Flapjack
Sort the pancakes big-to-small in few flips.👆
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Play to set a score, then submit it to the board.
About Flapjack
Flapjack is the pancake-sorting problem you may have met in a computer-science class, turned into something you would actually want to play. A jumbled stack of different-sized pancakes sits in front of you, and your only tool is a spatula: slide it in anywhere and everything above it flips over at once. Sort the stack largest-on-the-bottom to smallest-on-top in as few flips as you can. The winning approach is to work from the bottom up — get the biggest pancake down first by flipping it to the very top, then flipping the whole stack so it drops to the base, and repeat with the next. Each pancake usually takes at most two flips to lock, so the real skill is planning that pair in your head before you touch anything, and the par is a greedy benchmark you beat only by finding a genuinely shorter route. There is no way to lose, just a flip count to shave down, and undo is there so you can rehearse a move before committing. Free, instant, and oddly meditative.
How to play
- The pancakes are stacked in a jumbled order of sizes.
- Tap a pancake to slide the spatula under it and flip the whole stack above it upside down.
- Keep flipping until the stack is sorted, largest on the bottom to smallest on top.
- Every flip counts — the fewer you use, the better your score.
Strategy & tips
- Work from the bottom up: get the biggest pancake to the bottom first, then the next, and so on.
- To place the biggest pancake, flip it to the top, then flip the whole stack so it drops to the bottom.
- Each pancake usually takes at most two flips to lock in place, so plan the pair before you touch anything.
- The par is a greedy benchmark. Beating it means you found a shorter route, not just a lucky one.
- Undo is there for planning, so try a flip in your head before you commit.
FAQ
What exactly does a flip do?
It reverses the order of every pancake above where you insert the spatula, like flipping that whole chunk of the stack over at once.
Can I lose?
No. There is no fail state — you just keep flipping until it is sorted. The challenge is doing it in few flips.
Is this the pancake sorting problem?
Yes. It is the classic prefix-reversal puzzle: sort the stack using only flips of the top portion.