How to untangle the basket
- Join every pair. Match the same number and colour on two yarn balls. Draw a thread from one to the other. Numbers let you match the pair without relying on colour.
- Move side to side. Threads go up, down, left or right between neighbouring squares, never diagonally.
- No crossing, no sharing. Each square holds one thread. Threads can turn as often as they like but can’t cross another colour.
- Fill the board. The puzzle is finished when every pair is joined and no square is left empty.
Drag from a yarn ball through neighbouring squares. You can also tap a ball, tap the next squares, then tap its matching partner to join the thread. Selecting a ball highlights both matching numbers and their thread. Start from either ball; when the two ends meet, the pair is joined. Drag back over a thread to shorten it, or choose its ball and use Clear thread.
Reading the board
Corners and edges are your friends: a thread end that has only one free neighbour must go there. No empty square may become a dead end, because a thread would need to come in and go out. Keep every pair able to reach its partner: if a step would wall off one ball from the other, or leave a pocket of squares that no thread can reach, it can’t be right. On the hardest boards, a short what-if settles it: try a step, follow the forced moves, and see whether it ends in a dead end. Hints explain each of these in words.
Play your way
Journey has 120 numbered levels in twelve chapters, from small boards to the biggest ones, and the map lets you revisit any level. The daily challenge changes at midnight UTC: Mondays and Tuesdays are easy, Wednesday to Friday medium, and weekends hard. Free practice makes a new board in the size and difficulty you choose.
Every attempt has three Hints and one Assist. Hint explains a step you can prove from what is on the board. Assist makes that step for you. Corrections are free. Undo changes the board but never refunds spent help. Retry asks before starting again, and earlier clears stay earned. Your Yarndoku progress stays in this browser, separate from the other games, and solved boards count toward the shared cast cards.
Yarndoku questions
Does every board have one solution?
Yes. Before a board is published, the site’s solver searches every way of drawing the threads and keeps only boards with exactly one finished arrangement.
Do I have to fill every square?
Yes. Joining every pair is not enough: a thread must pass through every square. That rule is what makes each board solvable by reasoning.
Is this like connect-the-dots flow puzzles?
Yarndoku follows the classic number-link rules used by many connect-the-dots puzzle games, with original boards made for this site and a cozy yarn theme.