly generated puzzle.
Trap stops and route-planning errors
Split Shelf illustrates why planning beyond the next slide matters. Its shortest winning route travels up, left, and down, even though the puck and goal begin on the same bottom row. Sliding directly right ends on one cracked square. Sliding up and then right ends on a different crack. Both error routes are independently reachable, and neither intersects the normal winning route.
A crack resets the puck to the rink's start rather than completing the level. A repeated crack signature is deduplicated, but the second different crack ends the run until Restart. That makes trap avoidance part of practical route planning: the shortest legal movement sequence and a successful live route must both avoid the cracked endpoints that would interrupt progress.
Score progression and final confirmation
Every valid rink clear awards 200 points. The complete score follows this calculation:
Formula: cleared rinks × points per rink. Substituted values: 5 × 200. Result: 1,000 points.
The fifth clear completes the run and freezes gameplay until Restart, preventing extra events from changing the final state. The exact minimum counts, fixed geometry, independent graph reconstruction, and reproducible literal routes together make the displayed move counts auditable rather than guessed.
If you're weighing options, How Do I Explain the Rules of Math Maze to Someone Else? covers this in detail.
If you're weighing options, How Do I Explain the Rules of Maze Game to Someone Else? covers this in detail.