3-In-A-Row (BrainBashers)

About 3-In-A-Row (BrainBashers)

3-In-A-Row is BrainBashers' version of the puzzle sold elsewhere as Binairo, Takuzu or Tango. The grid starts with a few blue and white squares fixed. You colour the rest so that every row and every column ends up with the same number of blue and white squares, and nowhere do three squares of the same colour line up next to each other, across or down. The site also lets you show the squares as X and O instead of colours.

Kevin Stone's site posts 6x6, 8x8, 10x10, 12x12 and 14x14 grids every day, each at Easy and Medium, with an 18x18 weekly special. Along the edges the play page shows running counts of how many blue and white squares each line still needs (you can turn these off). There are check, answer, print and restart buttons, an option to show mistakes and an optional clock, and the help page has a walkthrough.

The puzzles change at midnight GMT or at the time zone you choose, and the date list keeps a few weeks of earlier days. No adverts, no account.

It suits players of LinkedIn's Tango who want bigger grids and more of them, and the 6x6 is a quick warm-up.

How to play 3-In-A-Row (BrainBashers)

1. Open the Daily 3-In-A-Row page and pick a size and level from today's grids.
2. Click a grey square to colour it blue or white.
3. Give every row and column equal numbers of blue and white squares.
4. Never put three squares of the same colour together in a row or column.
5. Check your grid or show the answer; new grids appear after midnight GMT.

Tips

• Two blues side by side force white at both ends of the pair.
• A gap between two blues, as in blue-gap-blue, must be white.
• Once a line has its half of one colour, fill the rest with the other colour.
• Use the edge counts to see which lines are nearly finished.

Questions