Rules
Heyawake is a shading puzzle. The board is a square grid. Thick lines are the borders of the rooms. Thin lines are the cells inside a room. A number in the top-left cell of a room is how many cells in that room are shaded. A room with no number has no fixed count. A 0 means every cell in the room stays white. Shaded cells never share a side. They may touch at a corner. The white cells of the whole board share sides in one group. A straight run of white cells in one row or one column must not pass through three rooms. Crossing two rooms is allowed. You shade a cell, or you mark it with a dot when you already know it is white. Dots are optional. The puzzle is finished when the shaded cells are that one set, even if some white cells are still blank. The number stays in its corner when the cell is shaded. Play is 6×6, 7×7, and 8×8 at easy, medium, and hard, and 10×10 at medium and hard. The daily puzzle is a 6×6 easy grid. People also look this up as a heyawake puzzle.
Hitori also keeps shaded cells from sharing a side, and keeps the white cells connected. There, the shaded cells are the duplicates. Here a room number and the three-room line are added.
- Thick lines are rooms. The board is a square grid. Thick lines are the borders of the rooms. Thin lines are the cells inside a room.
- The number is a count. A number in the top-left cell is how many cells in that room are shaded. A room with no number has no fixed count. A 0 means every cell in the room stays white.
- Apart, and one white group. Shaded cells never share a side. They may touch at a corner. The white cells share sides in one group, and a straight white run must not pass through three rooms.
- Dots are optional. A dot is a cell you already know is white. The puzzle is finished when the shaded cells are that one set, even if some white cells are still blank.
A finished grid is the shaded set. Dots are not required. White cells stay paper. The frame is the solved frame. The shades are the solved teal. Room borders are teal. Numbers stay. The 1 at row 2 column 1 sits on a shade, so that digit is white. The 0s and the 2 sit on white cells, so those digits are teal #14b8a6. No dots. No yellow ring. No hint. A printed answer fills the shaded cells and leaves white cells blank. Dots are not printed. Numbers are kept, and a number on a shaded cell is printed in white.
- Shade
- Dot
- Number
- A met 0
- A coral number
Choose Shade or Dot under the board. Tap a cell, or drag across cells, to place that mark. Tap a cell that already has the mark to clear it. A cell with the other mark takes the new one when you tap it. A drag follows the first cell: it places the mark, or it clears when that cell already has it. With a mouse, right-click places a dot, or clears a dot that is already there. Arrow keys move and stop at the edge. The first arrow, when nothing is selected, selects the top-left cell. Space or Enter places the selected mark, or clears it when the cell already has that mark. S or 1 shades. X, D, E, or 2 places a dot. M switches Shade and Dot. Backspace, Delete, or 0 clears the cell. There is no cycle through the marks.
While the puzzle is unfinished, the line under the board reads: "Tap a cell, or drag across cells, to place the mark. Tap a mark again to clear it. A number stays in the corner of its room. Press M to switch Shade and Dot. With a mouse, right-click places a dot."
Press Hint for one step the rules already force, with a sentence saying why. Hint lights the cells it writes, and it rings the number of a room it writes into. Press Check when you want the board checked. A legal unfinished board gets "No mistakes so far. Keep going!" A broken board gets "A room count is off, shaded cells touch, a white line crosses three rooms, or the white cells do not join up. Look for the marked cells." Hint on a broken board gets "This board has a mistake, so there is no hint yet." If Hint finds nothing on a legal board, it says "No forced cell from here. A shaded cell or a dot may be in the wrong place, so try Check or Undo." Undo and Redo step through the moves. Reset clears every shade and every dot you placed. The rooms and the numbers stay. When the shaded cells are the unique set, the board turns teal. The dialog title is "Solved!" The dialog body is "The shaded cells match the rooms, and the white cells stay connected." The Mistakes counter counts how many times Check found a broken board. It is not a score.
The ideas, in the order you can use them, are these. A 0 leaves every open cell white. A shaded cell forces the cells beside it to stay white. The room number forces the cells that are still open. Every way to place this room's shaded cells agrees here. The other ways to shade this room would trap a white cell. A straight gap with one open cell is shaded. Medium and hard grids look further along a straight gap, and at whether shading a cell would split the white region. The hardest step tries the other mark on one cell and keeps the mark that does not break a room, a gap, or the white region. The button writes one of those ideas and stops. On the grid below, the one-cell gap is an earlier press than the neighbour and the number. The article still teaches the room first.
