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Prepare to be puzzled...

Nurikabe is a fun puzzle that has come over from Japan in recent months.

The puzzle starts with a grid, and some numbers placed in the grid.

The aim of the Nurikabe puzzle is to solve it, according to these rules to end up with a solution like this:


- Every cell is either filled in or contains a number

- All the filled cells must be connected such that you can move from one filled cell to another anywhere in the puzzle. Filled cells are sometimes referred to as water, and the numbered cells as belonging to islands.

- There cannot be a 2 x 2 set of filled cells

- Groups of cells contain the number stated in a cell, for instance a '4' belongs to a group of 4 cells

- Groups of cells must not touch each other

Using just these rules and the starting position, you will be able to solve any Nurikabe puzzle.

There are some simple tips that you can use when solving the puzzles:

The first thing to do is to fill in squares between separate groups of cells. As groups cannot touch each other, you know these must be filled

Another useful tip is to ensure that any filled cells are not isolated, and therefore fill in more cells to stop this.

If there are no groups of cells that can reach a certain point on the grid, you know that cell must be filled.

Finally, if there is the potential of a 2 x 2 set of filled cells, you know that at least one cell from a group must enter one of those cells to stop this - you can often use this method to determine the shape of a group of cells and help solve the puzzle.

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Nurikabe
Author: Dan

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Last Updated: Aug 15th 2006

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