Nonogram
NEWWorks on both desktop and mobile. Tap or click to play.
About This Game
Play Nonogram (Picross) free online. Use the number clues to fill the grid and reveal a hidden pixel picture. A relaxing, addictive logic puzzle.
How to play Nonogram
Objective: Fill exactly the cells that form the hidden picture so your filled squares match the solution, revealing a shape like the Heart, Star, or Smiley.
Pick one of the ten pictures from the buttons at the top: Heart, Diamond, Plus, Letter A, Arrow, Star, House, Sailboat, Mushroom, and Smiley. Diamond, Plus, and Letter A use a 5x5 grid; the other seven use 7x7. The numbers along the top and left are clues. Each is the length of an unbroken run of filled cells in that column or row.
In Fill mode, the default, clicking an empty cell paints it solid and clicking a solid cell clears it. You win the instant every cell you have painted matches the hidden picture, no more and no fewer. A row clue of 7 in a 7-wide row means fill the whole line. A clue like 2 1 means a run of two, a gap, then a run of one, read left to right.
Switch to Mark mode, or right-click any cell, to place an X on squares that must stay empty. Marks are only for tracking and never count toward the win check, which reads solid fills alone. The Wrong counter tallies cells you filled that should be blank. Time starts on your first click and stops on completion; your fastest run per picture is saved as its Best in green, and Next Puzzle moves you on after a solve.
Tips and strategy
Fill full-line clues first
A clue equal to the grid width or height fills that whole line with no choices. In a 7x7 puzzle, a row or column clue of 7 is a free line. Paint those, then use the solid cells as anchors for crossing clues.
Cross out settled lines
Once a line's clues are fully placed, use Mark mode or right-click to X the rest of the cells in it. The crosses stop you re-checking solved squares, and since marks are ignored by the win check you can use them freely.
Overlap the long runs
For a run longer than half a line, the middle cells are filled wherever the run sits. A clue of 4 in a 5-wide row guarantees the three center cells. Fill those overlaps, then pin down the ends using crossing clues.
Watch the Wrong counter
It rises only when you fill a square that should be blank, never for a missing one. If it ticks up after a click, clear that exact cell by clicking it again in Fill mode.
The history of Nonogram
Nonograms were devised in Japan in the late 1980s, credited separately to Non Ishida, a graphics editor, and puzzle maker Tetsuya Nishio. The format spread under names like Griddlers, Paint by Numbers, and Picross, and Nintendo popularized it with Mario's Picross on the Game Boy in the mid-1990s. The rules have never changed: edge numbers describe runs of filled cells, and pure deduction reveals a picture, exactly what this version's ten shapes ask you to uncover.
Frequently asked questions
Can I lose a nonogram or run out of time?
No. There is no lose condition and no countdown. The Time counter only counts upward from your first click and stops when the picture is complete. Filling wrong cells raises the Wrong counter but never ends the game, so you can experiment and fix mistakes freely.
Do the X marks count toward winning?
No. The win check compares only your solid filled cells to the hidden picture. Marks placed in Mark mode or by right-clicking are personal notes that a square stays empty. You could win with the board covered in marks, so long as every solid fill is correct.
What does the Wrong counter show?
It counts cells you filled solid that are actually blank in the solution. It does not count cells you left empty that should be filled. So Wrong at zero means everything painted is correct, though the picture can still be unfinished.
Are my best times saved after I close the tab?
Yes. Each picture's fastest solve is stored in your browser's local storage and reloads next visit, shown in green as Best, and replaced only when you beat it. Nothing is uploaded; the record lives on the device and browser you played on.