---
title: "Nonograms: Free Online Logic Grid Puzzles | Aback Games"
description: "Play Nonograms free in your browser. Fill the grid from the row and column number clues. 5×5, 10×10 and 15×15 puzzles, each solvable by logic alone. No sign-up."
url: https://abackgames.com/games/nonograms
---

# 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.

## 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

1. Choose a size: 5 × 5 for a quick warm-up, 10 × 10, or 15 × 15 for a longer think.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.

## Frequently asked questions

### Will I ever have to guess?

No. Every puzzle is checked before you see it: it can be solved by reasoning about one row or column at a time.

### What are nonograms also called?

They go by many names, including griddlers, paint by numbers, hanjie and picture logic puzzles. The rules are the same.

### Do crossed-out cells matter?

Only to you. They are notes for cells you know are blank; the puzzle only checks which cells are filled.

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