Hitori
Shade cells so no number repeats in any row or column.
How to play Hitori
Hitori is a logic puzzle from Japan. Its name means "alone" or "leave me alone". The board is a square grid full of numbers, and many numbers appear more than once in the same row or column. You remove the extra copies by shading cells.
Goal
Shade some cells so that all three rules are true:
- No repeats. In every row and every column, each number appears at most once among the cells that are not shaded.
- No touching. Two shaded cells may never share a side. Touching at a corner is fine.
- One group. All the white (unshaded) cells must form one connected area. You must be able to walk from any white cell to any other by moving up, down, left or right.
Every puzzle on this site has exactly one correct answer, checked by a solver before you see it.
Step by step
- Pick the Shade tool and tap a cell to shade it. Tap it again to clear it.
- Switch to the Circle tool to mark cells you are sure must stay white. Circles are only notes for you, but they help a lot.
- On a computer you can right-click to use the other tool. With the keyboard, move with the arrow keys, press Space to use the current tool, X to shade, C to circle and Backspace to clear. Press T to switch tools.
- Shaded cells that touch, and circled cells with the same number in a line, turn red. If your shading cuts off part of the white area, those cells are striped.
- Made a mistake? Press Undo to go back one step.
Levels
Easy is a 6×6 grid, Medium is 8×8 and Hard is 10×10. Easy and Medium can always be solved with clear step-by-step logic. Hard grids are bigger and need longer chains of reasoning.
End of the game
The puzzle is solved as soon as your shading follows all three rules. The timer stops and shows your time. Your game is saved in this browser, so you can come back later. Like number puzzles? Try Sudoku next.
Strategy tips
- Circle around every shaded cell. As soon as you shade a cell, its neighbours above, below, left and right must be white. Circle them right away.
- Look for sandwiches. In a pattern like 4 7 4 in a row, the middle 7 must be white. One of the two 4s will be shaded, and the middle cell can never touch it if it is shaded too.
- Watch side-by-side twins. If two equal numbers sit next to each other, one of them is shaded. So every other copy of that number in the same line must be shaded.
- A circle removes copies. When a cell is white, every other cell with the same number in its row and column must be shaded.
- Keep the white area open. If shading a cell would wall off a white cell or a corner, that cell must stay white. Corners and edges are where this happens most.
- Unique numbers can still matter. A number that appears once in its row and column is usually white, because shading it would break the "no touching" or "one group" rule.
Hitori FAQ
Does every Hitori puzzle have only one answer?
Yes. Each puzzle is checked by a solver before you see it, so there is exactly one correct set of shaded cells.
What do the circles do?
Circles are notes for cells you know are white. They do not change the answer, but they help you spot repeats and keep track of your logic.
Why are some cells striped?
Striped cells are cut off from the main white area by your shaded cells. All white cells must be connected, so one of the nearby shaded cells is wrong.
How big are the puzzles?
Easy puzzles are 6×6, Medium puzzles are 8×8 and Hard puzzles are 10×10. A new puzzle is made each time you start a game.
