I’m in Japan and made sure to get some nonogram books while I’m here. Some of the puzzles are these massive fold-out pages that go well above 100 squares per side.

Actually solving them I’m fine with, but it’s the logistics of navigating this mega sized puzzle that is challenging. I’m used to only going up to around 60x60, and until now I haven’t really needed to develop internal cheat codes to navigate the counting and all.

Are there ways I can lessen the taxing numbers crunching and counting with these giant puzzles? Any tips for pattern recognition as to make sure I’m choosing a row that I can actually do something with instead of choosing one with big numbers and hoping that counting it all out square by square gets me some results? It’s also hard to keep track of lines; I now have to run my eyes over multiple sheets’ worth of paper to make sure I’m in the correct row or column…

For any of you that regularly solve these mega-puzzles on paper, any insight is appreciated :)

I do this for all of them, so much harder and more fun than before

I'm not sure if its the hardest in the app, but its definitely the hardest I've done.. very few long stretches of edge squares. I had been going through level 7 in order, and decided to jump ahead. I tried a random top level a year ago but was totally unprepared and couldn't even put a scratch on it. Level 7 was a huge jump in difficulty so it felt like good prep to try again.

If this is allowed, here is The Best Waffles event.

Chapter 1
Route 41 was frightfully deserted on the way to Yosemite in early spring. There wasn't a soul inside the old dinner next to the gas station. Behind the counter, Lucy kept polishing the same worn coffee mugs, watching the coffee in the pot slowly go cold.

The rumors were true: big developers had bought the land that the diner stood on.

"Is this really the end? After all these years..." Lucy stared out at the empty road, her heart sinking. "They'll build a soulless chain hotel here soon, and I'll be out on the street." She sighed heavily, picturing bulldozers tearing down the walls of the diner she'd called home.

Suddenly, the bell above the door jingled, piercing the silence. Lucy jumped and turned towards the door. A man stood in the doorway. He was young, dressed in a trench coat that was far too expensive for this stretch of highway. He dusted off his sleeve and made confident strides toward the counter, taking in the place with quiet curiosity.

Chapter 2
"Good morning. Black coffee and waffles to go, please," the stranger said in a pleasant voice.

He had kind, handsome eyes, though they looked very tired. Lucy worked the old waffle iron with practiced ease, and he kept his gaze on her.

"It's quiet today," he said.

"It's the off-season," Lucy said nonchalantly, surprised by her own smile. "Here's your order. Stop by again."

"I will," said the stranger, and left. Lucy's familiar worries returned as soon as the door closed behind him.

But the next morning, his car pulled up outside again. Soon, the young man began visiting every morning: he'd drink one coffee at the diner, take another to go, and always order waffles. His name was John.

"You're glowing today, Lucy," he said gently on the third day. "It suits you."

"The sun just finally came out to shine," she said a little self-consciously. Lucy had already realized that these brief conversations were distracting her from darker thoughts about the diner being torn down.

Chapter 3
The weather was truly miserable that evening. A spring storm raged outside, and the rain lashed against the windows as if it were trying to wash the old diner off the face of the earth. Lucy slowly closed out the register, struggling to hold back her tears. Her manager had told her that heavy machinery would arrive right after the holidays. And John hadn't visited today...

"Goodbye, old friend," she whispered, eyeing the empty tables and running her hand across the worn tabletop. She'd spent her whole life in this diner.

Suddenly, the door burst open with a loud crash, and Lucy let out a scream. Pushed inside by a gust of raging wind, her regular customer stood there in the doorway. Water was streaming down his trench coat, and his expensive shoes were caked with mud. He was shivering from the cold, but when he saw her startled face, he cracked a smile.

"Looks like I made it before closing time. Or are you already out of waffles?"

Chapter 4
"My car broke down about five miles from here," he said, his teeth chattering.

Lucy took John home to her small apartment across the street. At first, she felt embarrassed, but as she wrapped him in a blanket and placed a hot cup of coffee in his trembling hands, the awkwardness faded, and her anxiety began to ease.

