Wire: the birds on a wire puzzle

Birds do not land in a queue. One drops onto a telephone wire, the ones already sitting there shuffle along to make room, and the whole line resettles. Wire is that shuffle as a puzzle.

You are handed birds one at a time and you choose which wire each one lands on. There is only so much wire. And some kinds of bird will not perch beside each other, so it is not only about whether there is room, it is about who ends up next to whom. Land every bird and the line is complete.

How to play

The next bird is the one outlined at the top of the screen, and every bird still to come is shown beside it. Tap either end of a wire and the bird lands there. The birds already on that wire budge along to fit.

• Land a bird: tap the left or right end of any wire. Wires that will take the current bird are marked, and wires that will not are simply not offered.
• Watch the feuds: the pairs that refuse to sit together are shown at the top. A bird can never land next to one of its own feuds.
• Read the room: under each wire is how much space is left on it. A full wire says so.
• Undo: takes back one bird at a time, as far back as you want to go.

Your progress saves automatically. There is no timer.

Why it is clever

Fitting things into containers is an easy problem. Take the tightest space that works, every time, and you will win almost always. That version of this game was built first and measured, and one textbook rule with no thinking at all beat between 69 and 92 percent of the boards. Nothing you did early could hurt you.

The feud is what makes it a puzzle. A bird that will not sit beside another one makes a place on the wire illegal for a reason that has nothing to do with space. Suddenly a half empty wire can be closed to you, the order the birds arrive in matters enormously, and a choice you make on the first bird can cost you the level ten birds later. With the feuds in, that same textbook rule wins six percent of the time.

Everything still to come is visible, so nothing is hidden and nothing is luck. The question is only whether you read it in time.

Tips

• Look at the whole queue before the first bird. The trouble is usually a kind that arrives late and has nowhere left to go.
• Keep one wire clean. A wire with only one kind on it can still take more of that kind, and a wire with everything on it often cannot take anything.
• The end of a wire is a resource. Whichever bird is on the end decides what can land there next.
• Wide birds are not the problem. Feuding birds are.

Frequently asked questions

Is Wire 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 wires stack down the screen and each landing spot is half a wire wide, so every target is a comfortable thumb.

How do I win? Every bird on a wire, with nobody sitting next to a bird they will not tolerate.

Is every level solvable? Yes. Each board is built from a wire that already worked and then handed to you in a shuffled order, so an answer always exists.

Can I get stuck? Yes, and that is the point. When a bird has nowhere to land the game says so, and undo takes you back as far as you need.

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