Bliss Strokes

A Bliss character is hidden between these points. Each point is a button that says how many of the character's lines meet there. Choose a point to set the pen down, then another to try a line between them: a line of the character inks, a miss is marked and the pen stays. Choosing the pen's own point lifts it. Arrows move between points; Enter or Space chooses. Z or Backspace undoes, R restarts, H shows a hint.

Settings

Luke Steuber

Bliss Strokes

Draw the hidden symbol for the word.

The dots are where its lines meet. The number on a dot says how many of its lines touch it.

Tap one dot, then another, to guess a line between them. A right guess draws the line, and the pen waits at its end for your next tap. A wrong guess leaves a dotted mark and costs a try. Tap the pen's dot to lift it and start somewhere else.

Find every line. Par is no wrong guesses. Early boards can be solved from the numbers alone; later ones need the word, and your misses, to help.

Tap a dot, then another — guesses the line between them

Drag — guesses each dot you pass

← ↑ → ↓ then Enter — chooses a dot; Z undoes, H hints

The numbers work as in Hashiwokakero, the bridges puzzle. Charles Bliss built his symbols (Semantography, 1949) from a few shapes drawn on a square between a skyline and an earthline, so a hand that knows the meaning can find the shape. Moving a pen from point to point is EdgeWrite's idea (Wobbrock, Myers and Kembel, 2003), made with the eyes in EyeWrite (2008).

Blissymbols © Blissymbolics Communication International, CC BY-SA 4.0. Word parts from Blissary by Hannes Ljusås, CC BY-SA 4.0. The boards are shared under the same license.

Luke Steuber