Rope Stitch is a free online one-line tracing puzzle that runs in the browser with no download and no account. The board is a set of holes with faint stitch lines between them, and the rope has to run along every line exactly once, never twice, without leaving the board. That is the old envelope puzzle that gets passed round on paper, and the mathematics behind it is honest: a pattern can be traced when the lines form one connected shape with either no odd holes or exactly two, and when there are two the rope has to start at one of them. The green holes tell you where you may begin. The difficulty is not size, it is order — cross the middle too early and one arm of the pattern is cut off from the rope for good. The board tells you the moment that has happened rather than letting you find out at the last stitch, and Unpick takes back one stitch at a time.
How to play Rope Stitch
- Tap one of the green holes to put the needle in. Those are the only holes the rope can legally start from.
- Tap a neighbouring hole to sew the line between them. The rope follows your taps.
- Every stitch line has to be sewn exactly once. A line that is already sewn cannot be used again, not even to come back the way you went.
- You cannot lift the rope. Each stitch has to start where the last one finished.
- The status in the corner reads Stranded the moment no finish is possible from where the rope is, so you never waste time on a dead pattern.
- Unpick last takes back one stitch. It is always available, and it is what the star rating is measured against.
- Show next stitch highlights a hole that still leads to a complete finish, if you want a nudge rather than a solution.
- Sew every line to finish the pattern. Doing it with nothing unpicked is three stars.
Tips
- Look for the odd holes first. A hole with an odd number of lines has to be either the start or the end of the rope, and if the pattern has two of them your route is fixed at both ends.
- If every hole has an even number of lines you can start anywhere, and you will finish where you started. Those patterns are circuits and they are the forgiving ones.
- Save the bridges. A line that is the only connection between two halves of the pattern should be crossed once and late — cross it early and you strand yourself on the far side.
- Sew the outside of a shape first and leave the middle. Middles usually have the most lines, which means the most ways out.
- When you have a choice, take the hole with more lines still attached to it. Holes down to their last line are traps you want to visit last.
- The rope drawn over the board shows the order you sewed in. If you are stuck, reading it backwards is usually enough to see where the wrong turn was.
- Unpicking two stitches is often enough. Being stranded is almost always caused by the last move or the one before it.
FAQ
Is Rope Stitch free to play?
Yes. It runs in your browser with no download, no sign-up and nothing to buy. All eight patterns are included and unlock as you finish them.
How is this different from Slitherlink or Path Connect?
Slitherlink is about how many edges of each cell a closed loop uses, and Path Connect joins pairs of dots with separate paths. Here there is one rope, every line must be used, and no line may be used twice.
Why can I not start at any hole?
Because of how tracing works. If a pattern has two holes with an odd number of lines, the rope must begin at one of them and end at the other — starting anywhere else makes it impossible. Those holes are the green ones.
What does "Stranded" mean?
That no sequence of stitches can finish the pattern from where the rope currently is: some lines are cut off from it. It is shown as soon as it becomes true, so you can unpick immediately instead of discovering it at the end.
Is every pattern actually solvable?
Yes, and it is checked rather than assumed. Every shipped pattern is verified as traceable, and the hint button runs a real search for a finish rather than following a recipe.
Can I go back along a line I have already sewn?
No. Each line is one stitch. That is what makes the puzzle a puzzle — otherwise you could always retrace your steps out of trouble.
Do I lose anything by unpicking?
Only stars. A finished pattern is a finished pattern; three stars asks for a first pass with nothing unpicked, and two allows up to three unpicks.
Does Rope Stitch work on a phone?
Yes. The holes are drawn with a generous tap target around them, and the board scales itself to whatever frame the screen gives it.