NookGrid

About NookGrid

NookGrid gives you a tray of nine places and a nine-lot board, with rows A to C and columns 1 to 3. The neighbourhood plan beside the board lists the rules: one place must be directly left of another in the same row, one must be above another anywhere in the same column, or two must touch along a side, never diagonally. Each rule is ticked as soon as your layout satisfies it.

You drag a place onto a square, or tap a place and then a square; dropping onto an occupied square swaps the two, and you can drag a place back to the tray. Undo and Reset are always available. A hint reveals one place and keeps it fixed even after Reset, but each hint is counted in your result.

A new numbered puzzle arrives at midnight UTC for everyone, and the game tracks your streak and the week's results, with a list of all earlier puzzles and a shareable result. It is made by Alexander Jabbour, and there is a free iPhone and iPad app as well as the browser version.

It suits players who like short, tidy deduction puzzles that take a few minutes and do not need any vocabulary or maths.

How to play NookGrid

1. Open NookGrid and read today's neighbourhood plan.
2. Drag a place onto a lot, or tap a place and then a square.
3. Check each rule: 'directly left' means same row, one square; 'above' means same column, anywhere higher; 'touching' means sharing a side.
4. Swap places by dropping one onto another, and use Undo or Reset as needed.
5. Make every rule true with all nine places placed, then share your result.

Tips

• Place the most constrained place first, usually one in several rules.
• 'Directly left' rules fix pairs of squares: try them early.
• A place that must touch many others often belongs in the centre, B2.
• Avoid hints if you want a clean result: each one is counted.

Questions