Traveling Salesman
Visit every city once and loop back home on the shortest possible route · match the optimum to win, and the map gains a city as you climb
About Traveling Salesman
Traveling Salesman is a bite-size route-optimization puzzle built on one of the most famous problems in computer science · the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP). A handful of cities are scattered across a map, and you start at home. Your job is to plan a tour that visits every city exactly once and loops back home, using the shortest total distance possible. Tap the cities in the order you would drive them and the route draws itself; the live distance counter tells you how long your loop is.
Why it trains your brain. Finding the shortest tour is pure spatial reasoning and planning · you have to weigh whole orderings against each other, notice when a route crosses itself and wastes distance, and search for the arrangement that can't be beaten. There is no formula to apply; you reason about the geometry directly, which is exactly the kind of optimization thinking the TSP made famous.
Match the optimum to win. Every map is solved exactly behind the scenes, so a round only counts as a win when your loop matches the true shortest route · equally-short tours all count. Come up longer and the game reveals the optimal route over your own so you can see the crossing you should have untangled.
The map grows as you climb. Early rounds are four or five cities · short enough to eyeball. Every few levels the map gains another city, and each extra stop multiplies the number of possible routes, so spotting the shortest loop gets harder the further your streak runs.
Part of the PlayMemorize family of brain-training games. Runs entirely in your browser, works offline as a Progressive Web App.
FAQ
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How do I play Traveling Salesman?
You start at the home marker. Tap the other cities one by one in the order you would visit them · the route draws as you go and the distance counter updates. Once every city is on the route, press Check. If your loop matches the shortest possible route, you win the round. -
What is the Traveling Salesman Problem?
It is a classic optimization problem: given a set of cities, find the shortest possible route that visits each one exactly once and returns to the start. It is famously hard because the number of possible routes explodes as you add cities · this game lets you tackle small, solvable instances by hand. -
How does the game know the route is optimal?
Each map is small enough that the game computes the exact shortest tour by checking every possible ordering. Your loop wins when its length matches that optimum. If two different routes tie for shortest, either one counts as a win. -
What happens if my route is not the shortest?
The round counts as a loss and the game draws the true optimal route over your own so you can compare. Look for places where your loop crosses itself · an un-crossing almost always shortens the tour. Use Undo to drop the last city or Clear to start the route over. -
Does it get harder as I go?
Yes. Each successful round bumps your level, and every few levels the map gains another city. Since every extra stop sharply increases the number of possible routes, the shortest loop gets steadily harder to spot the longer your streak runs. -
Does it work offline?
Yes. PlayMemorize is a Progressive Web App. Install once and Traveling Salesman plays anywhere without an internet connection.