Masyu (PuzzleMadness)

About Masyu (PuzzleMadness)

Masyu is a loop puzzle with black and white circles, often called pearls. On PuzzleMadness the circles sit on a grid of dots, and you draw one closed loop along the lines between dots that passes through every circle; it does not have to visit every dot. At a black circle the loop must turn, and it goes straight for a step on both sides of the turn. At a white circle it goes straight through, and turns on at least one of the squares just before or after.

The daily page opens today's puzzle on its own, and its title carries the date (on 3 October 2026 it read "Daily Medium Masyu Puzzle for Saturday 3rd October 2026"). There is a separate dated puzzle for each size: Small, Medium, Large and Mixed. Past days stay in the archive, so a missed puzzle can be played later, and there is a print version and an image download of the grid. PuzzleMadness does not publish solutions: the site tells you when you have finished a grid correctly or made a mistake. Each completed puzzle adds to your total on the Masyu monthly and all-time leaderboards, where only your best score on any one puzzle counts.

Black circles near an edge are the usual opener: the leg toward the edge is impossible, so the loop must leave the other way for two squares. White circles on the edge must run parallel to it. Rows of white circles next to each other force the loop across them.

PuzzleMadness is a British puzzle site with dozens of daily puzzle types in the browser, from many sudoku variants to logic grids such as Nurikabe, Hashi and Slitherlink. It is free to play and carries ads. A free account keeps track of the puzzles you have finished and puts your name on the leaderboards, and the badges next to usernames mark how many puzzles a player has completed.

How to play Masyu (PuzzleMadness)

1. Open the day's Masyu page and choose Small, Medium, Large or Mixed.
2. Start at black circles near the edges and draw their forced two-square legs.
3. Run lines straight through white circles, turning just before or after each.
4. Join all the pieces into one closed loop through every circle; the site confirms the solve.

Screenshots

Tips

• A black circle always has two legs of at least two squares, at right angles.
• Two black circles next to each other point their legs away from each other.
• Three white circles in a row are crossed straight by the loop at right angles to that row.

Questions