How to solve Sokoban: Alternate Methods

How to solve Sokoban: Alternate Methods

[Note: This spoiler is valid for 3.3.1, 3.4.0, and 3.4.1.]

by Jukka Lahtinen, [email protected]
HTML Conversion by Kate Nepveu ([email protected]).
Updated September 5, 2002.

If you want to be able to solve Sokoban without immobilizing any boulders,
here are two alternate methods. Boulder symbols are replaced by uppercase
letters; all other possible items and monsters removed for clarity.

• Level 2, Version B
• Level 4, Version A

Level 2, Version B

┌──────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWX │ 1. Push P to F3, and finish O. Push N to │
│ ---- ----------- │ B2. │
│ --.@-------- |.........|12 │ 2. Push B down 2, to H8. C left one to │
│ |..........| |.........|11 │ H2. │
│ |.A-----B-.| |.........|10 │ 3. Push M left one, to I4. F up one, to │
│ |..|...|.C.| |....<....|9 │ I9. B left two, from H8 to F8. │
│ |.D.E....F-| |.........|8 │ │
│ |.G..H..|..| |.........|7 │ │
│ |.----I.--.| |.........|6 │ │
│ |..J...K.|.-- |.........|5 │ │
│ |.---L-...M.------------+|4 │ │
│ |...|..N-.O.^^^^^^^^^^^^.|3 │ │
│ |..P......----------------2 │ │
│ -----..|..| 1 │ │
│ ------- │ │
│ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWX │ │
│ │ │
├──────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWX │ 1. K down one, to G4. Finish M. │
│ ---- ----------- │ 2. K up one, back to G5. │
│ --.>-------- |.........|12 │ 3. P right one, down one, right two, up │
│ |..........| |.........|11 │ two to where M was. │
│ |.A-----.-.| |.........|10 │ 4. Move K down one again, to G4, and │
│ |..|...|CF.| |....<....|9 │ finish P like M. │
│ |.D.E.B...-| |.........|8 │ │
│ |.G..H.@|..| |.........|7 │ │
│ |.----I.--.| |.........|6 │ │
│ |..J...K.|.-- |.........|5 │ │
│ |.---L-..M..------------+|4 │ │
│ |...|.P.-....^^^^^^^^^^^.|3 │ │
│ |.N.......----------------2 │ │
│ -----..|..| 1 │ │
│ ------- │ │
│ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWX │ │
│ │ │
├──────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWX │ 1. Finish K, the moves for that should be │
│ ---- ----------- │ trivial by now. │
│ --.>-------- |.........|12 │ 2. Move N to the right, finishing it like │
│ |..........| |.........|11 │ P and M. │
│ |.A-----.-.| |.........|10 │ 3. Push L to where N is in the picture, │
│ |..|...|CF.| |....<....|9 │ finish it the same way as N. │
│ |.D.E.B...-| |.........|8 │ 4. Push J to G5 and finish it. Now the │
│ |.G..H..|..| |.........|7 │ screen looks like this: │
│ |.----I.--.| |.........|6 │ │
│ |..J.....|.-- |.........|5 │ │
│ |.---L-K....------------+|4 │ │
│ |...|...-....@.^^^^^^^^^.|3 │ │
│ |.N.......----------------2 │ │
│ -----..|..| 1 │ │
│ ------- │ │
│ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWX │ │
│ │ │
├──────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWX │ 1. Now finish I. │
│ ---- ----------- │ 2. Push C one down and one left (to G8) │
│ --.>-------- |.........|12 │ to clear the way between the passage │
│ |..........| |.........|11 │ 3. there and the stairs. │
│ |.A-----.-.| |.........|10 │ 4. Push G one right, A one up and D one │
│ |..|...|CF.| |....<....|9 │ up. │
│ |.D.E.B...-| |.........|8 │ 5. Now push E one right, and move B to │
│ |.G..H..|..| |.........|7 │ I4. │
│ |.----I.--.| |.........|6 │ 6. Move C one left, to F4. Finish B. │
│ |........|.-- |.........|5 │ 7. Finish C like B. │
│ |.---.-.....------------+|4 │ │
│ |...|...-........@.^^^^^.|3 │ │
│ |.........----------------2 │ │
│ -----..|..| 1 │ │
│ ------- │ │
│ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWX │ │
│ │ │
├──────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWX │ 1. Now you can finish E and H, and there │
│ ---- ----------- │ you are. │
│ --.>-------- |.........|12 │ 2. All remaining boulders movable. │
│ |.A........| |.........|11 │ │
│ |..-----.-.| |.........|10 │ │
│ |.D|...|.F.| |....<....|9 │ │
│ |....E....-| |.........|8 │ │
│ |..G.H..|..| |.........|7 │ │
│ |.----..--.| |.........|6 │ │
│ |........|.-- |.........|5 │ │
│ |.---.-.....------------+|4 │ │
│ |...|...-...........@.^^.|3 │ │
│ |.........----------------2 │ │
│ -----..|..| 1 │ │
│ ------- │ │
│ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWX │ │
│ │ │
└──────────────────────────────┴────────────────────────────────────────────┘
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Level 4, Version A

┌───────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWX │ 1. First, go to the room with boulders K │
│ -------------------------- │ to Q. │
│ |@......^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^.|16 │ 2. Push boulder N three squares right │
│ |.......----------------.|15 │ (to J6). │
│ -------.------ |.|14 │ 3. Move P two squares right, three down │
│ |...........| |.|13 │ and five left (to B2). │
│ |.A.B.C.D.E.| |.|12 │ 4. Move F two left. │
│ --------.----| |.|11 │ 5. Move J one right, 4 down, 2 right, 3 │
│ |...F.G..H.I.| |.|10 │ down and 2 left (to E2). │
│ |...J........| |.| 9 │ │
│ -----.-------- ------|.| 8 │ │
│ |..K.L.M...| --|.....|.| 7 │ │
│ |.....N....| |.+.....|.| 6 │ │
│ |.O.P...Q.-- |-|.....|.| 5 │ │
│ -------.---- |.+.....+.| 4 │ │
│ |..R.....| |-|.....|-- 3 │ │
│ |........| |.+.....| 2 │ │
│ |...------ --|.....| 1 │ │
│ ----- ------- │ │
│ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWX │ │
│ │ │
├───────────────────────────────┴───────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Now the level looks like this: │
├───────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWX │ 1. Now move G two left (to D10) and H │
│ -------------------------- │ two left (to G10). │
│ |>......^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^.|16 │ 2. Move D one left, three down, three │
│ |.......----------------.|15 │ left, four down, one right (to F5). │
│ -------.------ |.|14 │ 3. Push K one left, to C7. │
│ |...........| |.|13 │ 4. Move C one right, three down, three │
│ |.A.B.C.D.E.| |.|12 │ left, three down (to E6). │
│ --------.----| |.|11 │ │
│ |.F...G..H.I.| |.|10 │ │
│ |............| |.| 9 │ │
│ -----.-------- ------|.| 8 │ │
│ |..K.L.M...| --|.....|.| 7 │ │
│ |........N.| |.+.....|.| 6 │ │
│ |.O.....Q.-- |-|.....|.| 5 │ │
│ -------.---- |.+.....+.| 4 │ │
│ |..R.....| |-|.....|-- 3 │ │
│ |.P..J@..| |.+.....| 2 │ │
│ |...------ --|.....| 1 │ │
│ ----- ------- │ │
│ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWX │ │
│ │ │
├───────────────────────────────┴───────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Now the screen looks like this: │
├───────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWX │ Now the preparations are ready and you're │
│ -------------------------- │ ready to begin actually filling the │
│ |>......^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^.|16 │ holes! The route for each boulder at this │
│ |.......----------------.|15 │ stage should be clear, so I mostly just │
│ -------.------ |.|14 │ list the order: │
│ |...........| |.|13 │ │
│ |.A.B.....E.| |.|12 │ 1. First, push boulders I, H, G and F to │
│ --------.----| |.|11 │ the holes. │
│ |.F.G..H...I.| |.|10 │ 2. Then boulders C, K, L and M. │
│ |............| |.| 9 │ 3. Push N three left, one up, and the │
│ -----.-------- ------|.| 8 │ rest of the way to the next hole. │
│ |[email protected]...| --|.....|.| 7 │ │
│ |...C....N.| |.+.....|.| 6 │ │
│ |.O..D..Q.-- |-|.....|.| 5 │ │
│ -------.---- |.+.....+.| 4 │ │
│ |..R.....| |-|.....|-- 3 │ │
│ |.P..J...| |.+.....| 2 │ │
│ |...------ --|.....| 1 │ │
│ ----- ------- │ │
│ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWX │ │
│ │ │
├───────────────────────────────┴───────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ The map should now look like this: │
├───────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWX │ 1. Next, use boulders R and P. │
│ -------------------------- │ 2. Move J two left, one up, and to the │
│ |>.............@.^^^^^^^.|16 │ next hole. Now the bottom │
│ |.......----------------.|15 │ 3. room is empty. │
│ -------.------ |.|14 │ 4. Next, move Q left 2, down 3, left 4, │
│ |...........| |.|13 │ up 1, and to the hole. │
│ |.A.B.....E.| |.|12 │ 5. Take D and O the same way. │
│ --------.----| |.|11 │ 6. Move B right 3, down 3, left 3, down │
│ |............| |.|10 │ 3, up 4.. and to the last hole. │
│ |............| |.| 9 │ │
│ -----.-------- ------|.| 8 │ │
│ |..........| --|.....|.| 7 │ │
│ |..........| |.+.....|.| 6 │ │
│ |.O..D..Q.-- |-|.....|.| 5 │ │
│ -------.---- |.+.....+.| 4 │ │
│ |..R.....| |-|.....|-- 3 │ │
│ |.P..J...| |.+.....| 2 │ │
│ |...------ --|.....| 1 │ │
│ ----- ------- │ │
│ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWX │ │
│ │ │
└───────────────────────────────┴───────────────────────────────────────────┘
All holes filled, and you haven't yet touched boulders A and E!