Introduction
Want to learn how to play Picross? This tutorial will teach you everything you need to know to start playing Picross puzzles. First I will explain what Picross is, then I'll get into the basic techniques that you will need in order to start solving Picross grids. To see these techniques in action, follow along with an example Picross solution to see how the techniques work together.
1. What is Picross?
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Picross is a type of puzzle where you use logic to draw a picture in a grid.
Picross puzzles look like grids of squares with numbers at the top and to the left.
The numbers tell you how many black squares to draw in a row or column. Each number represents a group of black squares. There must be at least one white square between groups.
You can use logic to figure out where to draw black squares in the grid.
When you are done, the grid will contain a picture.
2. Empty Rows and Full Rows
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If the number for a row or column is zero, like in the example above, it means that all of the squares in that row or column should be empty. None of the squares should be filled in.
When you are doing a Picross puzzle with a row or column that says zero, you should mark the squares in some way so you will know not to fill them in. It will help keep you from making mistakes later on as you work on solving the puzzle.
In the grid above, click each square twice to turn it grey. The grey color is for squares that you know should not be black.
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If the number for a row or column is the same as the width or height of the grid, respectively, like in the example above, that means that all of the squares in that row or column should be black.
Click each of the squares in the grid above to turn each one black.
3. Only One Way To Fill In
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It might not be obvious right away, but there is only one way to fill in this row.
If you add up all of the numbers, plus a 1 for a white square between each, you get 10 (1 + 1 + 4 + 1 + 3 = 10). Ten is the total number of squares in this row, so it can only be filled in one way:
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4. The Overlap Technique
One of the most important and basic Picross techniques is the overlap technique. In the row above, the number is 7. There are several ways that you can fill in seven squares in a row that is 10 squares long. But you might notice that there are some squares that will be filled in no matter what.
When you put the 7 squares at the far left, and then the far right, the
4 middle squares are filled in both times. This means that those four middle squares will be filled in no matter what. You don't know where the other three squares will be filled in, but in a real Picross puzzle, it should become obvious as you solve it. If you can't visualize where the overlapping squares will be, you can mark the area of overlap with grey squares to mark the filled-in area, like
this: After filling in the appropriate squares, be sure to erase the grey squares – they won't necessarily be blank! The overlap technique is not limited to rows or columns that have a single group of black squares. In some cases, you can use the overlap technique when there is more than one group of black squares, like in this example. You can put the groups of squares at each end of the grid. You can use the overlap technique here, but you should only fill in the one square that overlaps
from the group of 4. If two different groups overlap, the way that the 2 overlaps the 4 in this example, don't fill it in! It will not necessarily be filled in, because it's not part of the same group. 5. On The Edge If you have filled out some black squares and there is a square at the end
of a row or column, it must be part of the last (or first) number for that row or column (depending on whether the
black square is at the beginning or end of the row or of the column). That
means that it's OK to fill in the rest of the squares in that group,
like this: When you have figured out where all of the black squares are in a row or
column, you have solved that row or column. After you solve a row or column,
you should make the remaining white squares grey so you won't get
confused later on while you try to complete the puzzle. 6. Cross It Out In this row, you can't tell where the other two black squares will go to complete the group of four. However, you can see that the group of four squares will not reach some of the squares at the ends of the row. It is always a good idea to mark the unreachable squares. Not only will
it help keep you from making mistakes later on in a puzzle, but marking white
squares can also reveal how to solve other areas of the puzzle. Always mark white squares! When you cross out squares this way, be sure not to cross out squares
that could still be filled in. Here is another example: In this example, there is already a grey square in the row. There are only two squares to the left of the grey square, which means that you can't fit the group of five there. This means you should mark the two squares to the left of the grey square, because there is no way that they will be filled in. Now that you have marked the white squares, the remaining area of this row is small enough to do the overlap technique. 7. Some Advice When solving Picross puzzles, don't guess! If you get stuck
with a difficult puzzle, you might be tempted to make guesses. However,
unless a particular puzzle says that you need to guess in order to solve it,
you should be able to solve Picross puzzles just using logic. If you are stuck, you might be overlooking a place where you can make
progress. Keep looking, try not to focus too much on one area of the puzzle, and try to use logic to figure out where a
black square or a grey square must go. If you do have to make guesses, keep in mind that you might
create contradictions in the puzzle, and you'll have to back up and figure out
how to fix it. 8. Conclusion Now you know the basic techniques for solving Picross puzzles!
As you try to solve your first puzzles, you will discover how to use and
combine these techniques to find out which squares must be filled. 9. Example The picross example solution will show you the steps I took
to solve the sample puzzle at the top of this page. You don't have to solve
all Picross puzzles the same way that I do;
the example is just to help give you ideas
for how to solve Picross puzzles.