If you searched for sokoban classic or sokoban levels, the honest answer is simple: you do not need an app or an installer. Sokoban Classic runs as HTML5 Canvas directly in your browser tab. This guide covers exactly how it plays — the real rules from the game code, all 15 levels, the actual scoring formula, every control on desktop and mobile, and a few habits that make the later levels much easier.
Play it now: Sokoban Classic
Want the wider picture first? The Browser Puzzle Games Tips guide covers the whole puzzle family. For more box-pushing and logic titles, see Best Browser Puzzle Games.
How to Play Sokoban Classic in the Browser
Sokoban is the classic warehouse puzzle: you are a worker in a grid of walls, boxes, and floor tiles, and your job is to push every box onto a target. The game has three phases — menu → playing → game over — and 15 handcrafted levels, from a one-push tutorial to five-box layouts.
- Push, never pull. Walking into a box pushes it one tile if the tile behind it is empty floor or a target. You cannot pull a box toward you, you cannot push two boxes at once, and you cannot push a box into a wall or into another box.
- Targets decide the win. A box sitting on a cyan target is solved. When no box remains off-target, the level is solved: a short overlay appears, and the next level starts automatically after about 1.4 seconds.
- Fifteen levels, then game over. Clear level 15 and the run ends with your total score and your best score on that device.
All 15 levels are solvable — the layouts are handcrafted, not random, and the built-in undo means a dead end is never permanent.
Scoring: Base, Move Penalty and the Sokoban Best
Every cleared level pays a score, and the formula is the same for all 15 levels:
- Base = 500 + (level number − 1) × 50. Level 1 is worth 500, level 2 is worth 550, and the final level 15 is worth 1,200.
- Move penalty = (moves − 5) × 8, applied only when you took more than 5 moves to clear the level. The first 5 moves are always free.
- Level score = max(60, base − penalty). You always keep at least 60 points for clearing a level, no matter how many moves it took.
Two worked examples:
- Level 2 in 8 moves: base = 550, penalty = (8 − 5) × 8 = 24, so the level pays 526 points.
- Level 15 in 5 moves: base = 1,200, penalty = 0, so the level pays the full 1,200 points.
Your total run score accumulates across all 15 levels and is the number that matters. Your best total is saved under a single local storage key (sokoban_best) on the device you play on — there is no per-level best score, and nothing is synced to a server or account.
Controls: Desktop and Mobile
| Action | Desktop | Mobile |
|---|---|---|
| Move | Arrow keys or WASD | tap a cell (moves one step toward it) or swipe |
| Undo last move | Z | footer ↩ UNDO |
| Restart current level | R | footer ↺ RESTART |
| Back to menu | footer ☰ MENU | footer ☰ MENU |
The footer holds exactly three buttons — ↩ UNDO, ↺ RESTART, and ☰ MENU — on every screen size. There are no on-screen direction pad buttons: on mobile you move by tapping a cell (the player takes one step toward it) or by swiping in the direction you want to go. Undo steps back through your move history (up to 200 moves) and decreases the move count, so undoing can actually improve your level score.
Why It Is Free and Needs No Download
- It runs as a Canvas game inside the browser tab — nothing to install, no separate app, no account.
- There is no paywall and no energy system: every one of the 15 levels is open from the start, and you can restart any level as often as you like.
- Your best total lives only on this device in browser local storage. No cloud, no login, no cross-device sync.
- The page may show ads, but the game itself is free to play.
Tips for Clearing Levels Faster
1. Never pin a box into a corner. A box in a corner can only be pushed along the two walls — if the target is anywhere else, that box is stuck forever. Look ahead before the push that sends a box to the edge of the room.
2. Undo early, not late. The undo stack is deep (200 moves), but the cheapest fix is the one you make in the first two or three moves. If a push feels wrong, hit Z immediately instead of trying to rescue the layout.
3. Plan backwards from the targets. The last push of every level puts a box on a target, so work out the final position of each box first, then figure out where the worker needs to stand to make that push happen.
4. Keep a corridor of open floor. The worker needs room to walk around boxes to push them from the right side. If you box yourself into a corner with the boxes, you are out of pushing angles — undo and reposition.
5. Do not chase the minimum-move score on your first clear. The move penalty is only 8 points per extra move, and clearing the level is worth at least 60. Beat the level first, then use R to replay it and tighten the route.
6. Push, never pull — and remember it when you plan. Because you can only push, every box's path is a one-way trip from where it starts. Route boxes so the final push direction points at the target, not away from it.
Sokoban Classic FAQ
Do I really need to download anything to play?
No. Sokoban Classic loads as HTML5 Canvas directly in your browser tab. There is no installer, no app-store step, and no account to create — click the game and it starts on level 1.
How many levels are there?
Fifteen handcrafted levels, from a one-push tutorial to five-box layouts. All 15 are solvable, and after level 15 the run ends with your total score.
Can I undo a move?
Yes. Press Z on desktop or tap the footer ↩ UNDO button on any device. Undo steps back through up to 200 moves and decreases the move count, so you can recover from a dead end without restarting the level.
How is my score calculated?
Each cleared level pays max(60, base − penalty) where base is 500 + (level − 1) × 50 and penalty is (moves − 5) × 8 when you took more than 5 moves. Level scores add up to a total run score, and your best total is saved on the device only.
Can I pull boxes?
No — this version is push-only, like the classic warehouse puzzle. You push a box one tile by walking into it, and only when the tile behind it is free. That single rule is what makes the layouts worth planning.