Tapa▶Play

Shade cells into one connected wall. Each clue gives the lengths of the shaded blocks around it, once round.

How to play

Shade some of the empty cells so that every shaded cell joins one single wall, connected up, down, left and right. A numbered cell describes the eight cells that surround it: going once around that ring, the shaded cells form blocks, and the numbers are the lengths of those blocks in any order. Two numbers therefore mean two separate blocks with at least one gap between them, and a lone 0 means none of the eight neighbours is shaded. Numbered cells are themselves never shaded. On top of that, no two-by-two square anywhere on the board may be completely filled in — that rule alone settles a surprising number of cells. Tap a cell to shade it, tap again to mark it as definitely empty, and once more to clear it; you can also drag to paint. Every puzzle has exactly one solution, checked by a solver before you ever see it. Your time is your score, so lower is better.

Tips & strategy

The two-by-two rule does more work than the numbers do, and beginners ignore it. Any time three cells of a two-by-two square are shaded, the fourth is empty — no clue needed. Sweep the board for those the moment you fill anything in, and you will find that whole regions resolve themselves without you reading a single number.

Read a clue by what it forbids, not by what it allows. A clue of 1 in the middle of the board is weak on its own, but a clue whose numbers add up to 7 out of 8 is enormously strong: only one of its neighbours is empty, and every arrangement is nearly forced. Do the big sums first and the small ones last, because the big ones hand you the shape and the small ones only confirm it.

A clue with several numbers is really a statement about gaps. Two numbers need one gap between the blocks; three numbers need three gaps, which on a ring of eight means the blocks are tiny and the pattern is almost fixed. Counting the gaps a clue demands, and comparing that against how many of its eight neighbours are already known empty, is the fastest way to eliminate arrangements.

Connectivity is the endgame rule, so save it for the end but do not forget it. When you have two separate shaded groups, they must eventually join, and often only one route between them is available — that route is then forced, whatever the local clues say. Equally, if shading a cell would seal a region of empty cells off from ever connecting, it is wrong. Corners and edges are where both traps live, so check them last and check them carefully.