The most score-efficient way to finish this fixed Heyawake board is to make exactly three clean shades, using the second cell of the top row, the fourth cell of the middle row, and the fifth cell of the bottom row. The Heyawake Puzzle validates each placement against exact room counts, black-cell separation, white-cell connectivity, and the straight corridor limit. That combination matters because matching the three room clues alone does not make a legal Heyawake answer. You also need black cells that do not share an edge, one connected white region, and no uninterrupted white run passing through all three rooms. On this fixed board, the three cells named above meet every condition, so three clean shade actions complete the puzzle for 970 points. Use the arrow keys to move, Space to shade or unshade, and Enter only for an optional white-cell note. Because the board is fixed, navigation and notes do not change the underlying answer; only an actual shade or unshade changes the black state and reduces the score. The live status then helps you distinguish an actual contradiction from a condition that another legal shade can still repair.
Find the three cells that do two jobs
This is a three-by-six board divided into three vertical rooms, and every room carries the clue 1. Read that clue as an exact requirement for one black cell inside the outlined room. The most useful placements do more than fill a room: they also interrupt a horizontal white run that could otherwise stretch across all three rooms.
- Top row, second cell: this supplies the black cell in the first room and breaks the top row before a continuous white run can cross the entire board.
- Middle row, fourth cell: this fills the second room and separates the left-hand white cells from the white cells in the third room.
- Bottom row, fifth cell: this fills the third room and breaks the final horizontal run that could otherwise span all three rooms.
After these three shades, each room contains one black cell and no two black cells share an edge. The remaining white cells form one orthogonally connected region. Because the rooms are vertical bands, vertical white runs stay within their rooms, while the three selected cells break the horizontal runs before they can pass through more than two rooms. This is the disclosed route for the fixed fixture, not a claim that the room-clue totals alone are enough to recognize a solved board.
Nikoli’s published Heyawake rules provide the primary rule definition, and the game independently cross-checks the room, adjacency, connectivity, and room-crossing conditions. For a broader explanation of the puzzle format, see how room-shading logic puzzles work.
Solve the fixed board one verified shade at a time
- Orient yourself before changing anything. Open the game and identify the three horizontal rows and the three outlined vertical rooms. Confirm that every room shows the clue 1, then use the arrow keys to move the selection outline without shading anything.
- Shade the top-row target. Move the selection to the second cell from the left in the top row and press Space once. Confirm that the cell is black and belongs to the first room.
- Shade the middle-row target. Move to the fourth cell from the left in the middle row and press Space once. This cell belongs to the second room and should not touch the first black cell along an edge.
- Shade the bottom-row target. Move to the fifth cell from the left in the bottom row and press Space once. It fills the third room and breaks the remaining continuous horizontal white run.
- Read the updated validation. Check that the room counts, black-cell separation, white-cell connectivity, and room-crossing corridor condition all pass. Validation recalculates after every shade, so pause after each placement rather than adding cells in a hurry.
- Stop when the board is complete. Once all checks pass, leave the three black cells in place. Do not press Space again to test the solution, because an unnecessary shade or unshade action lowers the score even though the final pattern is unchanged.
Tell temporary warnings from real contradictions
Live feedback is most useful when you know what each result changes. An underfilled room is not the same kind of problem as two black cells sharing an edge, and a long white corridor can still be broken later. Use the status display to separate these categories rather than reacting to every message in the same way.
| Board condition | What the game checks | How to respond |
|---|---|---|
| Room contains too many black cells | Each room must contain exactly its clue number. | Remove a shade from that room; an overfilled room cannot be repaired by adding another cell. |
| Two black cells share an edge | Orthogonally adjacent black cells are forbidden. | Unshade one of the touching cells immediately. |
| White area becomes disconnected | Every remaining white cell must belong to one orthogonally connected region. | Revise the placement that separated the white area. |
| Room is still underfilled | A room with fewer black cells than its clue is not yet complete. | This is not an irreversible dead end; another legal shade may repair it. |
| A white run crosses too many rooms | No straight white run may pass through more than two rooms. | Another legal shade can still break the corridor, but the board remains incomplete until it is fixed. |
These outcomes are not interchangeable. A room with more black cells than its clue is irreconcilable unless a shade is removed, and side-touching black cells are an immediate contradiction. A disconnected white area is also reported as a contradiction. By contrast, an underfilled room or a currently overlong corridor is not treated as an irreversible dead end because another legal placement may still resolve it. Diagonal contact between black cells is allowed; only a shared edge is prohibited.
Use controls without wasting score
The keyboard route keeps every action deliberate. Move the selection with the arrow keys, press Space to shade or unshade the current cell, and press Enter to place or remove an optional white-cell mark. Arrow navigation does not count as a shade action. Enter is useful for recording a candidate or a room boundary, but white marks are reasoning aids only: they do not change validation and do not reduce the score.
Mouse and touch users can click a cell to toggle its black state and use the browser’s context-menu gesture for a white mark. The board uses an accessible CSS grid with a visible focus outline, so the current keyboard selection remains distinct from the cells already shaded. It requires no canvas, downloaded asset, audio, timer, precise pointer placement, account, or network call, which makes the fixed keyboard sequence practical on a small screen as well as a desktop.
Protect the score and reset cleanly
The score follows max(0, 1000 − 10 × shade actions), where an actual shade or unshade is one action. With three clean shade actions, 1000 − 10 × 3 = 970 points. White marks and selection movement do not reduce that total. An accidental toggle followed by a correction counts as two shade actions, so check the selected cell before pressing Space.
If the board becomes cluttered with avoidable edits, use Restart. It clears the black cells, white marks, move count, score, and reported contradictions, giving you a clean board without changing the puzzle. Double-press Escape to open the shared spreadsheet boss cover, then repeat the action to resume the game. A completed best score may be kept only in your browser’s local storage; no sign-in or remote account is involved.
Build a cleaner solving habit
- Read each target in two dimensions. Before shading, identify both its room and the horizontal white run it will break.
- Respect exact counts. A clue of 1 requires one black cell, not two cells that happen to divide the room evenly.
- Check edges rather than diagonals. Black cells can touch diagonally, but they must not share a horizontal or vertical side.
- Do not treat an underfilled warning as permission for random shading. Wait for the planned placement that satisfies the room and corridor checks together.
- Use white marks for notes, not decisions. The game validates the black cells, so a mark cannot substitute for a required shade.
- Fix the cause of a contradiction. Remove the offending shade rather than placing extra black cells around a problem.
- Stop as soon as completion is confirmed. The cleanest route uses only the three intended shade actions.