How to play Nonogram

Shade the grid so each row and column shows the blocks in its clue, in order — and reveal a hidden picture. Also known as Picross, Griddlers, Hanjie, Paint by Numbers.

▶ Play Nonogram ⊞ Open the solver

The rules

Each row and column has a clue: the lengths of its solid blocks of shaded squares, in order.
Blocks of the same colour are separated by at least one empty square.
In colour nonograms each block has a colour; blocks of different colours may touch.
Shade exactly the squares that make every clue true — the result is a picture.

Playing Nonogram on Puzzle Solvers

Choose Pictures (a hidden image) or Random patterns, black & white or Colour, a size and a difficulty, then press New Puzzle.
Click or drag to shade squares with the Fill tool; use Cross (or right-click) to mark squares you know are empty. Drags stay in a straight line.
In colour puzzles pick a colour swatch (or press 1–4) before filling. Clues fade as their line is finished.
Finish a black-and-white picture and it is revealed in full colour. Hint explains the next line deduction.

Open the Nonogram game →

Using the Nonogram solver

Choose the rows and columns, click each clue area and type its blocks, or draw a picture and let the clues follow (or press Sample).
Press Solve and step through: overlaps, line-by-line deductions and what-ifs, with the line and the new squares highlighted.

Open the solver →

A worked example

A row of 10 has the clue 8. If the block starts at the far left it covers squares 1–8; at the far right it covers 3–10. Either way squares 3–8 are shaded — six squares from one clue.

A column through square 3 has the clue 1 1 and already has a shaded square at the top. That square is its first block, so the square just below is empty — cross it out.

Strategies

Overlap. Push a block as far left as it can go, then as far right. The squares it covers both times are certainly shaded. A 7 in a row of 10 always covers the middle 4.
Zeros and full lines. A clue of 0 empties the whole line; a clue that exactly fills the line (like 3 1 5 in 11 squares) is completely determined.
Work from the edges. A shaded square touching the edge must belong to the first block, which then extends inwards by the block’s length.
Cross out. Mark squares you know are empty. They split the line into smaller pieces that only some blocks can fit.
Finish lines. Once a line’s blocks are all placed, cross out the rest — then look at the columns those crosses cut through.

Common mistakes

Forgetting the gap between two blocks of the same colour.
Shading by guesswork late in the puzzle — look for a line with one possible arrangement instead.
Ignoring the crosses: empty squares are clues too.

Where it comes from

Nonograms were invented in Japan in the late 1980s, independently by Non Ishida and Tetsuya Nishio, and spread worldwide as Griddlers, Hanjie and Picross. Colour nonograms add a second dimension: block colours.

Frequently asked questions

What does a clue of 3 1 2 mean?

That line has a block of 3, then a block of 1, then a block of 2, in that order, with at least one empty square between them.

What are colour nonograms?

Each block has a colour (shown on the clue). Blocks of different colours can touch; blocks of the same colour need a gap.

Do nonograms always have one answer?

Every puzzle here is checked to have exactly one solution. Most can be solved line by line; harder ones need a ‘what if’.

Can I make my own nonogram?

Yes — in the Nonogram Solver press ✎ Draw a picture, paint it, and the clues are worked out. Press Solve to check it has one answer.

Keep going

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