Strategy guides · Hashi online
How to solve Hashi (bridges) puzzles: rules and strategies
Hashi, also known as Bridges or Hashiwokakero, asks you to connect numbered islands with bridges. Isleway is Fiplay's version. The best moves are the ones where an island has no choice at all.
The rules
Each island's number tells you how many bridges touch it. Bridges run straight across, never cross each other, and at most two bridges join the same pair of islands. In the end every island must belong to one connected group.
1. Islands with no choice
An island can have at most two bridges to each neighbor. So a 4 with only two neighbors needs a double bridge to both, and a 6 with three neighbors needs double bridges to all three. An 8 always takes double bridges in all four directions.
2. Almost no choice
A 3 with two neighbors needs at least one bridge to each, because two to one side would only make 2. A 5 with three neighbors, or a 7 with four, works the same way: draw the single bridges you're sure of and come back later.
3. Keep the network open
Two 1s can't be joined to each other, and two 2s can't share a double bridge: either would make a closed pair cut off from the rest. Use this to rule out connections when an island has two options.
4. Blocked paths
A bridge you draw blocks every bridge that would cross it. After each new bridge, check the islands on either side: one may have just lost a neighbor and become forced.
Common mistakes
- Filling every number correctly but leaving two separate groups.
- Forgetting that a crossing bridge removes a neighbor.
- Starting in the middle instead of at corners and edges, where islands have fewer neighbors.