How to play Nonograms
A Nonogram — also called Picross, a picture logic puzzle, or a Japanese crossword — is a grid you fill in using number clues until a picture appears. Nothing is guessed. Every cell can be proven, and this page walks through the proof from the first clue to a finished 5×5 puzzle.
What the numbers mean
Each row has clues to its left, and each column has clues above it. A clue is the length of an unbroken block of filled cells in that line, and the clues appear in the order the blocks appear.
- 5 in a five-wide row: every cell in that row is filled.
- 3 in a five-wide row: three filled cells in a row, somewhere — you do not yet know where.
- 4 1: a block of four, then at least one empty cell, then a block of one. The gap can be wider, but it can never be zero.
- 1 1 1: three single cells, each separated by at least one empty cell.
This is the whole rule set. Everything else in Nonograms is a consequence of it, which is why the puzzles reward patience rather than reflexes.
Rows and columns constrain each other
A row clue alone is rarely enough. The skill is in the crossings: a cell you prove from a row immediately becomes information for its column, and the other way round. Solving is a loop — read a line, deduce what you can, then look at the lines that cross what you just learned.
Filling and marking
There are two useful actions. Fill a cell you have proven is part of the picture. Mark a cell you have proven is empty — in Nogramix that leaves a small ×. Marking feels optional to new players and it is the single biggest difference between struggling and solving: a marked cell is a wall, and walls are what let you pin down where a block must sit.
A 5×5 puzzle, solved step by step
The row clues are 3, 5, 3, 1, 1 from top to bottom. The column clues are 1, 3, 5, 3, 1 from left to right. Try it before reading on.
Step 1 — take the full lines first
Row 2 is clue 5 in a five-wide grid, so the block can only be placed one way: fill the whole row. Column 3 is clue 5, so fill the whole column. Free information, and always the place to start.
| 1 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 1 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | |||||
| 5 | |||||
| 3 | |||||
| 1 | |||||
| 1 |
Step 2 — close finished lines
Column 1 is clue 1, and row 2 already provides that single filled cell. The clue is satisfied, so every other cell in column 1 is empty — mark them. Column 5 works the same way.
Step 3 — squeeze the remaining blocks
Row 1 is clue 3. Columns 1 and 5 are now marked empty, so only columns 2, 3 and 4 remain — exactly three cells for a block of three. Fill them. Row 3 is identical.
Step 4 — finish with the singles
Row 4 is clue 1, and column 3 has already given it a filled cell. Everything else in row 4 is empty. Row 5 follows. Columns 2 and 4 read 3 and now hold exactly three filled cells at the top — the puzzle is consistent and complete.
| 1 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 1 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | × | × | |||
| 5 | |||||
| 3 | × | × | |||
| 1 | × | × | × | × | |
| 1 | × | × | × | × |
Every cell above was proven. That is what a well-formed Nonogram guarantees: exactly one solution, reachable by logic alone.
The overlap technique
On larger boards the most valuable habit is checking overlaps. Take a ten-wide row with the clue 8. Push the block as far left as it goes and it covers columns 1–8. Push it as far right as it goes and it covers columns 3–10. Columns 3–8 are covered either way, so those six cells are certainly filled — before you know anything else about the row.
The same reasoning works with several clues: place them all as far left as possible, then all as far right as possible, and any cell covered by the same block in both layouts is proven. This one idea carries most 15×15 and 20×20 puzzles.
Common beginner mistakes
- Guessing to break a deadlock. A guess that turns out wrong quietly poisons every deduction after it. If nothing is provable, you have missed a line — not run out of logic.
- Skipping the marks. Without × cells you lose track of the walls that make blocks provable, and you end up re-reading the same row over and over.
- Forgetting the mandatory gap. The clue 2 2 in a five-wide row has only one layout, because the two blocks need an empty cell between them.
- Reading only rows. After any deduction, look at the crossing lines first; that is where the next free cell usually is.
- Assuming the picture. Recognising the shape early is fun, but the clues decide — not the guess about what the image will be.
A solving order that works
- Fill every line whose clues exactly fill its length.
- Mark the rest of any line whose clues are already satisfied.
- Look for overlaps in the longest remaining clues.
- Work outwards from edges and from marked cells, which bound blocks tightly.
- Re-read the lines crossing whatever you just changed, and repeat.
Start playing Nogramix
Nogramix teaches this pace deliberately. The first puzzles in Spring Forest are Nonogram for beginners: one idea at a time — a full row, then marking, then a column, then separated blocks — then 10×10, 15×15 and 20×20 boards as your reading of the clues gets faster. There is no timer working against you, undo is free, and a hint reveals a single proven cell when a line refuses to give.
Prefer to see what is available first? Explore the worlds of Nogramix or the puzzle sizes and chapters.