Daily Nurikabe
Shade a single connected sea so every numbered island ends up the right size.
Every day: A new Special Daily Nurikabe each day, identical for all players and marked with its date. New puzzle: Midnight UTC, by the date on the site's own clock.
Special Daily NurikabeAll sizes on puzzle-nurikabe.comPuzzleGym on the App StorePuzzleGym on Google Play
Nurikabe asks you to split a grid into black sea and white islands, each island holding one number that gives its size. Puzzle-nurikabe.com has a Special Daily Nurikabe that is the same for everyone that day, next to Easy and Hard grids from 5x5 to 20x20 and weekly and monthly specials.
About Daily Nurikabe
In Nurikabe some cells start with numbers and every other cell must become black or white. Each number sits in a white island of exactly that many cells, and every island has only one number. The black cells form a single wall, or sea, that runs through the grid in one connected piece, and nowhere may four black cells form a 2x2 block. The site itself notes the rules are a little more involved than most, but they settle quickly once the first islands are closed.
The daily game on puzzle-nurikabe.com is the Special Daily Nurikabe. The grid is the same for every player that day and its date appears under the board; the 2 October 2026 puzzle was 15 by 15. The rest of the site offers Easy and Hard grids from 5x5 up to 20x20 at any time, special weekly and monthly puzzles, and a Hall of Fame for the standard sizes. It is free with ads, which patrons can switch off, and the same puzzle types are in the PuzzleGym app for iPhone and Android. Patrons of the site can go back through the last 30 daily puzzles; everyone else plays the current day's.
Nurikabe suits players who like puzzles where whole areas fall into place after one deduction. A daily grid takes long enough to feel like a proper session without needing a whole evening.
How to play Daily Nurikabe
- Open the Special Daily Nurikabe on puzzle-nurikabe.com; the puzzle's date is shown below the grid.
- Left-click a cell to shade it black, right-click to mark it with a dot as white, and drag to mark several cells.
- Grow each numbered cell into a white island with exactly that many cells, and keep each island to one number.
- Shade the rest black so that all black cells connect through their sides into one group.
- Make sure no 2x2 square is entirely black anywhere in the grid.
- Submit the finished grid to check it and see your time.
Tips
- A cell that touches two different islands along its sides must be black, since white there would join two numbers into one island.
- Once an island reaches its size, shade every cell around it.
- A white cell that no island can reach in time must be black; count the distance from the nearest numbers.
- Watch for three black cells forming an L: the fourth cell of that square has to be white, so some island must reach it.
Questions
How often does the daily Nurikabe change?
Once a day, at midnight UTC, by the date on the site's own clock.
What are the rules of Nurikabe in short?
Each number is an island of that many white cells, the black cells form one connected sea, and the sea may not contain a 2x2 black block.
Can I play on a phone?
Yes. The site works in a mobile browser, and it links to the PuzzleGym app for iPhone and Android, which includes Nurikabe.
Games like Daily Nurikabe
Daily Heyawake
A shading puzzle from the same family with rooms and a one-piece white area
Nonograms
The same site family's daily nonogram, also solved by shading cells
Queens
A quick daily grid of regions solved by elimination
Daily Light Up
Another puzzle from the same family where numbered cells control their neighbours
Zip
A short daily grid for days without time for a full Nurikabe
Daily Aquarium
Fill each tank to a level so the water in every row and column matches the counts.
Daily Hitori
Shade out repeated numbers so no row or column shows a number twice, keeping the white cells joined.
Daily Kakurasu
Blacken cells so each row and column adds up to its clue, counting each cell by its position.