Play Nonograms Free Online

How to play Nonograms (Picross / Hanjie)

Nonograms — also known as Picross, Hanjie or griddlers — are picture logic puzzles. The numbers beside each row and column tell you the lengths of the filled runs in order. Work out which cells to fill and a hidden picture emerges.

1. 1Read the clues. Each number is the length of a run of filled cells, in order, for that row or column. Runs are separated by at least one empty cell.
2. 2Fill and cross cells. Use Fill to mark a cell as part of the picture, and Cross (✕) to mark a cell you know is empty.
3. 3Use the overlap trick. When a run is long relative to its line, the cells it must cover from both ends overlap — fill those for sure.
4. 4Cross-reference rows and columns. A cell filled from a row clue constrains its column clue and vice versa, so alternate between them.
5. 5Reveal the picture. Keep narrowing until every filled cell matches the clues and the pixel art appears.

Tips & strategy

Start with the fullest lines — a row whose clues nearly fill it has large forced overlaps. Mark known-empty cells with crosses aggressively; they're as informative as filled cells and stop you re-checking the same line. The picture itself becomes a sanity check as it forms.