Levels 1-5 are free. Levels 6-30 need a $3 licence key. About the full pack
If you are looking for an ice sliding puzzle to play online, the kind where a piece glides across the floor and cannot stop until something is in its way, Driftquartz is built on exactly that rule. It runs in a browser tab on a desktop or a phone, with nothing to install and no account to create.
To be plain about the look: no ice is drawn on the board. The floor is dark, the piece is amber and the gems are blue. What Driftquartz shares with ice-floor puzzles is the movement, and the movement is the whole game.
Level 1 before the first slide: the amber piece, a blue gem, grey walls and the shut exit (the crossed ring).
Slide until you hit a wall
You choose up, down, left or right. The piece then slides in a straight line and stops only when the next cell is a wall or the edge of the board. You cannot brake halfway and you cannot turn during a slide. If the piece already rests against a wall, a move towards that wall does nothing and is not counted.
Gems and the exit
Every gem the piece slides over is collected, even when the slide carries on past it. The exit is shut until you hold every gem, and while it is shut the piece slides over it as if it were floor. Once the last gem is collected the exit opens and catches the piece, which ends the level.
Why sliding makes a puzzle
Because the piece cannot stop where it likes, most cells of a board cannot be reached directly. A cell is a stopping place only if a wall or the edge lies just beyond it. A level is therefore a question of order: which wall to stop against first, so that the next slide lines up with a gem. The whole board is on screen from the first move and nothing is random, so every level can be worked out by thinking ahead.
Each level shows a par, the smallest number of moves that solves it. The par comes from the game's own solver script, which searches every possible sequence of moves.
Level 1 as an example
Level 1 is a 5 by 5 board with three walls and one gem. The piece starts in the bottom left corner. The gem is in the right-hand column, in the second row from the top, and the exit is in the same column, in the fourth row from the top.
Slide right and the piece crosses the bottom row, four cells, to the right edge. Slide up and it travels three cells: it passes over the shut exit, reaches the gem and stops there against a wall. Holding the only gem opens the exit. Slide down and the piece moves two cells and is caught by the exit. That is three moves, which is the par for level 1. The how to play page shows this route as a drawing and lists the controls.
How big the levels are
The five free levels use boards of 5x5 and 6x6 with 1 to 3 gems, and their par runs from 3 to 7 moves. The 25 levels of the full pack are larger: boards from 7x7 to 10x10 with 3 to 6 gems, and par from 8 to 20 moves. The sliding rule is the same on every level.
What is free and what costs $3
Levels 1-5 are free: no account, no key, no time limit. Levels 6-30 are the full pack and need a $3 licence key, sold on Gumroad.
Gumroad shows the key after the purchase and on your receipt. You enter it on the unlock page and the 25 extra levels are stored in this browser.
Buy the $3 licence key on Gumroad
Refunds and support go through Gumroad: use the contact link on your Gumroad receipt. Refunds follow Gumroad's refund policy.
More about Driftquartz
How to play, Free logic puzzle, No-download gem puzzle, Short puzzle for a break, Puzzle with no ads and no sign-up, Autumn puzzle, Halloween puzzle