Nonogram FAQ

A nonogram is a single-player picture-logic puzzle played on a blank grid. Numbers beside each row and above each column tell you the lengths of the runs of filled squares in that line. By comparing the row clues with the column clues you deduce which squares are filled, and the finished grid forms a small picture. It is pure deduction — no arithmetic beyond counting, and no guessing on a fair puzzle.

They are the same puzzle under different names. "Nonogram" and "Hanjie" come from its popularisation in Japan and the UK in the late 1980s and 1990s; "Picross" (Picture Crossword) is Nintendo's brand for its handheld versions; "Griddlers", "Paint by Numbers", and "Pic-a-Pix" are names used by various magazines and apps. The rules described here apply to all of them.

Yes. playnonogram.app is completely free and runs entirely in your browser. There is nothing to buy, download, or install, no account, and no video ad between puzzles. Open the page and a grid is ready.

No. The game is a 100% browser-based build made with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It loads in Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari, and other modern browsers on desktop and mobile with no plugin or app install.

The modern puzzle was devised independently around 1987 by Non Ishida, a Japanese graphics editor, and by James Dalgety in the UK, who coined the name "nonogram" from Ishida. They were syndicated in Japanese and British newspapers from the late 1980s, appeared in dedicated puzzle magazines through the 1990s, and reached a mass audience through Nintendo's Picross games. This site is an independent implementation of the standard ruleset.

Yes. It is a single-player logic puzzle with no chat, no user content, no imagery beyond abstract filled-square pictures, and no purchases. The Mini grid is a gentle introduction to deductive reasoning and to reading a coordinate grid.

Each number is the length of one unbroken run of filled squares in that row or column, and the numbers are given in the order the runs appear. A row clue of "3 1 2" means: a run of three filled squares, then one or more blanks, then a single filled square, then one or more blanks, then a run of two. There is always at least one blank square between consecutive runs.

You win the instant every square that should be filled is filled, and no square that should be blank is filled. You do not have to cross out every blank square to win — crossing out is only a memory aid. When the last correct square goes in, the timer stops and the grid locks.

Crossing out marks a square you have proven is blank. It has no effect on winning and no penalty; it simply records the deduction so you do not re-examine that square and so the remaining possibilities in the line are easier to read. You can clear a cross at any time.

It means the line has no filled squares at all — every square in that row or column is blank. On this site an all-blank line is shown with a faint dash rather than a zero. You can cross the whole line out immediately.

Yes. Two separate numbers in a clue are always separated by at least one blank square; otherwise they would be a single longer run. That mandatory gap is what lets you compute the minimum length a clue needs and, from that, how much it can slide.

A clue dims when the filled squares you have placed in that line already match it exactly. It is a convenience so you can stop scanning a finished line. It is not a correctness guarantee — a line can match its own clue and still be wrong if a crossing column later contradicts it — but on a fair solve it means that line is done.

Look for the largest clues relative to their line length and apply the overlap rule: a run of length L in a line of length N always covers its centre 2L − N squares, wherever it sits. Fill those, then move to the rows and columns that now have a filled square in them and see what that forces. Anchoring runs against the edges of the grid is the other reliable opening.

A well-formed nonogram has exactly one solution. Every puzzle on this site is generated and then run through a logic solver that fills rows and columns by deduction only; a puzzle is used only if that solver completes it, which guarantees a single solution reachable without guessing.

The ones here can. Some randomly generated nonograms elsewhere contain positions that need trial and error, but this site rejects any puzzle its line-logic solver cannot finish, so if you are stuck the deduction exists — usually in a line that crosses the one you are staring at.

Three: Mini (5×5), Classic (10×10), and Grand (15×15). The rules are identical at every size; larger grids have longer clue strings and longer chains of deduction. Classic is selected by default and fits a phone screen. You switch size from the control above the board.

Take a run of length L in a line of length N. Push it as far left as it will go, then as far right. Any square that is filled in both extremes is filled in every valid position, so you can fill it now. The count of guaranteed squares is 2L − N when that is positive. It is the single most useful nonogram technique.

Scan by clue size, not by grid position: always act on the most constrained line available. Cross out blanks the moment they are proven so lines stay readable. After each fill, immediately check the crossing line rather than continuing along the one you were on. Learn to count the minimum length of a multi-run clue on sight. Speed is mostly about never re-reading a line you have already resolved.

A contradiction means an earlier filled square was wrong. Because every puzzle here is guess-free, that square was placed on a hunch rather than a proof. Use undo to step back to where the line still had options, and this time only fill what a clue forces.

Yes. Tap a square to fill it, tap again to clear it, and drag across squares to fill a run. To cross out blanks, turn on the mark toggle below the board so taps place crosses. Mini and Classic fit a phone screen without scrolling; Grand pans within its frame so the squares stay large enough to tap.

Your fastest solve for each grid size, the number of puzzles you have started and solved, and your current and best solve streaks are saved locally in your browser. Nothing is sent to a server and there is no login. Because the record lives on the device, a different phone, a new browser profile, or cleared site data will look like a fresh start.

Press on a square and move along a row or column without lifting. The stroke locks to whatever the first square did — fill, clear, or cross — so you paint a straight run in one motion. It works with a mouse, a trackpad, or a finger.

The game needs a connection to load the page the first time. After that, some browsers keep the tab playable without a network connection, but there is no dedicated offline app or install package.

Best times are stored only in the browser you played in. They are lost if you clear cookies or site data, switch browsers or devices, or play in a private window that has since closed. Some privacy tools and phone data-saver modes also wipe local storage. Because the record never left your browser, it cannot be restored from our side.

Open the stats panel from the board, choose Reset, and confirm with the second tap. That clears best times, puzzle counts, and streaks for all three grid sizes on this browser. It cannot be undone.