Nonograms, also known as Hanjie, Griddlers, Picross, Japanese Crosswords, Japanese Puzzles, Pic-a-Pix, “Paint by numbers” and other names, are picture logic puzzles in which cells in a grid must be colored or left blank according to numbers at the side of the grid to reveal a hidden picture. The numbers are a form of discrete tomography that measures how many unbroken lines of filled-in squares there are in any given row or column.
It has more than 1.7 lakhs of nonogram puzzles as of now, accessible across platforms. It even has a browser version. Your progress is saved in the cloud and remains the same after you have logged in.
Game control is extensive. You can configure it from colour scheme down to the behaviour on your mouse buttons. You can even separate the actions between your finger and the stylus – finger to move, stylus to draw.
It’s like guessing a pixel art, some of them in colour. Difficulty level ranging from the simple 5×5 to 80×80.
I prefer ‘true nonograms’,
Has no empty and trivial lines; is not symmetrical; sizes are multiples of 5; it can be solved without using the trial-and-error method.
It also contains a mini-game or quest (Adventurers Guild), making it more complicated but I have never bothered with this. Web version also doesn’t allow you to rate the puzzles.
Start with simple monochrome 5x5s, learn to count squares, addition and subtraction, and a little multiplication. Explore tools like ruler to make your life easier. Colored puzzles can be messy especially when the colours are close shades to each other but you are allowed to change the colours while solving.
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