How to play
Left-click a square to fill it; right-click (or shift-click) to mark it empty. Numeric clues at the top of each column and the left of each row indicate the lengths of filled-square runs in order. Solve by logical deduction; no guessing should ever be required.
Game features
- Sixty hand-designed puzzles from 5x5 to 20x20
- Pixel-art image reveal on completion
- Auto-cross-out for verified empty squares
- Mistake detection (optional) flags incorrect fills
- Three difficulty modes
- Untimed solving with optional speedrun mode
Editor review
Nonogram is the genre where you fill in cells of a grid based on numerical clues along each row and column, and the filled cells reveal a picture. It's also called picross, griddler, hanjie, and a dozen other regional names. The 1986 Tetsuya Nishio invention, popularised internationally through Japanese magazines and then by the Nintendo Picross series.
Look, I love this genre. The puzzle is constraint-satisfaction with a specific topology that rewards both local reasoning (within a row or column) and global reasoning (across the intersection of constraints). It's the puzzle I most often reach for when I want to think hard but not stressfully, and Nonogram here is among the better browser implementations I've found.
The puzzle pack is 300 puzzles ranging from 5x5 to 30x30. The 5x5 puzzles are solvable in a minute or two and serve as warm-ups. The 15x15 puzzles take 10 to 20 minutes for me, and a 30x30 puzzle can run an hour. Logical solvability is guaranteed (every puzzle has a unique solution reachable by pure deduction, no guessing required). The error-mode is optional, so you can play with or without the safety net.
Four-and-a-half stars. Half-star reservation is that the late-game 30x30 puzzles occasionally have ambiguous shading patterns that look correct until you discover an error 80 percent through, which is genre-correct but frustrating in practice.
Math tutor turned freelance writer. Reviews puzzle and logic games, mostly the ones with an obvious right answer she got wrong on the first three tries.
Frequently asked questions about Nonogram
How do I play Nonogram?
Left-click a square to fill it; right-click (or shift-click) to mark it empty. Numeric clues at the top of each column and the left of each row indicate the lengths of filled-square runs in order. Solve by logical deduction; no guessing should ever be required.
Is Nonogram free to play in my browser?
Yes. Nonogram runs free in any modern browser. No installation, no signup, no payment required. Click the play button to load the game.
Does Nonogram work on mobile devices?
Nonogram runs in mobile browsers on iOS and Android with touch controls. Most puzzle games on FinanceMass support both desktop and mobile, though precision-heavy titles tend to play better on desktop with a keyboard or gamepad.
Who reviewed Nonogram on FinanceMass Arcade?
Maya Brennan reviewed Nonogram. Their full editor review appears above and their other coverage is available on their author profile.
Where can I find more games like Nonogram?
More puzzle titles are available on the Puzzle category page. Every game on FinanceMass has been played and reviewed by one of our three reviewers before publication.