Nonogram solving techniques and guides
Every Nogramix guide in one place, in the order most players need them: the rules first, then the techniques that find guaranteed cells, then strategies for bigger boards. Each one works through real examples and never asks you to guess.
Where to start
New to Nonograms? Begin with the rules and the 5×5 walkthrough. When the obvious moves run out on a 10×10, the technique guides explain what to look for next. The board-size guides show how the same ideas scale up.
Start here
- How to play and solve Nonograms — Learn how to solve Nonograms (Picross): what the numbers mean, how to mark empty cells, and a complete 5×5 puzzle solved step by step.
- Nonogram Glossary: Terms Every Solver Uses — Plain, short definitions of the words Nonogram players use, from clue and block to slack, reach and contradiction.
Solving techniques
- Nonogram overlap technique — find guaranteed cells without guessing — Learn the Nonogram (Picross) overlap technique: place blocks leftmost and rightmost to prove forced cells without guessing, with worked 5×5 and 10×10 examples.
- Nonogram techniques beyond overlap — keep solving without guessing — Nonogram techniques for when overlap runs out: simple spaces, edge forcing, joining and splitting, clue ownership and counting — worked examples, no guessing.
- The Nonogram Contradiction Technique — Stuck with every line exhausted? Suppose one cell, follow only forced moves, and let a broken clue prove the opposite, without guessing.
- What Does an X Mean in a Nonogram? — An × is a cell you have proven empty, not a guess and not part of the picture. Here is when you are allowed to place one.
Bigger boards
- How to Solve 10×10 Nonograms — Measure slack, take the full lines and the overlap, then work the crossings. One method, shown on a real 10×10 Spring Forest puzzle.
- How to solve 15×15 Nonograms without guessing — Intermediate Nonogram strategy for 15×15 boards: start with the biggest clues, use overlap and edge logic, mark empties, and rescan after every deduction — no guessing.
Practise what you read
The Spring Forest puzzles are a good place to try each technique as you learn it.