Polished Games

The clearest examples right now. Start here.

Crash Landing

14 levels

-----------!---------------!-----
---------------------------------
o*---------o---------o-----------
---------------------------------
--------------------------------!
_________________________________
O2:..............|---------------

A resource-management puzzle about oxygen, mining, construction, and getting back to your ship.

Dockstep

36 levels

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
x1--------2--x
x---x--------x
x---x--------x
x---x-a--b---x
x------------x
x------------x
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A lockstep movement puzzle where multiple agents move together and force fields shape the route.

Game

28 levels

-----
>*--o
-----

The original UA4K puzzle set: small rewrite-rule levels about moving symbols into goals.

Playable Toys

Playable experiments and demos. Some are intentionally small or strange.

Arithmetic

1 level

-----x--o
--x--x---
--x--x---
*-x------
_________
_0000000$
+0000000#
_________
00000000@
_________

A tiny arithmetic toy built out of board rewrites.

Basic Game

1 level

*-----
------
---!--
------
------

A minimal movement example for understanding the format.

Bet

19 levels

----------|==========
----------|==========
----------|==========
----------|==========
----------|==========
----------|==========
_____________________
#____________________
COUNTDOWN:___________
BALANCE:________10$__

A quick probability toy about wagering on which side has more dots.

Fifteen Puzzle

1 level

1234
5678
9ABC
DEF-

Use wasd to slide.

Fight

1 level

-----------------------------------
-----------------------------------
-------------*---------@-----------
-----------------------------------
___________________________________
*:...........-@:..................-
#_---------------------------------
POTIONS:...------------------------
STAMINA:....----------------[-----]
*|---|-----------------------------

A compact turn-style combat toy.

Hanoi

1 level

---------------
---1-----------
---2-----------
---3-----------
---4-----------
---!---@---#---
--*------------
_______________
%--------------

A Towers of Hanoi-flavored board rewrite demo.

Game of Life

9 levels

--------xx--
xxx-----x---
-----------x
----------xx
------------
-xx---------
x--x---xx---
-xx----xx---

Game of Life (9 level(s))

Pacman

1 level


························
······
····
······
··························
······
······
····················
·  ·

Pacman with buffered movement, scoring, lives, ghost modes, staged release, frightened ghosts, and four distinct personalities.

River Crossing

1 level

W-----------------------
G-----------------------
C-----------------------
#B--------------------$-
------------------------

The wolf, goat, and cabbage puzzle expressed as a UA4K game.

Snake

1 level

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
x              x
x              x
x     .        x
x              x
x    ***       x
x              x
x              x
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
           0000 

A complete Snake implementation inside the puzzle engine.

Sokoban

1 level

##   #
o*x  #
## xo#
o##x #
 # o #
x Xxxo
   o  

A small Sokoban-style box-pushing toy.

Synth

3 levels

--cba--
-------
*------
-------

A small symbol-manipulation puzzle with swap commands.

Tetris

1 level

__________ ======
----------|=----=
----------|=----=
----------|======
----------|      
----------|      
----------|      
----------|      
----------|      
----------|      

A Tetris-shaped toy that stress-tests how far the engine can be pushed.

Theseus Minotaur

10 levels

T _#_
 ### ##
_ _#o
 ### ##
M _#_

A pursuit puzzle inspired by Theseus and the Minotaur.

Towers

3 levels

-------1---------------------------a----
---------------------x------------------
----------------x----------x------------
----------------x----------x------------
---P---2-@-----------x-----------*-b--E-
----------------x----------x------------
----------------x----------x------------
---------------------x------------------
-------3---------------------------c----

A tower-moving toy puzzle.

Turing

3 levels

###################--!--!--!--!--!--!--
#State:A---------##--A--A--B--B--C--C--
#----------------##--0--1--0--1--0--1--
p--------v-------q#--1--1--1--1--1--1--
#0000000000000000##--B--C--A--B--B--H--
###################--R--L--L--R--L--R--
---------------------------------------
-----------------------*---------------
-A--B--C--0--1--L--R--H----------------
-A--B--C--0--1--L--R--H----------------

A compact Turing-machine joke/demo implemented as a board game.