HERD: Sheepdog Puzzle

You are the sheepdog. Sheep near you run a step away, and a sheep on its own walks back to the flock. Pen them all in the fold. A new field every day.

You are the sheepdog. Pen every sheep in the fold.

HERD is a sheepdog puzzle on a storybook pasture. Tap a paw print and your dog steps one square: up, down, left or right. Sheep move only when you do. Any sheep within two squares of you, diagonals too, runs a step away if it can. A sheep on its own calls "baa" and walks back to the flock when you keep away, if it can. You can push a sheep but never pull it.

Drive the flock through the gate into the dry-stone fold. Pen the last sheep and the gate swings shut.

EVERY FIELD HAS A PAR Par is the fewest moves that pens every sheep, and a solver has proved it for every field in the game. Your record on a field is your fewest moves, and matching par earns its rosette. After any win, Show me par walks your dog along a par route.

LOOK BEFORE YOU STEP Press and hold a paw print and the field shows where each sheep would go. Let go and nothing moves. Undo takes back a step as often as you like, and Restart puts the field back as it began.

A NEW FIELD EVERY DAY Today's field is on Home. Everyone gets the same field on the same date, and every one is already inside the app, so it plays in aeroplane mode. A daily field counts for your streak when you start it on its own day and pen every sheep. Missed a day? Every earlier day is in Past days, free to play. A day played late goes in your record, never in your streak.

58 FIELDS IN TWELVE CHAPTERS Four short lessons each teach one rule by playing it. The fields open one by one, from a single sheep to a flock of three among the hedges, with pars from 6 to 40 moves.

YOUR RECORD Your streak and best streak; the daily fields you have penned, on their day or late, and how many at par; how far over par the rest came in; this month's calendar; your fields penned and your rosettes. Share a penned day as a picture of the fold with the day's sheep inside and a line with your moves against par. Neither shows the day's hedges or your route.

NOTHING COLLECTED No account, no ads, no analytics, no purchases and no network requests. Your progress stays on your phone, and a field you leave is kept exactly as it was. Sound and haptics can each be switched off.

A Question Assembly game. J ∞ N.