Sneaky Heist is a free online stealth puzzle where time is a resource rather than a pressure. Every step you take advances the clock by exactly one tick, and every guard, camera and laser on the floor runs its own fixed loop against that same clock. Nothing surprises you and nothing is fast: the level is a timetable, and the job is to find the gap in it. Waiting is a move like any other, and usually the important one. The floor plan is always drawn one tick ahead — guards where they will be standing, cameras where they will be pointing, lasers as they will be lit — because that is the instant your next step is judged against, and every square you could step into is outlined green or red to say so before you commit. Crates block sight completely and you can stand behind one indefinitely. Eight floors introduce a patrolling guard, a turning camera, crates, a blinking laser, a long route, two guards at once, a camera and a laser together, and finally all of it. Getting spotted costs a star, never a run. No download, no account, no timer.
How to play Sneaky Heist
- Swipe the plan, press the arrow keys or WASD, or use the on-screen pad. Each step moves you one square and advances the clock one tick.
- The dot in the middle of the pad — or the space bar — waits one tick without moving. It counts as a step, and it is often the answer.
- Guards walk a fixed route, one square per tick, and see straight ahead along the way they are walking.
- Cameras never move. They turn on the spot, one direction per tick, on a loop you can count.
- Laser walls blink on and off on their own count, which is not the same count as anything else on the floor.
- Red squares are watched. Stepping into one at the end of your move is being spotted.
- The whole plan is drawn one tick ahead, so what you see is the board your next step will land on — not the board you are standing in.
- Every square you could step into is outlined: green if it will be safe when you arrive, red if it will not.
- Crates block every line of sight, and standing on one hides you completely, for as long as you like.
- Take every piece of loot before you go for the door. The green exit does nothing while anything is still on the floor.
- Being spotted puts you back one step and costs a star. There are no lives and nothing to lose beyond that.
- Three stars is finishing in par without being seen once.
Tips
- Count the loop before you move. A guard on a route of eight ticks is in the same place every eight steps, so the question is never "where is the guard" but "what tick will it be when I get there".
- Waiting is not a wasted step. Most floors have exactly one safe tick to cross a corridor, and the only way to arrive on it is to stand still until it comes round.
- Read the outlines rather than the guards. They already answer the only question that matters, and they answer it about the tick you are stepping into.
- A crate is a free clock. Standing on one costs a tick and nothing else, which is how you shift your timing by any amount you like without moving an inch.
- A guard sees along the way it is walking, so the square directly behind one is safe the whole time it is walking away from you.
- Cameras and lasers rarely share a rhythm on purpose. When both cover a corridor, look for the tick where one is off and the other is looking elsewhere rather than trying to beat them both at once.
- Take the loot on the way through, not on a special trip. Par is a step count, and a detour for a coin you passed earlier is what turns three stars into two.
- Undo takes back the clock as well as the step, so a plan that went wrong four ticks ago can be unwound exactly that far.
FAQ
Is Sneaky Heist free to play?
Yes. It runs in the browser with no download, no sign-up and nothing to buy. All eight floors are included and unlock as you clear them.
Is it a real-time stealth game?
No, and that is the point. Nothing on the floor moves until you do — one step is one tick, and the guards, cameras and lasers all advance by exactly that much. It is a planning puzzle rather than a test of reflexes, so a floor you understand is a floor you can do perfectly.
What does waiting do?
It advances the clock by one tick without moving you. Since every hazard is on a loop, waiting is how you change *when* you arrive somewhere without changing where you are — and most floors have exactly one tick on which a given corridor is safe.
Why does the plan show the guards somewhere they are not?
Because it is drawn one tick ahead. Your step and the guards' happen at the same moment, so the board that decides whether you are seen is the one *after* your move — showing you the current instant would be showing you a board the rules do not use. Every square you could step into is outlined green or red against that same instant.
What happens when I get spotted?
You go back one step, with the clock rewound to match, and the floor carries on. It costs a star and nothing else — there are no lives, no alarm meter and no run to lose. The only real cost is that you now know something you did not know before.
What are the crates for?
They block sight completely, in both directions: nothing can see through one, and nothing can see you while you are standing on one. That makes a crate a free clock — you can wait on it for as many ticks as you need to line your timing up, which is often the whole solution.
Do I have to take all the loot?
Yes. The exit does nothing while anything is still on the floor, so the route has to cover every piece and then reach the door. Par counts the whole thing, which is why the loot is worth picking up on the way past rather than on a return trip.
Is every floor definitely possible?
Yes, and it is searched rather than assumed. Because everything repeats, the entire state of a floor is your position, the clock modulo the schedule, and which loot is left — a few tens of thousands of combinations, small enough to search exhaustively. Par is that search's shortest answer, and the test suite re-derives it and replays it through the real game to check it wins without being seen.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes. Swipe anywhere on the plan to step, or use the arrow pad below it, with a wait key in the middle and undo and restart either side. The plan scales to the frame, and the game is played in portrait rather than asking you to turn the phone.