Nonogram — Play Free Online

Nonogram is a logic puzzle where numbers, not pictures, are your only clues. You get an empty grid, a set of numbers beside every row and above every column, and one job: work out which squares to fill so that the numbers come true. When the last square is right, a hidden picture appears. There is no timer pressure and no luck, just deduction.

It is a very different pace from the rest of Doodle Jump. Most of this site is about reflexes and timing, so a nonogram is the place to go when you want your thumbs to rest and your head to work. A session can be a few minutes on a small grid or a long, quiet stretch on a big one.

The game runs in the browser with nothing to install, so you can pick it up on a laptop or a phone and put it down again whenever you like.

How the puzzle works

Each number tells you the length of a run of filled squares in that row or column. A clue of 3 means three filled squares in a row somewhere in the line. A clue of 2 1 means a run of two, then at least one empty square, then a single filled square, in that order. Every clue must be satisfied at once, and that overlap is what lets you solve the grid.

For controls, the game lists arrow keys or WASD to move, the mouse to aim and select, and tap and swipe on a phone. In practice that means you point at a square and select it to fill it in, and on touch screens you can tap squares or drag a finger across several.

Tips that work

• Start with the biggest clues. If a clue is large compared with the length of its line, some squares in the middle must be filled whatever happens, so you can mark them straight away.
• Lines with a clue of 0, or a clue that already fills the whole line, are free squares. Do them first.
• Mark squares you know are empty, not only the filled ones. Those marks stop a run from stretching further than it can and make later steps far easier.
• Hop between rows and columns. A square that stays unclear in a row is often settled by its column.
• If you are stuck, do not guess. Look for another line where a clue now fits in only one place.

Similar games on Doodle Jump

If you like a puzzle that rewards thinking, Fireboy and Watergirl is the closest cousin here: you work out how to get two characters through each room, and it also plays well with a friend. Helix Jump is a quick one-finger game about timing a drop, while Bloons Tower Defense 2 asks you to plan where to place towers. Nonogram is slower than any of them and has no way to fail except a wrong square.

It suits anyone who enjoys sudoku or crosswords, and it works well in short sessions because you can stop at any point and come back to the same grid.