Question 1

How do I play Traveling Salesman?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 2

What is the Traveling Salesman Problem?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 3

How does the game know the route is optimal?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 4

What happens if my route is not the shortest?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 5

Does it get harder as I go?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 6

Does it work offline?

Accepted Answer

Yes. PlayMemorize is a Progressive Web App. Install once and Traveling Salesman plays anywhere without an internet connection.