Circuit Loop
Turn the tiles. Light the whole board.
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Keyboard. Click any tile first, then arrows move, space turns, z undo, h hint. Nothing is timed, so you can walk away mid-move.
Progress saves in this browser after every turn. Nothing is sent anywhere.
A Break That Fits In A Browser Tab
Circuit Loop is the classic rotate-the-pipes puzzle, built the honest way. Each board starts as a random spanning tree grown outward from the hub in the middle and is then scrambled tile by tile, so a solution always exists — the generator cannot hand you an impossible stage. Par is the number of quarter-turns the scramble actually cost, which is why three stars means you found the shortest route back rather than merely finishing. Boards grow from 3×3 to 8×8, welded tiles arrive at stage three, and from stage seven the edges start wrapping around, so a wire leaving the right side comes back in on the left.
There is no timer, no score to chase and nothing to sign up for. The board, your best moves per stage and how far you have got are kept in your own browser's local storage and never leave the machine — which also means clearing site data, or opening the page in a private window, starts you at stage one. The Reset all progress button does the same thing deliberately.
Circuit Loop FAQ
Is every board actually solvable?
Yes, by construction. The generator grows a random spanning tree outward from the centre hub, which is a layout where every tile is already connected and no wire end is left dangling. It then spins each tile a random quarter-turn or three. Since spinning is reversible, undoing those spins always gets you back to a complete circuit — and usually there is more than one arrangement that works.
What does par mean, and how do I get three stars?
Par is the total number of quarter-turns the scramble cost, counted the cheap way: a tile spun three steps clockwise is one step anticlockwise, so it costs one. Finish at or under par and you get three stars. Up to one and a half times par is two stars, anything beyond that is one. Hints and undos both count as a move, which is what stops a three-star run from being free.
Is my progress saved, and where does it go?
In your own browser, in local storage, under the key circuitloop.v1. It records the board you are on, your best move count per stage and how many you have solved. It is never sent to this server or anywhere else, so it does not follow you to another browser or another machine, and clearing site data wipes it. If your browser blocks storage entirely the game still works — progress just lasts until you close the tab, and the note under the board says so.
What are the gold tiles?
Welded shut. They are already in the right orientation and cannot be turned, which sounds like a gift but is really a constraint: the rest of the board has to be solved around them. They start appearing at stage three and build up to six per board.
Why does a wire leave one edge and come back on the other?
That is the wrap-around twist, and it switches on for odd stages from seven onward. The board becomes a torus: the right edge is joined to the left, the top to the bottom. The chip row above the board tells you when it is active, along with the board size and how many tiles are welded.
Does it work on a phone, or with a keyboard?
Both. Tap a tile to turn it; the board scales itself to whatever width it is given. On a keyboard, click any tile once to put the cursor on the board, then the arrow keys move, space turns, z undoes and h spends a hint. Shift with space or a click turns the other way.
What else can you check?
These tools all work on the same connection and address data — pick whichever question you actually have.