Plant Path vs. Zip
If you play Zip, LinkedIn's daily path puzzle, Plant Path will feel familiar within a move. The core rule is the same. What differs is everything around it.
Plant Path is an independent game by AppWave LLC. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to LinkedIn. Zip and LinkedIn are named here only to compare the two games truthfully.
The same rule
Both games are single-line path puzzles, the family mathematicians call Hamiltonian-path puzzles: draw one line through the numbered points in order while filling every cell of the grid, without ever crossing yourself. Both games use walls the line cannot cross. If you can solve one, you can solve the other; the reading of corners, edges and sealed-off regions carries straight across (see the strategy guide).
What is different
| Zip | Plant Path | |
|---|---|---|
| Puzzles per day | One | One shared daily board, plus an unlimited ladder of levels |
| Account | A LinkedIn account | None. No sign-up, no email |
| Where it plays | Inside LinkedIn | Free in any browser, and as an iOS and Android app |
| Board sizes | One size a day | 4×4 up to 7×7, growing as you climb |
| Rocks | Walls only | Walls on the high ladder, and rocks: blocked cells the line flows around |
| Hints | A hint button | A hint lights the next stretch of the path; ten to start, more optional |
| Streaks | Yes | Yes, with a gift box every seventh straight day |
| Beyond the puzzle | Leaderboard among connections | A 24-hour league, gift boxes, and a window-sill garden grown from prizes |
| Solutions | Unique | Every board proven to have exactly one solution before it is shown |
Why one shared daily, and unlimited levels
The pleasure of a daily puzzle is that everyone has the same one, and Plant Path keeps that: the daily is named by its date and is identical for every player. But one board a day is a small ration for a rule this good, so the level ladder is always open. It starts on tiny 4×4 boards and never ends, adding rocks in the thirties and walls past level 40, so that by the time the daily 7×7 unlocks at level 15 you have grown into it.
Who it is for
Anyone who has finished Zip and wanted another. Anyone who would rather not open LinkedIn to do a puzzle. And anyone who likes a quiet game: Plant Path is hand-brushed ink on paper, with no timer pressing you during a level and no lives to lose. The daily records your time against a par, and that is the only clock in the game.