Range (BrainBashers)
Shade squares so each number sees exactly that many white squares in a straight line.
Every day: Eight new Range grids every day, from a 4x3 Easy to a 15x10 Hard, dated and the same for every visitor, plus a 20x15 weekly special. New puzzle: Midnight GMT (the site lets you set your own time zone).
Range on BrainBashers, a puzzle also known as Kuromasu, gives you a grid with a few numbers. Each number counts the white squares visible from it along its row and column, itself included. You place black squares to limit those views, without letting black squares touch or splitting the white area.
About Range (BrainBashers)
Range is BrainBashers' name for the Japanese puzzle Kuromasu. The grid starts with numbered squares, which are always white. Each number says how many white squares can be seen from it, looking up, down, left and right in straight lines and counting the numbered square itself. Your job is to blacken squares so every count comes out right. Black squares block the view, may not touch one another horizontally or vertically (diagonals are allowed), and must not cut the white squares into separate groups.
Kevin Stone's site posts eight sizes a day: 4x3, 5x4, 6x5 and 7x6 at Easy, 8x7 and 10x8 at Medium, and 12x9 and 15x10 at Hard, plus a 20x15 weekly special. The play page greys out squares automatically as you go (you can switch that off), and has check, answer, print and restart buttons, an option to show mistakes and an optional clock. The help page has a walkthrough.
Puzzles change at midnight GMT or at the time zone you set, and earlier days stay available for a few weeks. No adverts, no account.
It suits players who like Hitori and other shading puzzles, and the small sizes are quick enough for a coffee break.
How to play Range (BrainBashers)
- Open the Daily Range page and pick one of today's sizes.
- Read each number: it is how many white squares it can see along its row and column, itself included.
- Click squares to shade them black and cut each number's view down to its count.
- Keep black squares from touching side by side, and keep every white square connected.
- Check your grid or reveal the answer; new grids appear after midnight GMT.
Tips
- Add up how far a number could see in all four directions; if that total equals the clue, every one of those squares is white.
- A large clue in a small grid forces long white lines, so start there.
- Once a number's count is met, the next square in each direction must be black.
- Never place a black square that would seal off a white area from the rest.
Questions
Is Range the same as Kuromasu?
Yes, it is the same puzzle type under BrainBashers' own name.
Does the numbered square count itself?
Yes. The clue includes the numbered square as well as the white squares it can see.
What sizes are there?
Eight a day from 4x3 to 15x10, getting harder as they grow, plus a 20x15 weekly special.
Is it free?
Yes, with no adverts and no account.
Games like Range (BrainBashers)
Kuromasu (nibble.games)
A daily Kuromasu, the same puzzle under its Japanese name
0h n0
A daily grid where each number counts the dots it can see in straight lines
Hitori (BrainBashers)
The same site's shading puzzle with the same no-touching and connected rules
Daily Heyawake
A daily shading puzzle with connected white squares and no touching blacks
Daily Nurikabe
Another daily shading puzzle built around numbered white areas
Nonogrids (BrainBashers)
Shade the blocks in each line from the run lengths given beside it.
SurroundNine (BrainBashers)
Shade the squares so each clue counts the black squares in its 3x3 patch.
3-In-A-Row (BrainBashers)
Colour every square blue or white, with no three alike in a line and every line balanced.