NoriNori (PuzzleMadness)

About NoriNori (PuzzleMadness)

A NoriNori grid is divided by thick lines into regions of different sizes and starts completely empty. You shade cells so that every region contains exactly two shaded cells. Shaded cells always come in pairs that touch horizontally or vertically, so the grid fills up with dominoes, and a domino may straddle two regions. Two dominoes may not touch along an edge, although touching at a corner is allowed. Crosses for cells you know are empty are optional but help.

A click shades a cell, the next click marks it empty and a third returns it to unknown. Regions of only two cells are the classic opening, since both cells must be shaded and their neighbours crossed out. From there the domino rule spreads through the grid: a shaded cell with only one free neighbour must pair with it. Today's Medium puzzle, for example, is an 8x8 grid.

PuzzleMadness is a free puzzle website run by Dewi, a software developer who started out making games for the PlayStation 2, Nintendo Wii and DS and now builds the site as a hobby. It carries dozens of puzzle types, from classic sudoku to newer logic grids, and each one gets its own dated puzzle every day at each difficulty. NoriNori comes in Easy, Medium and Hard versions plus a Mixed page, and the same day's NoriNori puzzle is shared by everyone who opens it.

The site checks your grid as you go and tells you when it is finished; it does not publish solutions. Each completed puzzle earns a score, and scores feed a monthly and an all-time NoriNori leaderboard, where only your best attempt at a puzzle counts. Older days stay in the archive, so a missed puzzle can still be played later and still counts toward the current month. Playing needs no account; a free registration gives you a username on the leaderboards and a cloud save. The pages carry adverts.

How to play NoriNori (PuzzleMadness)

1. Open today's NoriNori page on PuzzleMadness and choose a difficulty from the menu above the grid.
2. Click a cell to shade it, again to mark it empty with a cross, and a third time to clear it.
3. Shade exactly two cells in every outlined region.
4. Make every shaded cell part of a domino of two, and keep dominoes from touching each other along an edge.
5. The site tells you when the grid is complete and adds your score; registered players appear on the leaderboards.

Screenshots

Tips

• Shade both cells of any two-cell region straight away and cross out the cells around them.
• Once a region has its two shaded cells, cross out the rest of it.
• A shaded cell that has only one unblocked neighbour must form its domino with that neighbour.
• Missed a day? Earlier puzzles are in the archive, and finishing one still counts toward this month's leaderboard.

Questions