Socket: the power strip puzzle

Everyone has had this fight. Six things need to be on, the strip has eight sockets, and it still does not work — because the chunky one covers the sockets either side of it, and the lead on the lamp does not quite reach the far end.

Socket is that fight as a puzzle. A plug uses one socket, but its body covers however many its plastic is wide, so a fat adapter costs you three. And every cable comes in from somewhere off the desk and only stretches so far, which decides where each plug is even allowed to go. Get everything plugged in at once and everything comes on.

How to play

Tap a plug to pick it up, then tap a socket to put it in. Pick one up and the strip tells you what it knows: green where the plug fits and the cable reaches, amber where it fits but will not reach, and a band showing exactly how far that lead will stretch.

• Plug in: tap a plug, then tap a socket. The body covers whatever it covers, and you can see it happen.
• Turn it round: tap a plug you are already holding. Some plugs are lopsided, and turning one swaps which neighbour it blocks.
• Unplug: tap anything already in the strip to take it back out.
• Too far: a plug can go somewhere its cable cannot follow. The lead pulls taut and turns red, and that device stays off.

Your progress saves automatically. There is no timer and no move limit.

Why it is clever

The interesting part is not the packing, it is that the cable decides. Bodies alone would let you shuffle the plugs into any order that fits, which is barely a puzzle at all. Because each lead is anchored where its device sits, most plugs have only two or three sockets they can legally use, and the good arrangement is the one where every awkward body happens to land in the gap that its neighbour's cable left behind.

Levels start on a short strip with generous leads and grow: more sockets, more plugs, and cables with less give, until every plug has almost nowhere it can go.

Tips

• Place the fattest plug first. It has the fewest places it can sit, and everything else bends around it.
• Read the band before you commit. A plug with a short lead is telling you where the answer is.
• If two plugs both want the same stretch of strip, one of them probably needs turning round.
• A socket you cannot use is not wasted. Something wide has to sit over it eventually.

Frequently asked questions

Is Socket free? Yes, completely free, with no account and no download, in any modern browser on phone, tablet or desktop.

Does it work on mobile? Yes. The strip stands upright on a phone so the board runs down the screen rather than across it, and every target is a whole socket row.

How do I win? Every plug in a socket, and every cable long enough to reach. Then the whole strip comes on.

Is every level solvable? Yes. Each board is built from a working arrangement and then described back to you as a puzzle, so a solution always exists.

Enjoy a good thinking puzzle? Try Sluice, Bloom or Fold, or browse all Zamborin games.