Flow Connect
NEWWorks on both desktop and mobile. Tap or click to play.
About This Game
Play Flow Connect free online - link matching colored dots with pipes that fill the whole grid without crossing. Addictive level-based puzzle fun.
How to play Flow Connect
Objective: Clear a level by connecting every matching pair of colored dots with pipes so that all pairs are joined and every single cell on the grid is filled.
Start by choosing a grid size. Easy is a 5x5 grid with 4 colors, Medium is 6x6 with 5 colors, and Hard is 7x7 with 6 colors. Each color appears as two dots and your job is to link them. Press on one dot and drag toward its partner. The pipe follows your pointer one cell at a time through neighboring squares, so you can drag across the board or move square by square. Release to stop drawing that color, then start the next dot.
Two conditions must both be true to win, and the counter at the top tracks the first one as Connected X/Y. Connecting all pairs is not enough by itself. You also have to cover every cell, so no square can be left empty. Because levels are built from a path that visits the whole grid, a full-coverage solution always exists. When a color's dot gets its solid white ring and glow, that pair is finished and locked.
Pipes cannot cross. If you drag into a cell already taken by another color, the pipe stops and will not enter. To undo, drag back over the cell you just left and the pipe retracts one step at a time. You can also drag straight back along a whole line to erase it quickly. Once a pipe reaches its matching endpoint it is done and will not extend further, so you cannot overshoot past a completed connection.
Use Reset to clear every pipe and start the current layout over without changing the puzzle. Use New Level to generate a fresh random board at your chosen difficulty. Levels cleared is saved in your browser and keeps counting across sessions. There is no timer, no score, and no lives, so you can take as long as you want and redraw any pipe as many times as needed until both conditions are met.
Tips and strategy
Corners force the route
A corner cell has only two neighbors, so whichever pipe passes through it must use both of those sides. Plan corners early because they leave you no choice, and one wrong pipe near a corner usually strands an empty cell you cannot reach later.
Fill dictates the layout
Since you must cover every cell, the shortest link between two dots is rarely correct. Deliberately route pipes the long way to soak up squares that no other color can reach, especially edges and pockets that a direct line would skip.
Backtrack, do not reset
Dragging a pipe back over its own last cell retracts it one step, and dragging back along a straight run erases that whole stretch. Fix one wrong color this way instead of hitting Reset and losing the other pipes you already placed correctly.
Watch the ring
A finished pair gains a bright white ring with a glow, and that connection locks so the pipe cannot extend past it. Use those completed rings to confirm which colors are done, then focus only on the pairs still missing from the Connected count.
Leave no islands
Before finishing the last pair, scan for empty cells boxed in by pipes. A single trapped square means a pipe took a shortcut earlier. Reroute a nearby color to swallow that cell, because the level will not clear while any square stays blank.
Frequently asked questions
Why does connecting all the dots not clear the level?
Connecting every pair only satisfies half the requirement. The level also checks that every cell on the grid is filled by some pipe. If any square is still empty, the win does not trigger. The Connected counter can read full while the board is not solved, so hunt down blank cells to finish.
Can pipes of different colors cross each other?
No. If you drag a pipe into a cell already occupied by another color, it refuses to enter and the pipe stops there. Each cell holds exactly one color. The only cell a pipe may reuse is its own matching endpoint, which is where the connection completes and locks.
How do I undo a pipe without starting over?
Drag back over the cell your pipe just came from and it retracts one step. Drag back further along a straight section and the whole run erases as you go. This lets you correct a single color without touching pipes you already placed. Reset only exists to wipe the entire board at once.
Is every generated level actually solvable?
Yes. Each board is built from a single path that already visits every cell, then that path is split into colored segments. A full-coverage solution always exists by construction. If a layout feels impossible, a pipe has taken a shortcut and stranded cells, so reroute rather than assume the puzzle is broken.
Does Flow Connect have a timer, score, or lives?
No. There is no clock, no points, and no way to lose. The only thing tracked is Levels cleared, which counts how many boards you have solved and is saved in your browser so it persists between visits. Take as long as you want and redraw pipes freely.
What changes between Easy, Medium, and Hard?
Grid size and color count. Easy is a 5x5 board with 4 pairs, Medium is 6x6 with 5 pairs, and Hard is 7x7 with 6 pairs. Larger grids with more colors mean more cells to fill and more competing routes, which makes leaving no empty squares much harder to plan.