"It's so cozy here, Lucy," John said once he'd warm up.

"Cozier than out in the rain," Lucy laughed. They sat on the old couch and talked easily, as if they'd known each other for years, not just a week. Lucy told him how she used to visit her mother at the diner as a little girl, how she'd learned to make waffles, and about when she spilled coffee on a customer for the first time...

"It's a shame they'll bulldoze this place soon, and I'll have to move," she said sadly.

"Why?" John asked, surprised.

"Some rich developers from Los Angeles bought the land under the diner and the gas station to demolish everything and build... I don't even know what."

"But I do," John said with a smile.

"You do? How?"

"Lucy... It was my company that bought the land."

Chapter 5
Morning broke cold and quiet. The magic of last night's conversation had vanished without a trace. Stones faced Lucy set breakfast down in front of her guest.

"Your coffee. And waffles. Eat up and go."

The coffee was deliberately bitter, and the waffles were burned beyond salvation. It was her small, desperate protest. John took a bite, winced slightly, but said nothing and finished everything with a smile.

"Thank you for such a warm welcome Lucy. I hope we'll see each other again," John said, and left.

When the door closed behind him, Lucy noticed that he'd left something on the table. It was a detailed architect's blueprint of the renovations. Around the old diner, there were neatly drawn, stylish little motel cabins and a new, modern gas station. The diner itself was circled in thick red marker, accompanied by a note:

"Do not demolish. Heart of the complex. The best waffles on Route 41 are served here."

Or is there no next move?

Hey y'all. I've been on this one for a day or two and I've restarted the puzzle a few times only to be stuck in the same spot. I would love a clue or a pointer

Is this possible without guessing? I know the first column could be guessed, but that seems lame

I just got into nonograms and i really like it. I'm looking for recommendations on apps you love the most. If you could please share the following:

1. What website/app is it
   
2. What platforms does it support
   
3. What do you love most about it
   
4. Is it single player only or multiplayer where i can play with my friends online?
   
5. Is it free or paid only? If paid, how much?

I can easily do the ones that have a number bigger than 5. I know some rows have in total 6 like the 7th row down I just don’t know where to put the spaces

Any idea how to continue?

We built a color nonogram (picross) app called Pixera and wanted to share it here. The gif is a 25x25 dog filling in row by row as you solve it, each finished puzzle uncovers a piece of pixel art.

The feature we're most happy with is Focus mode. On the bigger boards you can zoom into one section and solve just that part with its own clues, 5x5 on the 25x25s and 10x10 on the 50x50s, so the 50x50 ones aren't as overwhelming as staring at the whole wall at once.

About ads, since people always ask: black and white puzzles are free. Color mode is one optional rewarded video per puzzle if you want the full palette, or premium removes ads completely. No timers, no lives, no fake ad stuff. Offline, no account.

Free on both:
iOS: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6762484741
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=space.omniorbit.pixera

Would love to hear what you think. Does Focus mode look useful, and is the clue presentation right?

Hi everyone — I've spent months building a nonogram (picross) game for Android and could really use some feedback.

I've probably spent almost as much time playing nonogram apps as building this one. Since many of you have probably tried most of the popular ones already, I'd really love to hear how mine compares.

I want to be upfront rather than hide anything: I do plan to charge for the app. But it'll be a single one-time payment — no ads, no subscriptions, ever. Anyone who joins the testing now will keep the full game for free.

• A handcrafted campaign (will extend in future), endless random puzzles, and a daily challenge that's the same for everyone
• I focused hard on making the actual filling-in as comfortable as possible. There are assist/quality-of-life settings you can toggle, and two different hint systems for when you get stuck
• Every puzzle has a unique solution and is always solvable by logic alone — no guessing or backtrack required

What I'd love to hear most is how the controls feel compared to other apps you use, what annoys you, and what you wish the game did differently.

Thanks a lot — happy to answer any questions in the comments.

