fertig-classic-games/src/games/pipepuzzle/tutorial.md

Pipe Puzzle

A branching pipe network must be sealed: every open pipe end has to meet neighbouring pipe. Water enters at the faucet and the network is complete when not a single socket is left open. No leaks allowed.

The Goal

• Spin the pipes until no pipe end leaks — every socket is matched with a neighbour that opens back.
• Open pipe ends are fine as long as they connect to another pipe.
• An open end that points at a wall, or at a tile whose socket isn't open, is a leak (it glows red). Leaks keep the puzzle unsolved.

How the Board Works

• The network is a branching tree: from the faucet there is exactly one route to every dead end. No loops, no shortcuts.
• Dead ends can be anywhere on the grid — top, bottom, left, right. Don't assume the "exit" is on one side.
• The faucet (brass) and the drain (iron) are the two long routes; the rest of the dead ends hang off branch points.

How to Play

• Click (or tap) a pipe to rotate it 90° clockwise.
• R rotates the pipe under the mouse — handy for fine-tuning.
• ESC takes you back to the difficulty screen.
• New Puzzle deals a fresh board of the same size; Leave / Menu goes back to the game menu.
• The faucet (brass valve) and the drain (iron grate) are fixed — they don't rotate. Use them as your anchor points.

Reading the Board

• Straight pipes (two flanged collars) carry water in a line.
• Elbow pipes (corner collar with three bolts) turn water 90°.
• T-pieces (a tee body with three arms) split the flow — one arm is the "dead end" of that branch.
• Dead ends (a single capped stub) are the leaves of the tree — each one sits at the end of exactly one route from the faucet.
• Water (the blue glow) shows everything currently connected to the faucet; the animated pulses show the flow direction.
• The LEAKS counter tells you how many open ends remain. Solved = 0 leaks.

Difficulty

Tier	Grid	Notes
Easy	6 × 6	A gentle introduction — a small branching net.
Medium	7 × 7	More T-pieces, longer branches.
Hard	8 × 8	Real mazes; plan ahead.
Expert	10 × 10	100 pipes, dense network. Bring coffee.

Scoring

• No score, just time and moves — your best time per difficulty is kept on this device.
• Beat the par time for the grid to earn ★★★, and you'll see it on the difficulty card.

Tips

• Anchors first. The faucet and drain are fixed. Find the pieces that must connect to them — that constrains a lot of the board.
• Trace branches, not just the main line. Every T-piece has a "dead arm." That arm must end in a dead-end stub. Find the matching stub and you've locked in the T's orientation.
• Dead ends are your clues. A capped stub must rotate to face the correct neighbour. Since there's exactly one route to each dead end, finding the stub locks in every tile along that whole branch.
• Work branch by branch. Solve one dead end's route, lock it in, then take the next branch off the nearest T-piece.
• If you're stuck, check for pairs of stubs that must both face the same tile — that's usually the key move.