Nonograms

Fill in a grid from the number clues on each row and column. Every puzzle has one answer, and logic alone can find it.

Size

5 × 510 × 1015 × 15

Time0:00

Best–

Tool

FillCross out

Loading the puzzle…

Click a cell to fill it, or right-click to cross it out. Drag to mark a row of cells at once. With the keyboard, move with the arrow keys, press Space to use the tool, F to fill, X to cross out and Delete to clear.Tap a cell to fill it, or switch the tool to Cross out. Slide your finger to mark several cells in a row.

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About Nonograms

Nonograms are logic puzzles drawn on a grid. Each row and column has a clue, a list of numbers, telling you the lengths of the runs of filled cells in that line, in order. Work out which cells are filled, and a shape appears.

Every puzzle here is generated fresh and checked by a solver before you see it: it has exactly one answer, and it can be solved one line at a time by logic, so you never need to guess. Your best time for each size is kept in this browser.

How to play Nonograms

Choose a size: 5 × 5 for a quick warm-up, 10 × 10, or 15 × 15 for a longer think.
Read a clue: "3 1" means a run of three filled cells, then at least one blank, then a single filled cell, somewhere along that line.
Fill the cells you are sure of. Cross out cells you know are blank, to help with the lines that cross them. A clue turns grey when its line matches it.
The puzzle is solved when every filled cell is right. Crossed-out cells count as blank.

Nonograms controls

Keyboard
Fill a cell, or clear it	Click it
Cross out a cell	Right-click it
Mark several cells in a line	Drag across them
Move between cells	Arrow keys (Tab reaches the grid)
Use the tool, fill, cross out, clear	Space, F, X, Delete
Switch between Fill and Cross out	T
Hint	H
Undo	U
New puzzle	N
Sound on or off	M

Touch screens
Fill a cell, or clear it	Tap it
Cross out cells	Switch the tool to Cross out, then tap
Mark several cells in a line	Slide your finger across them

Nonograms rules

Reading the clues

Each number is a run of filled cells in that row or column, given in order from left to right or top to bottom. Runs are separated by at least one blank cell. A clue of 0 means the whole line is blank.

For example, in a row of ten cells the clue "8" leaves only two ways to place the run, and the middle six cells are filled either way.

The puzzles

Puzzles are made at random, then smoothed so the filled cells form shapes rather than scattered dots. A puzzle is only used if a solver can complete it by looking at one row or column at a time, which proves there is one answer that needs no guessing.

The shapes are abstract, not pictures of things.

Hints and records

A hint first fixes a cell you have marked wrongly. If every mark is right, it fills in or crosses out a cell that one clue proves, and tells you which clue.

Your best time at each size is kept in this browser, and a puzzle in progress is saved so you can come back to it. A puzzle finished with hints counts as solved, but not as a best time.

Tips and strategy

Start with the big numbers. A run longer than half the line always covers its middle cells.
Add up a clue: the runs plus one blank between each. If that fills the line, the whole line is decided.
Cross out cells as soon as you know they are blank. They make the crossing lines much easier.
When a line is complete, cross out the rest of it, then look at every column it touches.
Work back and forth between rows and columns: each new mark is a new fact for the lines that cross it.