Farmer & Stone

About this game

A sliding-block puzzle on the classic klotski skeleton: a 4×5 board, a two-cell gate at the bottom, and only two kinds of pieces — the farmer (a big 2×2 block) and stones (1×1 pebbles plus 1×2 slabs, lying flat or standing up). Every piece can be picked up and slid: tap it, drag it, or nudge it with the arrow keys, one cell at a time, as long as the cells it is heading into are empty. There are no timers, no fail states and no extra laws — the whole puzzle is where the stones are piled and how you unpick them. Three ways to play: Stroll (five empty cells to breathe), Classic (five slabs, four pebbles, only two empty cells — real sliding-block density) and Siege (six slabs, almost nowhere to retreat). Every deal is drawn from a built-in deck whose layouts were generated and machine-checked in advance: each one is solvable, each one needs real work, and no layout is ever a one-move win.

How it plays

• Two identities, three shapes: the farmer is one 2×2 block, the stones are 1×1 pebbles and 1×2 slabs — and unlike the old folk puzzles where most pieces are bolted down, every single piece here can be picked up and moved.
• One law, no exceptions: a piece moves one cell at a time, into cells that are completely empty. Nothing is forbidden and nothing is timed — so every stuck position is your own construction, and undo is always one tap away.
• Three densities, one board: Stroll leaves five empty cells to breathe, Classic packs five slabs and four pebbles with only two empty cells, and Siege drops six slabs in with almost nowhere to retreat.
• The deck is pre-verified. Layouts are generated offline, run through a solver, and only kept if the shortest solution lands inside a set band — so you never get a deal that solves itself in two moves, and never one that asks for eighty.
• Because nothing is computed while you play, the first board is ready the moment the page opens — the pieces are just dealt from the deck.
• Three ways to touch it: pick up a piece with the mouse and drag it, walk it with the arrow keys or WASD, or use the on-screen direction pad with 1 / 2 to jump between the farmer and the stones. The hint button simply asks the solver for the next slide.

Back to game page · Farmer & Stone