Nurikabe

Nurikabe is a logic puzzle from Japan invented and published by Nikoli. If you enjoy the sort of thinking involved in Minesweeper then you're likely to enjoy Nurikabe.

The name Nurikabe refers to Japanese folklore and an invisible wall that blocked roads and made travel difficult.

What Is Nurikabe?

Nurikabe is a logic puzzle played on a grid - often but not necessarily square. Initially the grid is empty except for a few squares that contain numbers.

The object of the game is to fill in a number of empty cells to produce a black and white grid that meets the following criteria:

  • All black cells must be linked to form a single group (diagonal doesn't count)
  • No group of black cells can form a 2x2 or larger block
  • Each group of white cells must contain exactly one number which must equal the number of cells in that group (the cell with a number counts as white)
Although the name of the puzzle refers to "walls", Nurikabe is often described in terms of water and islands - the black cells are said to make up a single "lake" in which the white cells are "islands".




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