Diya Light-Up: free Diwali logic puzzle game with lamps

What is Diya Light-Up?

Six boards of clay lamps linked by threads, from a row of five on the doorstep to a rangoli flower of thirteen. Tapping a diya flips it and every diya linked to it, so dark ones light and lit ones go out. Light them all in as few taps as you can.

Diya Light-Up is a free Diwali logic puzzle. Diyas are small clay lamps, and at Diwali, the festival of lights, families set rows of them on doorsteps and windows. Here they sit on six boards shaped like a doorstep row, a window circle, a wheel, a garland, a courtyard square and a rangoli flower, linked by threads.

Tap a diya and it flips together with every diya linked to it: dark lamps light, lit lamps go out. Your goal is to light them all, ideally in the fewest taps, called par. Every board is guaranteed solvable, and a hint shows you one tap from a shortest solution if you get stuck.

At a glance

Category

Seasonal

Difficulty

Easy

Play time

2–4 min

Price

Free, in your browser, sign-up optional

How to play

Tap a diya

It flips, and so does every diya linked to it by a thread: dark ones light, lit ones go out.

Light them all

Every board can be solved. Par is the fewest taps that does it.

Plan the set

The order of taps never matters, and a second tap on the same diya undoes the first.

Score

150 per board at par, 15 less per extra tap, 40 less per hint, never below 20.

Scoring

Each board scores 150 when you light every diya in par (the fewest possible taps), 15 less for every extra tap and 40 less for every hint, never below 20.

There are no lives or timer: every board can be solved. Your best score is kept in this browser.

What it trains

Logical planning

Choosing the set of taps before you start, because order doesn't matter.

Cause and effect

Tracking how one tap changes every lamp linked to it.

Efficiency

Looking for the shortest solution, not just any solution.

Strategy and tips

Order doesn't matter

Tapping A then B gives exactly the same result as B then A, so think about which diyas to tap, not when.

Never tap twice

A second tap on the same diya undoes the first. A shortest solution taps each diya at most once.

Fix the edges first

End and corner diyas reach fewer lamps, so they're easier to reason about.

Look for dark groups

A dark diya with dark neighbours all round it is lit in one tap.

Start over is free

Going back to the start costs nothing, but taps you've made still count.

Why play Diya Light-Up?

Lights-out puzzles train planning: because order doesn't matter and taps cancel in pairs, you solve them by choosing a set of moves rather than trying things one after another. It's the same habit as planning any task where steps interact: think about the effect of each action on everything around it before you act.

Frequently asked questions