Hitori

Hitori is a number logic puzzle from the Japanese publisher Nikoli, and its name roughly means “alone”. Every cell starts with a number, and your job is to shade some of them until no number repeats in any row or column. Play Hitori online free in your browser, with no download or sign-up, on a computer, tablet or phone.

How to play

A finished Hitori grid follows three rules at the same time:

• No repeats: among the cells you leave white, a number can appear only once in each row and once in each column.
• No touching: two shaded cells can never sit side by side. Touching at a corner is fine.
• One group: all of the white cells must stay connected through their sides, so shading can never wall off part of the grid.

Tap a cell once to shade it, again to put a dot in it (a dot means you have decided the cell stays white), and a third time to clear it. You can also hold and drag across the grid to paint several cells the same way. The puzzle is solved the moment your shading follows all three rules. You do not need to dot every white cell.

Sizes, difficulty and the daily puzzle

Practice grids come in 5×5, 6×6, 8×8, 10×10 and 12×12 Expert, each at Easy, Medium or Hard. The level is set by the deductions a puzzle needs. Easy grids give way to the basic rules and a few “this would cut the white cells apart” steps. Medium grids lean much more on keeping the white cells connected. Hard grids need at least one what-if step, where you test a cell and follow the rules until something breaks.

The Daily button opens the 8×8 Medium daily puzzle. Everyone gets the same grid on the same date, and solving it on consecutive days builds your streak. The Stats panel shows how many puzzles you have solved at each size, your best and average times, and how many you finished with no hints. Your current puzzle saves as you play.

Controls and tools

• Mouse and touch: tap to cycle a cell, drag to paint, and right-click to toggle a dot. The Tap button switches between cycling, shade-only and dot-only taps, which can be easier on a phone.
• Keyboard: arrow keys move the cursor, Space cycles the cell, X shades, D adds a dot and Backspace clears. Z and Y undo and redo, H asks for a hint, C checks the grid, N starts a new puzzle, and P or Esc pauses and hides the grid.
• Show rule breaks: while this is on, cells turn red when two shaded cells touch, when two dotted cells share a number in a line, or when shading cuts some white cells off from the rest.
• Check: stripes any cell you have shaded or dotted wrongly, compared with the solution.
• Hint: finds the next logical step from your current grid, fills it in, highlights the cells involved and explains the reasoning in plain English. If you have made a mistake, the hint clears it first. Each hint adds 15 seconds to your time.

Hitori tips

• Dot around every shaded cell. As soon as you shade a cell, the cells beside it must stay white.
• Shade the repeats of a white cell. Once a cell is white, every other copy of its number in that row and column has to be shaded.
• Look for sandwiches. In a line like 3 5 3, the middle cell stays white. One of the 3s must be shaded, and a shaded middle cell would block both of them.
• Spot pairs and triples. Two equal numbers side by side cannot both be shaded, so any other copy of that number in the same line must be shaded. In three equal numbers in a row, both ends are shaded and the middle stays white.
• Protect the connections. Before shading a cell, check that it does not close off a corner or gap that white cells need.

FAQ

Is this Hitori game free?

Yes. It is free with no account and nothing to install. Pick a size or open the daily puzzle and start shading.

Does every puzzle have only one solution?

Yes. Each grid is checked by a solver that counts its solutions, and only grids with exactly one are used. The same solver powers the step-by-step hints.

Can I play Hitori on my phone?

Yes. Tap or drag on the grid. The grid scales to fit small screens and does not scroll the page while you play.

Where can I find more number puzzles?

Try our free Sudoku for classic number placement, or Kakuro if you like puzzles built on sums.