A cell turns coral when a numbered room has too many shaded cells, when the cells still open cannot reach the number, when two shaded cells share a side, when a dotted line crosses three rooms, or when the dotted cells no longer join. With error highlighting off, none of that coral is drawn. The picture of a finished grid in this article leaves the white cells blank. A printed answer does the same.
- Undo
- Redo
- Reset
- Hint
- Check
The room
Start with the number in the room, and with the cells beside a shade. A 0 clears the room. A room that already has its number leaves the rest white. When the open cells are exactly the number, and they do not touch, they are shaded. When several ways remain, a cell they all use is shaded and a cell none of them use stays white. A way that would trap a white cell inside the room is dropped.
A room of 0 Easy
A room marked 0 has no shaded cell. On a blank grid the top-right room is row 1 column 4, row 1 column 5, and row 1 column 6, and the number is 0. The press dots all three. It does not look at the rest of the board.
The same sentence clears a room of one cell. The next press on this grid dots row 2 column 2, the 1×1 room of 0 beside the column. That press is not drawn. Three more 0 rooms follow before anything else: row 2 column 3, then row 5 column 3, then row 5 columns 4, 5, and 6. Five presses, one sentence. The figure is the first. The toast is "This room is 0, so every open cell in it stays white."
A blank grid that has a 0 opens here for easy, medium, and hard. This grid does.
Amber wash, a yellow border, and a yellow ring on the three new dots. The dots stay teal. Row 1 column 4 is the numbered cell, so its dot is 22% of the tile. Row 1 column 5 and row 1 column 6 are 26%. The 0 is teal #14b8a6, because the count is met. Every other cell stays paper. The grid is still unfinished. Hint says "This room is 0, so every open cell in it stays white."
Beside the shade Easy
A shaded cell cannot touch another shade along a side. The cells that share a side with it stay white. On this grid row 2 column 1 has just been shaded. The press dots row 1 column 1 and row 3 column 1. Row 2 column 2 is already a dot, from the 0 room, so it is not written again. The two new dots sit on opposite sides of the shade. One of them is in the room next door.
The sentence stays plural when the press writes one cell. Later on this same grid the press dots row 1 column 2 only. The toast is still "Shaded cells cannot touch, so these neighbours stay white." That press is not drawn. On this grid the one-cell gap shaded row 2 column 1 before this press. The article still teaches the neighbour here, with the room, and teaches the gap later. The figure shows the board as it is when this press fires.
Amber on the new dots at row 1 column 1 and row 3 column 1. Both are 26% teal dots. Row 2 column 1 keeps the ink shade and gets a yellow ring, because that cell holds the 1 and the press writes into its room. No amber wash under the shade. The earlier dots stay ordinary. The grid is still unfinished. Hint says "Shaded cells cannot touch, so these neighbours stay white."
The number forces it Easy
Once a room has its number, the cells still open stay white. On this grid the column under row 2 column 1 asks for one shade. That shade is already there, and row 3 column 1 is already a dot. The press dots row 4 column 1 and row 5 column 1. It does not add another shade.
The same sentence shades a cell when the open cells are exactly the number, and they do not touch each other or a shade. On a 6×6 medium grid the top-right cell is a 1×1 room marked 1. The opening press shades row 1 column 6 and nothing else. Toast and reason are this same sentence. That press is not drawn. An easy grid returns that shade too. The press is one mark: all dots, or all shades. It does not mix them. The toast is "This room's number forces the open cells."
Two presses in the set finish the grid with this sentence. Both are a one-cell shade, one on a 6×6 medium grid and one on a 12×12 hard grid. The live button skips that toast. They are not used here.
Amber on the new dots at row 4 column 1 and row 5 column 1. Row 2 column 1 keeps the ink shade and a yellow ring, because it holds the 1 and the press writes into its room. No amber under that shade. Row 3 column 1 stays an ordinary teal dot. The grid is still unfinished. Hint says "This room's number forces the open cells."
Every way agrees Easy
List the ways to place this room's shaded cells. Shaded cells inside the room cannot touch. A cell that is shaded in every remaining way is shaded. A cell that is white in every remaining way stays white. One press can write both.
On a blank grid the column row 2 column 3, row 3 column 3, row 4 column 3, row 5 column 3, and row 6 column 3 asks for 3. The five cells are in a line, so two shades cannot sit next to each other. The only pattern is shade, white, shade, white, shade. That shades row 2 column 3, row 4 column 3, and row 6 column 3, and it dots row 3 column 3 and row 5 column 3. The press writes all five. It does not leave a choice inside the column.
