A puzzle where the answer is a picture
A nonogram is a grid of empty squares with a list of numbers next to every row and above every column. Those numbers are the only clues you get. They tell you how many squares in that line are filled, and in what groups. Shade the right squares in every row and every column at the same time and a small pixel-art picture appears — a cat, an anchor, a bowl of noodles.
Nothing is hidden and nothing is random. Every answer follows from the numbers, so a nonogram is solved by reasoning, not by luck. That is what makes it satisfying: each cell you fill is a cell you have proved.
Other names for the same puzzle
The puzzle travels under several names. In English it is a nonogram, a griddler or a hanjie; puzzle magazines in Europe usually print it as a Japanese crossword, and you will also see “paint by numbers” or “picture logic puzzle”. The rules are the same whatever the name.
Where nonograms come from
Nonograms appeared in Japan in 1987. Graphic designer Non Ishida won a competition with pictures built from lit and unlit skyscraper windows, and turned the idea into grid puzzles; puzzle author Tetsuya Nishio published a similar format around the same time. In 1990 the British puzzler James Dalgety named them “nonograms” — after Non and “diagram” — and The Sunday Telegraph began printing one every week. From there they spread through puzzle magazines, books and, later, phones and browsers.
The rules
- Each number is a run of filled cells. A clue of
5means five filled cells next to each other, with no gaps. - Runs keep their order. A row clue of
2 1means a run of two, then — further right — a run of one. Column clues read top to bottom. - Runs are separated by at least one empty cell. The gap can be longer; it can never be zero.
- A line may start or end with empty cells. A run is allowed to touch the edge of the grid, but doesn't have to.
- A clue of 0 means the whole line is empty.
- The puzzle is solved when every line matches its clue. Every puzzle on this site has exactly one solution, and you can reach it by logic alone — no guessing.
An X mark is not part of the answer. It is a note to yourself that a cell is definitely empty, and on bigger boards those notes are what keeps the remaining space readable.
A clue, read aloud
Take a row of ten cells with the clue 3 5. It says: somewhere in this row there is a run of three, then at least one empty cell, then a run of five. Three plus one plus five is nine, so the row has one cell of slack — and that is already enough to fill six cells without knowing anything else. Press the button to see which ones.
Sizes and difficulty on this site
Puzzles here run from 10×10 to 60×60. Small grids show a simple outline and take a few minutes; a 50×50 board is a long, slow solve with a much more detailed picture. Difficulty is rated by the solver from the techniques a board needs, not just its size. If you are new, start with an easy 10×10, then move up through 15×15 and 20×20.
What to read next
The rules take a minute; the techniques take a little practice. The step-by-step guide How to Solve Nonograms walks through overlap, edges and cross-checking with demos you can click, and ends with a full puzzle solved one line at a time.
