Bumper 2 Bumper Strategy: 8 Tips to Hit Par and Earn Three Stars

Getting the hot dog cart out of the lot in Bumper 2 Bumper is one thing. Getting it out at par, for three stars, is another. Par is the true minimum number of moves, worked out by a solver for every level, so hitting it means you found the best solution there is. These eight tips will get you there more often.

New to the game? Read our Bumper 2 Bumper beginner’s guide first for the rules and controls.

1. Start with the cart’s row

Before you touch anything, look along the hot dog cart’s row toward the gate. Every vehicle sitting in that row is a blocker. Those are the only vehicles that truly have to move. Everything else on the lot matters only if it’s in a blocker’s way.

Count them. On early Easy levels there might be one or two. On Hard boards there can be several, each boxed in by others.

2. Find the blockers behind the blockers

For each blocker, ask: which way can it slide to clear the cart’s row, and what’s in the way? Those vehicles are your second layer. Then ask the same question about them.

This is working backwards, and it’s the core skill of the game. Instead of shuffling vehicles and hoping, you build a chain: “To move the van down, the blue car must slide left. To slide the blue car left, the bus must move up.” Solve the chain from the end, and the cart drives out.

3. Trucks are the real puzzle

Cars take two spaces, but trucks take three, and on a six-space lane that’s half the lane. A truck crossing the cart’s row often has only one direction it can go to clear it: the side with three free spaces’ worth of room. That makes trucks the vehicles that decide most levels.

When you spot a truck in the cart’s row, check which side it can clear to, then look at what’s parked on that side. That’s usually where the real work is.

4. Move each vehicle once, if you can

A move is one vehicle moved, however far it slides. So the efficient solutions move each vehicle once, all the way to where it needs to be, rather than nudging it a space now and another space later.

If you move a vehicle and then move it again straight away, the game counts both as a single move, so fine-tuning is free. But if you move something else in between and then come back to it, that’s two moves. When you’re over par, look for a vehicle you touched twice.

5. Don’t move what doesn’t need to move

Every move you spend on a vehicle that isn’t part of the chain is a move over par. It’s tempting to “make room” by pushing cars to the edges, but on a 6x6 lot, space you open in one place usually closes somewhere else. Only move a vehicle when you can say why it needs to move.

6. Use par as a clue

Par isn’t just a score target. It tells you something about the solution. If par is 4 and you count three blockers in the cart’s row, most of the solution is probably just moving those three, plus one more. If par is 20 or more, as it often is on Hard, expect long chains where one vehicle has to move early to make room for something much later.

When your count is way off par, stop and re-read the lot. You’ve probably missed a shorter route.

7. Undo freely, Reset bravely

Undo costs nothing. Use it to test an idea: try a line, see where it leads, and take it back if it goes nowhere. Undo takes the move off your count, so experimenting never costs you stars.

If you’ve drifted far from the start and lost track, Reset puts the lot back exactly as it began. A fresh start with what you’ve learned often beats untangling a messy board.

8. Save Hint for a real dead end

Hint is one tap: it outlines the next vehicle to move from wherever you are, and shows where it should go. It’s always right, and it’s great for learning. But using a hint caps that board at two stars.

So if you’re chasing three stars, try the other tips first. If you’re truly stuck, take the hint, finish the board, and come back to that level later for the third star once the idea has sunk in.

Bonus: plan your packs

Medium opens after 10 Easy solves, and Hard after 10 Medium solves, so you don’t need to three-star every Easy level before moving on. A good rhythm is to clear enough to open the next pack, then return to earlier levels for missing stars when you want a lighter session. The Levels screen shows your stars on every tile, so gaps are easy to spot.

Put it into practice

The best place to practice is the Daily Drive: three boards a day, with your first result standing. Read how it works in our Daily Drive guide. For the general theory behind sliding puzzles, see how to solve sliding block puzzles.

Play Bumper 2 Bumper

Play Bumper 2 Bumper free in your browser and go for three stars.

FAQ

How do you get three stars in Bumper 2 Bumper?

Solve the level in par moves or fewer, without using a hint. Par is the true minimum, worked out by a solver.

What is the best first move in Bumper 2 Bumper?

There isn’t one fixed answer, but start by listing every vehicle in the hot dog cart’s row, then work out what has to move to let each of them clear the row.

Does sliding a car farther cost more moves?

No. A vehicle moved any distance is one move, and moving the same vehicle again straight after still counts as that one move.