Nonograms

About Nonograms

Puzzle-nonograms.com is a plain, long-running site for one kind of puzzle: the nonogram. Each row and each column of the grid has a list of numbers, and each number is the length of a run of black squares in that line, in order, with at least one empty square between runs. You work out which squares must be black and which must stay empty until every clue is met. Each puzzle has one solution and can be solved by logic alone.

The site offers grids of 5x5, 10x10, 15x15, 20x20 and 25x25 whenever you like, plus three special puzzles: a daily, a weekly and a monthly one. The Special Daily Nonogram is the daily game here. It is the same grid for every player that day and is usually larger than the standard sizes; the daily puzzle for 2 October 2026 was 25 squares wide and 30 tall. Patrons of the site can go back through the last 30 daily puzzles; everyone else plays the current day's.

On a computer you left-click a square to fill it, right-click to mark it with an X, and drag to mark several squares at once. A timer runs while you play and can be hidden, and your progress is saved in the browser so you can leave a big grid and come back to it. The site shows ads, and patrons of the site can turn them off. The same puzzles are also in the PuzzleGym app for iPhone and Android, which collects this site's puzzle types along with daily, weekly and monthly specials.

It suits people who like a long, quiet logic puzzle rather than a two-minute one, and anyone who enjoys watching a picture appear as the grid fills in.

How to play Nonograms

1. Open puzzle-nonograms.com and choose Special Daily Nonograms from the list of sizes.
2. Read the clues: the numbers beside a row, read left to right, are the lengths of its runs of black squares in order; the numbers above a column work the same way from top to bottom.
3. Start with the long clues. Fill squares that are black however the run is placed, and mark with an X squares that cannot be black.
4. Left-click to fill a square, right-click to mark an X, and drag to mark several squares at once.
5. Go back and forth between rows and columns, using each new square to settle the crossing lines.
6. When every row and column matches its clues, press Done to check the grid and see your time.

Tips

• If a row's clues plus the gaps between them come close to the full width, most of the row is decided at once; add the numbers and the gaps and compare with the row length.
• Mark empty squares with an X as you find them; they matter as much as the black ones.
• A clue of 0, or a line already full of its runs, can be closed with Xs straight away.
• Work from the edges: a filled square at the border fixes where the first run starts.
• Practise on 10x10 or 15x15 grids before the daily puzzle; the daily grid is often much larger.
• Leave a big daily grid half done if you need to; your progress stays in the browser.
• Save a checkpoint (Ctrl+S) before a long stretch of work so you can return to it if you find a mistake.

Questions