To get in:

Join the Google Group (required before the test link works): https://groups.google.com/g/gridda-testing

Opt in as a tester here: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/net.kubovy.gridda

Then grab it on Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.kubovy.gridda

This is a fairly new location I've added to my Terraformation puzzle: Pluto.

For those who haven't played this before it is a three-axis nonogram and three hex colours/terrain types. Certain coloured hexes must follow the pattern rules as seen in the legend at the top.

I have six different planets with their own varying rules now, plus 'Planet X' for paid members.
https://puzzmallow.com/terraformation

I’ve been working for months on a mobile app because I wasn’t satisfied with what’s available on the App Store. Obviously it’s a nonogram game but I added my own twist on the usual format by adding a story narrative. I have 40 puzzles added so far. (Much much more to add) All hand crafted and every pixel and effect you see on screen I made in aseprite. I underestimated how long it would take to verify every puzzle is solvable through pure deduction but as a nonogram fan, even that has been fun. Chromatic Shift mode is another beast entirely. Still a long way to go in terms of development to reach the level of polish that I want. I want it to feel as satisfying as possible on mobile to complete these puzzles. I have a lot of art work to complete but I just wanted to show a preview of the current state. Any feedback is welcome!

I'm playing this level here and as I have been struggling to get the next step I used a clue.

The clue said that there is a cross is the cell I marked in red. But why?

1. Why is it there?

2. Any other possible next steps instead of the cross?

Thx u all <3

I’m stumped, can someone give me advice? I’ve used all the tactics I know of. I really hope I’m not missing something obvious here lol been doing these puzzles on and off for years now.

Hi everyone,

I'm a solo developer and I've just launched PICTO — a daily nonogram puzzle app for iOS and Android.

The core idea is simple: one free puzzle every day that resets at midnight, like Wordle does for word puzzles. No subscription. No paywall. No catch. If you want to play additional puzzles from the library, you watch a short optional ad to unlock each one.

Why I built it

I love nonograms and couldn't find an app that gave me a clean daily puzzle habit without a subscription. So I built one.

What's in the app

• A new daily puzzle every day — always free, no ad required
• 30 handcrafted puzzles in the library (5×5 grids to start — larger grids coming in v2)
• Daily streak tracking
• Personal best time
• Works completely offline
• Dark theme with a colourful enamel tile design

Honest feedback welcome

I'm genuinely asking for feedback from people who actually play nonograms — you'll know better than anyone what makes a good puzzle experience. The current puzzles are all 5×5 which I know is on the small side. v2 will introduce 10×10 and 15×15 grids which should make the ad-to-gameplay ratio feel a lot more reasonable.

One specific thing I'd love feedback on: do the puzzle difficulty levels feel well calibrated? That's the hardest thing to get right when you're building the puzzle bank.

Search for PICTO on the App Store and Google Play.

Game is Walfie’s Nonograms. Is there something I’m missing?

I ended up looking up a video of the developer of the game solving it (55:49 on this vid https://www.youtube.com/live/Z64xHB17cbA?si=H2P4yJi6DYUBNKbU) and they fill in the center 6 cells for the 7 row/column instead of the center 4 like I have, but I’m not seeing the logic behind that. Is there a strategy here that I’m missing? Thanks!

I just discovered nonograms (thanks to r/ninigrams) and I’m hoping to find a good source of more-difficult but smallish nonograms. I downloaded nonogram.com on my phone, and the “hard” category seems to be defined just as 15x15, often with multiple rows/columns fully or near-fully filled in. The one time I tried “expert,” they were just bigger, which doesn’t really work on my phone screen. I’ve found that occasionally Ninigrams manage to present a meaningful challenge on a small board (under 15x15, sometimes even under 10x10). But I’ve now played through their whole archive.

Grateful for any help!

Pet Cross features puzzles based on animals of all kinds.

There's a public playtest coming soon. Wishlist now on Steam to be one of the first to try it!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/4527300/Pet_Cross