Which way does the loop go?

Either way. You can leave the circle in either direction, and the numbered gates must be passed in order going that way round.

Does the loop have to fill the grid?

No. It must start and end at the circle and pass every gate once. Squares it doesn’t need stay empty.

Can the loop go through a black square?

No. Black squares are walls. Lines drawn into one turn red.

How big are the puzzles?

The daily Slalom is 9×9, picked from two dozen candidates as the one that needs the most real reasoning: a person can only draw a small part of the loop straight away. Practice puzzles come in 6×6, 8×8 and 10×10.

How to play Slalom

スラローム

The rules

Draw one loop that starts and ends at the circle, moving from square to square horizontally and vertically. It never crosses itself or enters a black square.
Pass straight through every gate (the dotted lines) exactly once. The number in the circle says how many gates there are.
A number on a black square says when its gate is passed: 1 is the first gate after leaving the circle, 2 the second, and so on. You can leave the circle in either direction.

Watch one get solved

DemoStep through a small Slalom being solved. Each move follows from one rule, and the ring shows which clue it comes from.The 2 in the circle means two gates, and the loop goes straight through each one. This gate is one square between two black squares, so the loop runs straight up and down through it.The loop starts and ends at the circle. The circle is in a corner, so the loop turns there: up and right. Going up, it meets a black square and turns again, joining the gate’s line.Dead ends stay empty. The top-left square has only one open side, so the loop can’t use it. The line out of the top of the gate must turn right instead.A line can’t stop in a square. With the black square and the edge in the way, each square it reaches has only one way on: along the top row, then down the right side.Each gate is crossed once, straight across. The second gate’s top square is out: the square to its left already has two lines. So the loop crosses the bottom square and turns up in the corner. Solved!

Using the board

Drag from square to square to draw the loop. Drag back over a line to erase it.
Tap right on the border between two squares to add or remove that one piece of line.
The circled number is how many gates there are. A finished loop must pass through every one.
Lines turn red if they run into a black square, branch, or close a loop too early. A gate turns red if it’s crossed twice, crossed at an angle, or crossed out of order.

Try a small one

Warm-up puzzle

What is Slalom?

Slalom is a route puzzle from Nikoli. You draw one loop that leaves the circle, threads through every gate on the course and comes back, like a skier clearing every gate on a slalom run.

The gates are the dotted lines. The loop must cross each one exactly once, at a right angle. Black squares are walls, and a number on a black square tells you when its gate is passed: 1 is the first gate after leaving the circle, 2 the second, and so on. The number in the circle is the total number of gates.

How to start a Slalom

Look at the short gates first. A gate only one or two squares long leaves very few places to cross, and since the loop crosses straight through, each crossing fixes a small straight piece of the loop.

Next, rule out squares. A square boxed in by black squares and the edge on three sides is a dead end, so the loop can’t use it. Squares of a gate the loop has already crossed are off-limits too.

Numbers come last. Count gates from the circle in each direction: the gate marked 1 must be the first one the loop reaches, whichever way it sets off.

Common mistakes

Crossing a gate along its length doesn’t count. The loop has to go straight across it.

The loop doesn’t have to visit every square, so don’t force it into empty corners. Only the gates and the circle are required.

Questions

Which way does the loop go?: Either way. You can leave the circle in either direction, and the numbered gates must be passed in order going that way round.
Does the loop have to fill the grid?: No. It must start and end at the circle and pass every gate once. Squares it doesn’t need stay empty.
Can the loop go through a black square?: No. Black squares are walls. Lines drawn into one turn red.
How big are the puzzles?: The daily Slalom is 9×9, picked from two dozen candidates as the one that needs the most real reasoning: a person can only draw a small part of the loop straight away. Practice puzzles come in 6×6, 8×8 and 10×10.

Play today’s Slalom Solving techniques