Nonogram.com

About Nonogram.com

Nonogram.com is a mobile app of nonograms, the grid puzzles also sold as griddlers or picture cross. It comes from Easybrain, the studio behind Sudoku.com, and runs on iPhone, iPad and Android. Every puzzle hides a small picture, and the numbers beside each row and column tell you the lengths of the filled runs in that line.

The daily part lives in the Daily Challenges tab. Each day of the month has its own puzzle on a calendar, and when you have solved every day of a month you collect that month's trophy. Easybrain's own page says the aim is to fill a year's shelf of trophies. Around this sit the app's other modes: a large library of level puzzles, daily tasks that open a secret level, time-limited tournaments against other players and seasonal events with postcards to collect.

A day's challenge goes like any nonogram in the app. You switch between filling a square and marking it with an X, you have a few lives for mistakes, and hints are there if you get stuck. Auto-crosses fill in the Xs on a line once its filled squares are complete, which takes out much of the busywork.

Compared with browser dailies such as the large special nonogram on puzzle-nonograms.com, the puzzles here are smaller and friendlier, with lives and hints rather than a timer and a big grid. It suits people who want a short, calm puzzle on the phone each day and like collecting a streak of trophies, more than those chasing a hard solve or a leaderboard time.

How to play Nonogram.com

1. Open the app and go to the Daily Challenges tab, then pick today's square on the calendar.
2. Read the numbers: each one is a run of filled squares in that row or column, in order, with at least one empty square between runs.
3. Fill the squares you can prove must be coloured, starting with the long runs that overlap in the middle of a line.
4. Switch to the X tool to mark squares that must stay empty; this narrows down where the remaining runs can go.
5. Keep working row by row and column by column until the picture appears. A mistake costs a life; a hint fills one square for you.
6. Come back each day to fill the month's calendar and earn its trophy.

Screenshots

Tips

• Start with lines whose numbers plus the gaps between them add up to nearly the full width: the overlap is certain.
• Mark empties with X as you go. Auto-crosses do it for finished lines, but your own Xs on half-solved lines are what unlock the next step.
• When stuck, look for a line where a single run can only fit in one place given the Xs you already have.
• Save hints for the larger seasonal and tournament puzzles; the daily ones can usually be solved by logic alone.

Questions