Find where the clues live
We checked BinaryPuzzle.com’s classic rules alongside Conceptis’s Pic-a-Pix rules and worked examples. The comparison here covers classic Binary Puzzle and black-and-white Nonograms. Colored Nonograms have additional color rules, including cases where differently colored blocks can touch.
In a Binary Puzzle, a given 1 tells you the value of that particular cell. It stays there while you fill the remaining cells with 0 or 1. Each completed row and column must have equal counts, avoid three matching digits consecutively, and differ from every other completed line in the same direction.
In a Nonogram, read the clues to the left of a row or above a column. A sequence such as 2 1 specifies two painted cells together, then a separate painted cell farther along. Those clues describe runs, and their order matters. Across a row, read left to right. Down a column, read top to bottom.
| What you see | Classic Binary Puzzle | Black-and-white Nonogram |
|---|---|---|
| Starting information | Given values inside cells | Run-length clues beside rows and columns |
| Meaning of a number | The value of one cell | Length of a consecutive painted block |
| Finished white or unpainted cell | Still carries one of the two values | A confirmed part of the background |
| What completes a line | Balance, no triples and line uniqueness | The exact ordered sequence of painted runs |
Read a cell value as a cell value
The first original diagram is a six-cell Binary Puzzle line. An underscore marks a cell whose value is unknown. In 0 0 _ 1 _ 1, the third cell must be 1 because the opening 00 cannot become 000. The row then has three ones, so the fifth cell must be 0.
The result, 0 0 1 1 0 1, satisfies the row’s count and adjacency requirements. This is a line demonstration. A whole board would still need compatible columns and no duplicate completed rows or columns. Reading a line correctly gives you a deduction without certifying the entire puzzle.
You can draw the two values as black and white tiles if a publisher uses that convention. The white tile still counts toward the line’s quota. On our site both values appear as digits, so a completed row contains six entries. There are no finished background cells to leave unwritten.
0 0 _ 1 _ 10 0 1 1 0 1The opening pair forces the third cell to 1. Three ones then force the fifth cell to 0.
Read an edge number as a run length
The second original diagram uses a six-cell Nonogram row with the outside clue 3 2. Here # means painted and x means confirmed unpainted. The two blocks need five painted cells, with at least one unpainted cell between them. That uses all six positions, giving # # # x # #.
An edge clue of 3 therefore produces three consecutive painted cells. That same triple would violate classic Binary Puzzle rules if painted cells represented one of its digits. Nonogram rows follow their supplied run clues; they have no general half-painted quota or ban on repeated completed rows.
Clue order also changes the result. On this six-cell line, 2 3 gives # # x # # #. A clue of 5 would describe one uninterrupted block of five, so the separated arrangement for 3 2 would fail it. Adding the numbers tells you the painted total, but loses the separation information.
Outside clue 3 2 | _ _ _ _ _ _# # # x # #Three painted cells, one confirmed unpainted cell, then two painted cells fill the six-cell row exactly.
Distinguish unknown cells from confirmed empty cells
A Nonogram needs a way to distinguish an untouched square from one you have proved stays unpainted. Conceptis’s techniques page uses X marks for confirmed empty squares and also mentions dots. In the diagram above, x records a decision. An underscore still means you have not decided.
A Binary Puzzle blank has only the temporary meaning. Eventually it becomes one of the two cell values. If you write 0 to mean unknown in a paper copy of our digit-based game, you erase that distinction because 0 is already a valid answer. Use a separate mark for your notes.
Check each interface’s legend before interpreting an X. In an X/O Binary Puzzle, X can be an actual cell value. In a Nonogram it can mark the unpainted background. The symbol’s meaning comes from the rules of the particular game.
Choose the kind of grid you want to finish
For a Takuzu vs Nonogram comparison, first confirm that the Takuzu version uses the classic three constraints. The same check applies when comparing Binairo vs Picross. Names help you find a puzzle family; the instructions establish how to read the page in front of you.
A Nonogram’s painted cells reveal a pixel picture as the row and column clues are satisfied. Classic Binary Puzzle ends with an arrangement of two symbols that passes its constraints, with no picture required. Choose according to whether you want to uncover an image or work through that abstract arrangement.
For a first Binary Puzzle session, use our beginner guide and a 6x6 Easy board. Read a given digit as one fixed cell, then find a forced neighbor. For Nonogram practice, Conceptis’s walkthrough shows how confirmed painted and unpainted cells affect the crossing lines.
Rules and further reading
The line diagrams above are original teaching examples. They are not complete puzzles. The publisher sources below provide the full rules and a Nonogram walkthrough.