The same cells are agreed even if you ignore the white-exit test, so this press is the plain agreement. A room larger than nine cells would use another sentence, "Every way to place this larger room's shaded cells agrees here." No room in this set is that large. The largest has nine cells. No figure. The toast is "Every way to place this room's shaded cells agrees here."
This grid is hard, and the sentence is one an easy grid can also say. The button on an easy grid returns it. An easy grid in the set says the same sentence later: shade row 3 column 5, dot row 4 column 5, and shade row 5 column 5. That press is not drawn. Not every easy grid says it. The 6×6 medium grids in this set do not.
Ink shade and a yellow ring on row 2 column 3, row 4 column 3, and row 6 column 3. No amber under the shades. The 3 at row 2 column 3 is white, because that cell is shaded. Amber, a yellow ring, and a 26% teal dot on row 3 column 3 and row 5 column 3. Every other cell stays paper. The grid is still unfinished. Hint says "Every way to place this room's shaded cells agrees here."
The other ways trap it Easy
Some ways to shade the room are legal if you only count the shades and keep them from touching. They still fail when a white cell inside the room cannot step outside. Drop those ways. Then mark the cells the remaining ways agree on.
On this grid the column row 2 column 1, row 3 column 1, row 4 column 1, and row 5 column 1 asks for 2. Row 5 column 1 is already shaded. Row 4 column 1 is already a dot. One more shade has to sit in row 2 column 1 or in row 3 column 1, and those two cells share a side, so it cannot sit in both. Shading row 3 column 1 leaves row 4 column 1 white with every neighbour shaded: row 3 column 1 would be the new shade, row 5 column 1 is already shaded, and row 4 column 2 is already shaded in the room next door. That white cell cannot leave the room. Shading row 2 column 1 leaves row 3 column 1 white, and row 3 column 1 steps out through row 3 column 2, which is already a dot. That way stays. The press shades row 2 column 1 and dots row 3 column 1.
If you kept both ways, the two open cells would not be agreed. The trap is what forces them. The toast is "The other ways to shade this room would trap a white cell, so these cells are forced." This is an easy grid, and the button on an easy grid returns the hint. It also shows up on an 8×8 medium grid, an 8×8 hard grid, and on 12×12 hard grids. Those are not drawn. The 6×6 medium grids and the 6×6 hard grids do not say it.
Ink shade and a yellow ring on row 2 column 1. The 2 is white, because that cell is shaded. No amber under the shade. Amber and a 26% teal dot on row 3 column 1. Row 4 column 1 stays an ordinary teal dot. Row 5 column 1 stays an ordinary ink shade, with no ring. The grid is still unfinished. Hint says "The other ways to shade this room would trap a white cell, so these cells are forced."
The straight line
A straight run of white cells cannot pass through three rooms. One open cell in that gap is shaded. Medium and hard can look further along the gap. On these grids the gap that writes is the one-cell gap.
One cell in the gap Easy
A straight run of white cells cannot pass through three rooms. When the run already has white cells in two rooms and one cell of a third room is still open, that cell is shaded. It is the shade that breaks the line.
On this grid the five 0 rooms are already dotted. On row 2, row 2 column 2 and row 2 column 3 are dots, each in its own room of 0. Row 2 column 1 is the only open cell in the third room. The press shades row 2 column 1. The column there asks for one shade, and this cell is that shade, but this press is the gap. The room's number has not spoken yet.
The toast is "This straight gap has one open cell, so that cell is shaded." On this grid the gap is an earlier press than the neighbour and the number. The article still teaches those first. The figure shows the board as it is when the gap fires, which is after the 0 rooms and before the neighbour.
Medium and hard can look at a longer gap, up to eight open cells, and at a room of more than nine cells. On these grids neither of those writes. The gap that writes is this one-cell gap. The white-cell split is the later sentence that does write, and an easy grid does not offer it. A longer gap would say "Every way to break this straight gap agrees on these cells." A still longer gap would say "Every way to break this longer straight gap agrees on these cells." No figure. Almost every board's last press is this one-cell gap, and that press finishes the grid. The live button skips the toast. This figure is an earlier gap. It leaves the grid unfinished.
Ink shade and a yellow ring on row 2 column 1. The 1 is white, because that cell is shaded. No amber under the shade. The two dots that complete the three-room line stay ordinary teal. They sit in the two rooms of 0. The grid is still unfinished. Hint says "This straight gap has one open cell, so that cell is shaded."
The white cells
Shading a blank cell can split the white cells you have already marked. That cell stays white. Easy grids do not say this. On an easy grid the button does not offer this step.
