Play Nonogram (Picture Logic) Online Free

How to Play Nonogram

A nonogram is a grid of blank cells with a list of numbers beside every row and above every column. Each number is the length of an unbroken run of filled cells in that line, listed in order, with at least one empty cell between runs. A clue of "3 1" means a block of three, a gap, then a single filled cell; a clue of "0" means the whole line is empty. Your job is to work out exactly which cells are filled using nothing but those clues.

Left-click a cell to fill it and click it again to clear it. Right-click to place an X, a reminder to yourself that a cell must stay empty. Every click counts as a move, including X marks and corrections, and the puzzle completes automatically when your filled cells match the hidden pattern. Grids come in 5×5, 10×10 and 15×15, with a heavier line every five cells to help you count. Puzzles here are random patterns rather than pictures, so you solve them by logic rather than by guessing what the image is meant to be.

Strategy Tips

Start with the big clues - in a 10-cell row, a 7 must cover cells 4 to 7 wherever it sits. Subtract the line length from twice the clue to find how many middle cells are certain.
Add up multi-number clues - "4 5" in a 10-cell line needs 4 + 1 + 5 = 10 cells, so the whole line is fixed. Even when the total falls short, the gap between total and length tells you how far each block can shift.
Work back and forth - every cell you fill in a row is a new fact for its column. Finish what one row tells you, then immediately check the columns you just touched.
Use the edges - a filled cell against the border must be the start of the first block, so you can fill the rest of that block and mark the cell after it empty.
Fill with intent - every click costs a move, so only fill a cell once you've proved it. X marks also count, so use them where they genuinely prevent mistakes rather than marking every empty cell.

Read the full Nonogram guide →

Playing Nonogram on PlayVersusAI

Nonograms, also known as Picross or Griddlers, are logic puzzles in which number clues beside each row and above each column tell you the lengths of the runs of filled cells in that line. Left-click to fill a cell, click again to clear it, and right-click to mark a cell with an X as a note that it stays empty. Heavier grid lines every five cells make counting easier, and the puzzle completes on its own as soon as your filled cells match the hidden pattern. X marks are only notes and do not have to be finished.

Each puzzle is a newly generated random pattern with roughly 55% of its cells filled, so you will not be revealing a picture. You solve it purely by reasoning from the clues. Every click is a move, including fills, clears and X marks, and the global leaderboard ranks the fewest moves highest. That means the ideal solve fills each correct cell exactly once. The puzzles are not checked for a single unique solution, so a large grid can occasionally reach a point where pure logic runs out. X marks need a right mouse button, so on a touchscreen you can fill cells but not mark them.

What's on This Page

Three difficulty levels — Easy, Medium and Hard, chosen with the buttons above the board. Changing level starts a fresh game.
High-score table — lowest move counts are ranked on the global leaderboard when you are signed in.
No account required — the full game is playable as a guest, on desktop, tablet or phone.

Difficulty sets the grid size: Easy is 5x5, Medium is 10x10 and Hard is 15x15. The fill density and rules stay the same, but larger grids have longer clues and much more slack in each line, so fewer cells can be settled from a single clue and you have to cross-reference rows and columns more.

Mistakes That Lose Games

Filling cells on a hunch. Every wrong fill costs a move to place and another to clear, so only commit to a cell once a row or column clue proves it.
Reading a line in isolation. Most progress comes from feeding what a row tells you into the columns that cross it, and back again.
Ignoring zero and full lines. A "0" clears a whole line, and a clue that adds up to the line length (with one-cell gaps) fixes it completely. They are free starting points.
Marking every empty cell with an X. X marks count as moves here, so use them where they prevent real mistakes, not as decoration.

Nonogram Questions

Do the puzzles make a picture?

No. Puzzles here are random patterns generated fresh for each game, so the challenge is pure logic rather than recognising an image.

Do X marks count as moves?

Yes. Every click on the grid is a move, whether it fills, clears or marks a cell. X marks are not needed to finish the puzzle, so a perfect score comes from filling only the correct cells.

Does every puzzle have exactly one solution?

Not always. Patterns are generated at random and are not checked for uniqueness, so occasionally the clues allow more than one arrangement and logic alone cannot decide between them. This is most likely on the 15x15 grid.

For the complete rules, the deeper strategy and the history of the game, read the full Nonogram guide, or browse guides for all 33 games.