Nonogram
Row 1: 1 1. Column 1: 2. Square empty.
Tap a square to fill it. Drag along a row or a column to fill more.
How do you play a nonogram?
Each row and each column has a clue: the runs of filled squares in that line, in order, with at least one empty square between two runs. Fill the squares the clues need and cross out the rest. When every line matches its clue, the filled squares draw a picture. Every puzzle here has one answer that logic finds, with no guessing.
How to play a nonogram
- Each row and each column has a clue: a list of numbers on its left or on top.
- Each number is a run of filled squares in that line, in the same order. The clue 3 1 means a run of 3, at least one empty square, then a run of 1.
- Fill the squares that the clues need, and cross out the squares that must stay empty.
- When every row and every column matches its clue, the picture is complete.
Tap or click a square to fill it. Drag along a row or a column to fill many squares at once. Switch to Cross to mark empty squares on a phone, or right click with a mouse. On a keyboard, move with the arrow keys, press Space to mark, X to cross out, and Z to undo. A clue turns grey when its line matches it.
How to solve a nonogram
- Start with the big numbers. A run of 8 in a line of 10 must cover the middle 6 squares, wherever it starts.
- Add up a clue: the runs plus one empty square between each two. When the total is the length of the line, the whole line is known.
- A clue of 0 means the whole line is empty. Cross it out at once.
- Use the edges. A filled square at the edge of the grid starts the first run of its line.
- Cross out squares that no run can reach. Each cross gives the other lines more to work with.
- Go back and forth between rows and columns. Each new square in a row is a new clue for its column.
Every puzzle here has one answer, and you never need to guess. Before a puzzle reaches you, a solver checks that line-by-line logic alone fills every square. Stuck? Press Hint: it shows a wrong square first, or else the next square that one row or column gives.
Questions
What is a nonogram?
A picture logic puzzle. Numbers beside each row and above each column give the runs of filled squares in that line, and the solved grid shows a picture. Nonograms come from Japan, where Non Ishida and Tetsuya Nishio made them up on their own in the late 1980s. They are also called hanjie or paint by numbers.
Does every puzzle have one answer?
Every puzzle on this page does. Before a puzzle reaches you, a solver checks that line by line logic fills every square, so there is one answer and you never need to guess. Some printed nonograms have more than one.
How do I cross out a square on a phone?
Press Cross under the board, then tap or drag over the squares that stay empty. Press Fill to go back. With a mouse, a right click crosses out a square. Crosses are notes for you: the puzzle checks only the filled squares.
Is this nonogram game unblocked at school?
It is a normal web page on lifesim.com, with no download and no sign-up, so it opens on most school Chromebooks. We can't promise that every school filter allows it. Once the page is open, the puzzles need no network.
How do I send a puzzle to a friend?
After you solve it, press Copy link, or Share on a phone. The link opens the same puzzle with your time to beat. A random puzzle keeps its seed in the link, so your friend gets the same grid.
