If you have been reading other articles on my site and are wondering what in the world a nonogram is, I am happy to explain.
Nonograms, also called picross, griddlers, and o’ekaki, are logic puzzles that you solve by figuring out which cells to color in and which ones to leave blank.
These puzzles originated in Japan but are quickly rising in popularity in the Western part of the world. They combine the challenge of sudoku with the fun of paint-by-numbers, which is why they are also sometimes referred to as paint-by-sudoku.
A nonogram puzzle looks like this:
To solve, you determine which cells to color-in and which to leave blank.
There are a few rules to guide you.
1. The numbers on the left of each row and the top of each column represent the lengths of consecutive colored cells.
2. The colored cell blocks occur in the same order as the numbers.
3. There is at least one blank cell between two colored cell blocks
So in the example above, there is 1 colored cell, then a block of 10 colored cells, and then 1 colored cell.
Using the numbers at the top and left of the grid, determine which cells to color in. I recommend doing your first few nonograms with a pencil and a good eraser! Solving a nonogram or o’ekaki puzzle is tricky, but definitely doable. Remember your first time solving a sudoku puzzle? It may have taken a while before you got the hang of it. The same goes for nonograms, but once you have had some practice, solving them is fun and rewarding, as you can see from the great end result.
And on top of being a great creative outlet, it can also be good for your brain.
The only downside to these puzzles is that they are difficult to find at your local bookstore. But you can click here to get them easily.
*Want to take it to the next level? Learn about prismapixels, nonograms using color!
Happy puzzling!
The Logic Puzzler
The Logic Puzzler 