⚡Shortest Circuit: The Electric Path-Finding Puzzle Game
· 4 min read
Shortest Circuit uses a shortest-path mechanic to make an interactive maze puzzle! Rotate diodes, drag blocks, and route electricity through every lightbulb.
You can play Shortest Circuit free in your browser right now, or download it for iPhone, iPad, and Android.
What Is Shortest Circuit?
Shortest Circuit is a circuit-board puzzle game. A power source sits somewhere on the grid. A receiver is elsewhere. Between them: a tangle of wires, lightbulbs that need power, directional diodes, and moveable blocks that open or seal off paths.
Your goal: route the electrical current so it passes through every lightbulb before reaching the receiver.
The grid looks like a PCB — printed circuit board — with a clean dark visual style and satisfying glow effects when current flows.
The Core Mechanic: All Shortest Paths Run at Once
Here is what makes Shortest Circuit genuinely unique.
In a standard path-routing puzzle, current goes from A to B and you control which route it takes. In Shortest Circuit, the engine calculates every path that shares the minimum number of steps from the power source to the receiver, and runs current through all of them simultaneously.
Block the most direct route, and the current doesn't stop — it splits and flows through every alternative of equal length instead. This means:
- A single diode rotation can redirect just one branch of the current
- Opening a new short path will immediately divert current onto it
- Bulbs that seemed unreachable can be lit by creating the right split
Learning to control not just where current goes but how it branches — that is the skill that unlocks the harder levels.
How to Play
Tap a diode arrow to rotate it. Diodes control which direction current can flow at a junction. Rotating one changes the downstream paths available from that point.
Drag moveable blocks to open or close paths. Some blocks can be moved freely; others can only be moved once and then lock in place permanently.
Route current through every lightbulb. A level is complete when the current reaches the receiver having passed through all bulbs on the grid. Miss one and the circuit stays open.
Use fewer moves for a higher score. There is always a minimum-move solution. Finding it earns a perfect score; getting there is the real challenge for perfectionists.
Hazards to Watch For
Ground Faults — Instant Game Over
If current reaches a ground node, the circuit shorts. There is no warning. One wrong rotation and the level restarts.
One-Way Diodes
Some diodes are fixed direction — they cannot be rotated. They force the current down specific corridors and constrain which paths are available. Around these, you have to work with the topology you've been given.
Single-Move Blocks
Certain moveable blocks can only be moved once. After that, they lock permanently in their new position. Make the wrong move and a path you needed later is gone for good.
Battery-Limited Levels
Some levels include a battery counter. Every move you make depletes it. Run out of moves before lighting all the bulbs and the level fails. These levels require solving the puzzle in a set number of steps — efficient routing is essential.
Features
Handcrafted campaign levels — A progression of puzzles that introduce new mechanics gradually, from single-branch routing all the way to multi-path mazes with ground faults and limited batteries.
Community levels — Levels designed and shared by other players, discoverable from inside the game. The difficulty range is wide: some are approachable, some are fiendish.
Built-in level editor — Design your own circuit board and publish it for the community to solve. Place power sources, receivers, bulbs, diodes, and blocks; test your layout; share it with a link.
Global leaderboards — Each level tracks move-count scores. Compete for the minimum-move solution against players worldwide.
Play anywhere — Shortest Circuit runs in any browser at shortest-circuit.mento.co.uk with no install required. The iOS and Android apps add offline play and push the campaign further.
Who Is Shortest Circuit For?
If you enjoy logic puzzles, path-routing games, or anything involving directed graphs and flow — Shortest Circuit is built for you. The early levels are accessible; the later levels are genuinely hard in the way that good puzzle games are hard: the solution always exists, but finding the efficient one requires real lateral thinking.
It sits in the same genre as circuit-drawing puzzles, flow-routing games, and current-tracing brain teasers, but the parallel shortest-path mechanic sets it apart from all of them.
Play Now
The browser version is free and requires no account to try. Open it on your phone, tablet, or desktop:
Play Shortest Circuit in your browser →
Or download for a native experience with the full campaign and leaderboards: