AlsaediNexius Games · Published October 9, 2026
Nonogram for Beginners: How to Solve Picture Logic Puzzles
A nonogram is a logic puzzle that hides a picture. You fill in squares on a grid using number clues, and when you finish, the filled squares form an image. You never need to guess. Every puzzle can be solved by reasoning alone.
What the numbers mean
Each row and each column has a list of numbers. Each number is a block of filled squares in a row, and the blocks appear in the order given. The clue 3 1 means a block of three filled squares, then at least one empty square, then a single filled square. The clues do not tell you where the blocks start. That is the puzzle.
Start with the big numbers
A clue that fills the whole line is free. In a row of ten, the clue 10 means every square is filled. A clue like 4 5 in a row of ten is also complete, because four plus one gap plus five is exactly ten. Look for these first.
The overlap trick
This is the most useful technique. Take a row of ten with the clue 7. Push the block as far left as it will go: it covers squares 1 to 7. Push it as far right as it will go: it covers squares 4 to 10. Squares 4 to 7 are covered both times, so they must be filled. You do not know where the block ends, but you know its middle. The trick works whenever a block is longer than half the free space.
Mark the empty squares
Knowing that a square is empty is just as valuable as knowing it is filled. When a block is complete, mark the squares on both sides as empty. When every block in a line is placed, mark all the rest as empty. These marks shrink the space in the crossing lines and unlock new overlaps.
Work from the edges
If the first square of a row is filled, the first clue starts there, so you can fill its whole length and mark the next square empty. Edges give exact positions, which the middle of the grid rarely does.
Go back and forth
Each square you settle in a row changes a column, and each square you settle in a column changes a row. Solve what you can across, then look down, then across again. Progress comes from this back and forth.
Do not guess
A wrong guess can spread through the grid before you notice it. If you are stuck, look again at the lines with the largest clues, and at the lines where you have added marks since you last checked. There is always a logical step.
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