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Trax Solitaire

The Trax inventor recently came up with this 1-player version, the rules for which have recently been added to Trax sets. Those of you who have an earlier set which does not include the rules for Trax Solitaire can find them below:

The aim of this 1-player game is to make a single line of either colour running through 9 tiles in a 3x3 grid or 16 tiles in a 4x4 grid.

To start, take 9 (or 16) tiles, mix them up and stack them on top of each other so that only the top tile is visible.

Take one tile at a time from the top of your stack of tiles and place it on the table, following these rules:

tile played in original orientation


1)All tiles must be played in exactly the same orientation as they were on the stack. They may not be rotated or turned over unless they meet one of the conditions specified in rules 5 and 6.
2)Once the first tile has been played, all tiles played must touch at least one tile that is already in play.
3)The colours on all touching edges must match, i.e. white to white and red to red. You can play a tile next to any other tile as long as the colours on any touching edges match.
4)The tiles must be played in a 3x3 (or 4x4) grid, i.e. you cannot play tiles that would create a 4th (or 5th) row or column.

no tiles must be played outside the grid


5)If you create a forced space (i.e. a space with two lines of the same colour entering it - see the rules of the 2-player game for more details), you must fill it with the next tile, even if that means rotating that tile or turning it over.
6)If (and only if) a tile cannot be played anywhere in your 3x3 (or 4x4) grid, you are allowed to rotate or flip it in order to be able to play it somewhere.

3x3 solution Remember that you are trying to connect all the links of one colour in a 9-tile (or 16-tile) line - the example on the right shows one way of completing the game.

Hints

a)When a tile is picked up, the orientation of the next tile in the stack can be seen too. Try to make good use of that information!
b)It may be useful to create situations where there is no legal move for the next tile, so you can play that tile in any orientation - see rule 6.

All levels of difficulty require some luck as well as a good strategy, but 3x3 Solitaire can potentially be solved well over half the time. 3x3 Solitaire is good practice for trying to solve 4x4 Solitaire, which is quite a bit harder.

If even 4x4 Solitaire is not a tough enough challenge for you, try creating a 16-tile loop (i.e. the line must join up on itself to create a closed circuit) in a 4x4 grid, following the same rules.

Good luck!