Screw Puzzle

A nuts and bolts puzzle built around empty holes

Screw Puzzle is a free online screw puzzle. You lift one screw at a time, park it in an empty hole and work toward removing every metal plate. The board uses fixed anchor points, so one shared screw can hold more than one plate.

This is the empty-hole style of screw game. It does not use color-matching collection boxes, a countdown, lives or purchasable power-ups. You can study a board, move a pin, and undo a choice while the puzzle is still in progress.

How to play Screw Puzzle

Tap or click an occupied hole to pick up its screw. The screw stays in your hand until you select an empty hole on the board or in the spare-hole row. Once every anchor of a plate is empty, that plate is removed permanently.

Clear all plates to win the level. You do not need to collect the screws by color. Empty holes are reusable, and a screw moved into a shared anchor can support the plates that still use that point.

Shared screws and hanging plates

Some levels place several strips around one anchor. Removing that single pin affects each attached plate. A plate with one remaining independent support hangs from that anchor; once the last support is removed, it drops away.

The visible hanging and falling feedback follows the original webpage’s support-pose calculation. The game uses fixed anchor geometry and an animated drop, rather than a continuous physics simulation with collisions.

Fifteen fixed screw puzzle levels

The game includes 15 handmade level boards. Each player receives the same layouts, screw positions and spare holes. The puzzles are bundled with the game, and completing a level unlocks the next one.

Use Levels to revisit unlocked puzzles. The picker marks the current board, earlier completions and saved unfinished boards. Next is disabled at level 15; Restart lets you replay that final puzzle.

Undo a move or restart a board

Undo reverses one pick or one placement, rather than an entire two-tap screw transfer. It keeps up to 30 action snapshots while you play. Ctrl+Z or Cmd+Z also activates Undo.

Restart returns the current level to its initial screw and plate positions. Undo history is cleared by a win, Restart, a level switch or a page reload; the unfinished board itself can still be restored after a refresh.

How local progress saving works

The game saves your unlocked levels, sound settings and unfinished board in this browser. Reloading resumes an in-progress level, including a screw held in your hand. Switching to another level intentionally clears the board you leave, following the source webpage.

The standard and Fish editions have separate save identities. Browser data does not automatically follow you to another device. Keep the same browser and avoid clearing its site storage if you want to retain this local progress.

Mouse, touch, sound and reduced motion

Use a mouse or touch to choose screws and holes. Large circular hit areas surround the visible screw heads. The buttons provide Levels, Undo, Restart, Prev and Next; the keyboard shortcut is for Undo, rather than a separate keyboard puzzle mode.

Settings includes Sound effects and Reduce motion. Reduced motion keeps the same legal moves and level layouts while suppressing the hanging and falling animations. The game pauses input and audio when the host pauses it or its page becomes hidden.

Explore more free puzzle games

This standard edition preserves the source webpage’s wooden board, metal strips, screw drawings, icon images and synthesized sound cues. Its interface is adapted to the game host without replacing the puzzle rules.

Try Fish Screw Puzzle to compare the artwork, or explore more free puzzle games. Water Sort and Ball Sort focus on rearranging matching colors; Screw Puzzle focuses on changing which anchor holes are occupied.

Common questions

How do I remove a plate?

Empty every anchor hole used by that plate. The plate is removed even if the final screw is still in your hand.

How many levels are included?

There are 15 fixed levels. Every player receives the same boards; completing one unlocks the next.

Can I Undo a screw move?

Yes. Undo reverses one pick or placement during play, up to 30 recent actions. Ctrl/Cmd+Z also works. Undo history is not retained after reloading.

Is Screw Puzzle a color-matching screw game?

No. You move screws into empty holes and remove supported plates. There are no color collection boxes, timers, lives or paid tools.

Does it save progress across devices?

The current release saves progress locally in the same browser. The standard and Fish editions use separate save identities; cross-device cloud sync is not enabled.