A shade would split them Medium
The white cells you have already dotted have to end in one group. A blank cell can be the only path between two of them. Shading that cell would split them, so the cell stays white.
On this grid row 1 column 5 is a dot. Its other neighbours are already shaded: row 1 column 6 and row 2 column 5. The only way out is row 1 column 4. The other dots on the board, row 2 column 4, row 2 column 6, row 3 column 5, row 3 column 6, row 4 column 5, and row 5 column 6, still reach each other through blank cells. They do not reach row 1 column 5 if row 1 column 4 is shaded. The press dots row 1 column 4. The column it sits in has no number.
The toast is "Shading this cell would split the known white cells, so it stays white." Easy grids in this set do not say this. An easy grid does not offer the step. A medium grid and a hard grid do. The grid still opened on the one-cell shade in the number section. This press comes after the 0 room, the neighbours, and a gap.
Amber, a yellow border, a yellow ring, and a 26% teal dot on row 1 column 4. The room has no number, so there is no extra ring. Row 1 column 5 stays an ordinary teal dot. The two shades that box it in stay ordinary ink, with no ring. The grid is still unfinished. Hint says "Shading this cell would split the known white cells, so it stays white."
One cell, both ways
Try the other mark on one cell. Keep the mark that does not break a room, a gap, or the white region. Easy and medium grids do not offer this step. One hard grid opens here. The room and the gap still come first.
The other mark fails Hard
When the earlier sentences stop, try the other mark on one cell. Close the board from that mark. If the shade breaks a room, a straight gap, or the white region, the cell stays white. If the dot breaks one of those, the cell is shaded. The press writes the mark that lives.
On this grid row 3 column 5 is still blank. The room it sits in has no number. A shade there forces the cells beside it to stay white, and those whites force a run of one-cell gaps. The closure stops on row 5. Row 5 columns 3, 4, and 5 are white, and row 5 column 2 is the only open cell in that three-room line. Row 4 column 2 is already shaded, so row 5 column 2 cannot be shaded either. The line has no legal shade. A dot in row 3 column 5 does not break the board. The press dots row 3 column 5.
The toast is "The other mark contradicts a room, a straight gap, or the white region, so this mark stays." It does not name which mark. The same sentence can shade a cell. On another 6×6 hard grid, a dot at row 3 column 4 splits the known whites, and a shade there does not. The press shades row 3 column 4. Before that press the grid is row 1 blank, blank, blank, blank, dot, blank; row 2 blank, blank, blank, dot, shade, dot; row 3 blank, blank, blank, blank, dot, blank; row 4 blank, blank, blank, dot, shade, dot; row 5 blank, blank, dot, blank, dot, blank; row 6 blank, dot, shade, dot, blank, blank. That press is not drawn. Easy and medium do not offer it. Hard does.
Easy grids and medium grids in this set do not say this. One 7×7 hard grid has no earlier sentence on a blank board, so its first press is this try. Easy and medium do not offer it there either. That grid is not drawn, and no cell on it is named here. The article still teaches the room and the gap first.
Amber, a yellow border, a yellow ring, and a 26% teal dot on row 3 column 5. The room has no number, so there is no extra ring. The earlier shades and dots stay ordinary. The grid is still unfinished. Hint says "The other mark contradicts a room, a straight gap, or the white region, so this mark stays."
Common mistakes
Check paints a broken rule. Hint will not explain a board that is already broken. The toast is "This board has a mistake, so there is no hint yet." A wrong shade or a wrong dot can also sit there with no coral at all. Then Check says "No mistakes so far. Keep going!" and Hint still offers the next real step. The wrong mark stays unless that step writes the cell.
Eight pictures, all on the same blank grid as the 0 room. No amber on the seven broken ones. The quiet one shows the opening three dots, because the board is legal. Coral is the cells the rule names. Two shades that share a side paint those two shades. A numbered room that is over, or that cannot reach its number, paints every cell of the room, including a blank. A dotted line through three rooms paints the whole line. Two dotted groups that cannot meet paint every dot, not the shades between them.
Row 1 column 4 is shaded. The whole room is coral, including the two blanks at row 1 columns 5 and 6. The 0 sits on the shaded error cell, so the digit stays white. The two blank cells are coral-soft and have no digit. Nothing is amber. Hint says "This board has a mistake, so there is no hint yet."
