Lights Off: free Lights Out puzzle game online, 3×3 to 5×5

What is Lights Off?

Classic Lights Out with Zip. Pressing a switch flips it and its four neighbours. Turn every light off, ideally in the fewest presses. Each run is three boards: pick Easy (3×3), Medium (4×4) or Hard (5×5).

Lights Off is a free take on the classic Lights Out puzzle, hosted by Zip. Every switch is wired to its neighbours: press one and it flips along with the switches above, below, left and right of it. Your job is to turn the whole grid dark.

Each run deals three boards at your level: Easy on a 3×3 grid, Medium on 4×4 and Hard on 5×5. Every board is built by pressing random switches on a dark grid, so it can always be solved, and the game works out the fewest presses it needs so you can see how close you got.

At a glance

Category

Logic

Difficulty

Hard

Play time

3–5 min

Price

Free, in your browser, sign-up optional

How to play

Press

Tap a switch to flip it and the switches above, below, left and right of it. On a keyboard: arrows move, Enter presses.

Goal

Turn every light off. Each board shows the fewest presses it can be done in.

Hint

Hint (or H) marks one press of a best solution, for 150 points. Reset puts the board back as it started; your moves still count.

Score

Per board: Easy 500, Medium 800, Hard 1,200, minus 2 a second, 10 per move over the minimum and 150 per hint, never under 100. Three boards add up to your run.

Scoring

Each run is three boards. A board is worth 500 on Easy (3×3), 800 on Medium (4×4) or 1,200 on Hard (5×5), minus 2 points a second, 10 per press over the fewest possible and 150 per hint, never under 100.

Your score is the total of the three boards. The Moves counter shows your presses against the minimum for that board.

What it trains

Planning

Working out which switches to press before touching any of them.

Logical reasoning

Every press is an on/off equation; chasing the lights down row by row is the same row reduction used in algebra.

Pattern spotting

Recognising the shapes that one press makes and how overlapping presses cancel out.

Strategy and tips

Order doesn't matter

Pressing the same switches in any order gives the same grid, so think about which switches to press, not when.

Never press twice

Pressing a switch twice cancels out. A best solution presses each switch at most once.

Chase the lights down

Clear the top row by pressing the switch just below each lit light, then do the same row by row. What's left on the bottom row tells you which top switches to press first.

Watch the minimum

The Moves counter shows your presses against the fewest possible. Every extra press costs 10 points.

Hints cost more than thinking

A hint marks one press of a best solution for 150 points. On Easy a few seconds of thought is cheaper.

Why play Lights Off?

Lights Out looks like a reflex game but it is pure logic: every press is an on/off equation, and the chase-the-lights method is the same row reduction used in linear algebra. It trains planning, pattern spotting and thinking about effects that overlap.

Frequently asked questions