The numbers give the lengths of the filled runs in each row and column, in order. Fill the right cells to reveal the hidden picture.
Size
Time 0:00
How to play
Each number is a run of consecutive filled cells; multiple numbers on one line are separated by at least one empty cell, in the order shown. Tap to fill a cell; switch to ✖️ mode (or right-click) to mark cells you know are empty — X marks are just notes and never count against you. Start with big numbers and full lines: a "10" fills its whole row, and a "7" on a 10-wide line forces the middle 4 cells. Every puzzle here is generated and verified to be solvable line by line with pure logic, so you never have to guess.
What the clues actually promise
The numbers beside a row are the lengths of the filled runs, in order, with at least one empty cell between them. That last part is what makes the puzzle solvable: a clue of 3 2 on a ten-wide line needs three cells, a gap, and two cells — six at minimum — so the whole block can only slide four squares either way.
From that comes the single most useful move in the game. Push the whole clue as far left as it will go, then as far right, and any cell filled in both attempts is filled for certain. On a ten-wide line, a clue of 7 guarantees the middle four cells before you have deduced anything else.
Building from the easy lines outward
Do the largest clues first, in both rows and columns. They carry the most forced cells and open up everything they cross.
Mark known-empty cells as well as filled ones. The crosses do more work than the fills, because they cut the space a run can occupy.
After finishing any line, immediately check every line crossing it. A single new cell often forces three or four more.
A clue whose numbers plus the mandatory gaps exactly equal the line length has only one arrangement — fill it in without thinking.
Never guess. Nonograms have one solution, and a wrong fill propagates quietly until the picture stops making sense ten moves later.
Where the puzzle came from
Nonograms were invented in Japan in the late 1980s, when two puzzle designers independently arrived at the same idea and a magazine competition brought them together. The name that stuck in the West, Picross, comes from Nintendo's handheld versions; elsewhere the puzzles are sold as Hanjie, Griddlers or simply Japanese crosswords.
The reward at the end is part of the design. Because the solution is a picture rather than a number, the last few cells usually become obvious from the image itself — the puzzle tells you when you are close.
No. The generator only publishes a board after verifying that it can be completed using row-and-column logic alone, which also guarantees the solution is unique. If you are stuck, some line always has a forced cell — re-scan rows and columns you have partially filled.
What do the X marks do?
They are your own notes for cells you have deduced must stay empty. They are never graded and do not affect winning — the puzzle completes as soon as all the correct cells are filled, whether or not you marked any X.
Where should a beginner start?
Start on 5×5 and learn the two core moves: lines whose numbers (plus gaps) fill the whole width, and the overlap trick — a single large number forces its middle cells. Once those feel natural, 8×8 adds longer chains of deduction and 10×10 becomes a satisfying picture reveal.
Where does the name "nonogram" come from?
It honours Non Ishida, a Japanese graphic designer who helped popularise these puzzles in the late 1980s — "Non" plus "-gram" gave nonogram. The same puzzle type appears under many names, including Picross (from Nintendo's games), Hanjie, Griddlers and paint-by-numbers, but the rules are identical everywhere.
What do two or more numbers on one line mean?
They describe separate blocks of filled cells in that exact order, with at least one empty cell between blocks. A clue like "3 1" means a run of three, then a gap of one or more, then a single cell. How far those gaps stretch is exactly what you deduce by cross-checking the columns.
How are nonograms different from Sudoku?
Both are pure-logic puzzles with a single solution, but they exercise different muscles. Sudoku is about placing symbols under constraints, while nonograms are spatial: you reason about runs of cells along two axes at once, and the reward is a small picture emerging instead of a completed number grid.