Row 2 column 1 and row 4 column 1 are shaded. Row 3 column 1 is still blank, so the shades do not share a side. This is not the touching-shade error. The whole column is coral, including the two blanks. The 1 sits on a shaded error cell, so the digit stays white. Nothing is amber. Hint says "This board has a mistake, so there is no hint yet."
Row 1 column 1 and row 1 column 2 are shaded. They share a side inside a room that has no number, so there is no room-count error. Those two shades are coral. The rest of the room stays paper. Nothing is amber. Hint says "This board has a mistake, so there is no hint yet."
Row 3 column 6 and row 4 column 6 share a side, and the wall between them is a room border. Both rooms are unnumbered, so there is no room-count error. Those two shades are coral. Nothing is amber. Hint says "This board has a mistake, so there is no hint yet."
The column asks for 1, and every cell is dotted, so nothing is left to shade. The whole room is coral. Each tile is coral-soft. Each dot glyph is coral #ff6b6b, not teal. The 1 sits on a dotted cell, so the digit is coral mixed into the ink, not white. Nothing is amber. Hint says "This board has a mistake, so there is no hint yet."
Row 2 columns 1, 2, and 3 are dotted, in a straight line, three rooms. The middle two sit in rooms of 0, so a dot there is not a count error. One dot in the column that asks for 1 does not put that room over, and it does not make the room impossible. The whole run is coral. Each tile is coral-soft. Each dot glyph is coral #ff6b6b, not teal. A blank in the middle of that line would break the run. The rule is about white cells. Check paints the run once the cells are dotted. Nothing is amber. Hint says "This board has a mistake, so there is no hint yet."
Row 1 column 1 is a corner, and both of its neighbours are shaded, so that dot cannot reach the dot at row 6 column 6. The cells between them are still blank, and a blank is a path for every other pair. Two dots on a blank board are not this error. Both dots are coral. Each of those tiles is coral-soft, and each dot glyph is coral #ff6b6b, not teal. The two shades are not coral. Nothing is amber. Hint says "This board has a mistake, so there is no hint yet."
With error highlighting off, the extra shade in the 0 room, the two shades in the column, the touching pair, the pair across the border, the four dots, the three-room line, and the split dots paint nothing coral. A finished colouring that passes the checks you can see and still misses the shaded set is not drawn here, and it can still occur.
The shade at row 1 column 1 is white in the solution. It sits in a room with no number. One shade does not touch another shade. No coral. Check says "No mistakes so far. Keep going!" Hint still dots row 1 columns 4, 5, and 6. The wrong shade is not among them, and it stays. Amber is allowed on those three dots, not on row 1 column 1.
A dot at row 2 column 1, which is shaded in the solution, is also quiet, and Hint still offers the same opening. A dot at row 1 column 2, which is white in the solution, is quiet in the same way. Those dots are not drawn.
What to play next
Easy grids follow from one room at a time, plus the cells beside a shade, plus the one-cell gap. A room of 0, a room that already has its number, a cell every placement covers, and sometimes a placement that would trap a white cell. Then the one open cell in a three-room line. Start on a 6×6 easy grid. The daily puzzle is that size. Medium grids add the white-cell split, after the earlier sentences. A medium grid still opens on a room sentence. Hard grids add the try. One 7×7 hard grid opens on the try. The others open on a room sentence. The longer gap does not write on these grids.
- Easy6×6The 0 rooms, the neighbour, the number, sometimes every placement and the trap, and the one-cell gap. This is the daily size.Play 6×6 →Today's daily →
- Easy7×7Those sentences on a larger grid. Not every easy grid says every placement or the trap.Play 7×7 →
- Easy8×8Those sentences on a larger grid. The 8×8 easy grids in this set do not say every placement or the trap.Play 8×8 →
- Medium6×6The white-cell split, after the earlier sentences. The grid still opens on a room sentence.Play 6×6 →
- Medium8×8The white-cell split, after the earlier sentences. The 8×8 medium grids in this set do not say every placement.Play 8×8 →
- Medium10×10The white-cell split, after the earlier sentences. Play does not offer 10×10 easy.Play 10×10 →
- Hard8×8The try, after the earlier sentences. The 8×8 hard grids have no 0 room in this set.Play 8×8 →
A printed answer fills the shaded cells and leaves white cells blank. Dots are not printed. Numbers are kept. Four 6×6 or 7×7 grids share a sheet. Two 8×8 or 10×10 grids share a sheet. A 12×12 grid has the sheet to itself. 10×10 easy and 12×12 hard are print only. The printable page is Heyawake packs.
There is no guide-sized seed to open. The boards above are teaching boards.