The Daily Challenge: What It Is and How to Compete
Every day a new puzzle awaits. Learn how the daily challenge works and how to climb the leaderboard.
A New Puzzle Every Day
The Daily Challenge is the heartbeat of our Slitherlink community. It offers a fresh, curated puzzle every 24 hours, synchronized for players worldwide.
How It Works
Here's a typical daily challenge grid layout:
╔═══════════════════════════╗ ║ Daily Challenge #142 ║ ║ Difficulty: ★★★☆☆ ║ ╠═══════════════════════════╣ ║ ║ ║ · ─ · ─ · ─ · ─ · ─ · ║ ║ │ 3 2 1 │ ║ ║ · ─ · ─ · ─ · ─ · ─ · ║ ║ │ 0 3 │ ║ ║ · ─ · ─ · ─ · ─ · ─ · ║ ║ │ 1 2 3 │ ║ ║ · ─ · ─ · ─ · ─ · ─ · ║ ║ │ 2 0 2 │ ║ ║ · ─ · ─ · ─ · ─ · ─ · ║ ║ ║ ║ Timer: 00:00 Errors: 0 ║ ╚═══════════════════════════╝
- Midnight UTC Reset: A new puzzle goes live at 00:00 UTC.
- Same Puzzle for Everyone: Unlike the "Random Game" mode, the Daily Challenge is identical for every player. This ensures a fair competition.
- One Shot (Sort of): You can replay it, but only your first complete attempt counts toward the daily leaderboard ranking.
Scoring System
Your score is calculated based on three factors:
- Time: Faster is better.
- Accuracy: Errors (wrong lines detected at the end) carry a heavy penalty. One error can cost you more points than 10 seconds of thinking time.
- Difficulty Modifier: Harder daily puzzles offer higher base points.
The Strategy: Accuracy beats speed. It is better to take 3 minutes and get it perfect than to rush in 1 minute and have 2 errors.
Scoring comparison: Player A (fast, sloppy): Player B (slow, clean): ┌────────────────────┐ ┌────────────────────┐ │ Time: 1:23 │ │ Time: 2:45 │ │ Errors: 2 │ │ Errors: 0 │ │ Penalty: -200 │ │ Penalty: 0 │ │ ────────────── │ │ ────────────── │ │ Score: 650 pts │ │ Score: 880 pts ★ │ └────────────────────┘ └────────────────────┘ Errors cost more than Clean solve wins the time saved! even with slower time!
The Leaderboard
Sign Up to Compete: While you can play as a guest, you need a free account to save your name on the Leaderboard.
The leaderboard tracks:
- Daily High Scores
- All-Time Best Scores
- Longest Streak (Consecutive days played)
Tips for High Scores
- Warm Up: Play a random 5x5 puzzle first to get your brain in "Slitherlink mode" before tackling the Daily.
- Don't Guess: Guessing leads to errors. Errors tank your score. Rely on pure logic.
- Check Before Submit: Before the loop closes, do a quick "short loop" scan. Fixing a mistake before the game detects it saves your score.
Can you reach the top 10? Good luck!