Japanese Puzzles: Nonograms

Tired of Sudoku and ready to try a different Japanese puzzle? Try out the Nonogram. Japanese puzzles tend to be based on shapes and numbers rather than words. The Nonogram is no exception to this principle. In fact, the Nonogram is about as graphic a puzzle as possible.

The Nonogram gets its name from its creator, Non Ishida. Non Ishida had entered, and won first prize in, a window art competition in 1987. The competition involved creating a picture on a skyscraper by lighting up windows in the building. From this, she became inspired to create a puzzle based on the concept of creating a picture on a rectangular grid by filling in the squares. Non Ishida created and published three such puzzles and called them “Window Art Puzzles.” With the help of James Dalgety, who renamed the puzzle “Nonogram” as a combination of the words “Non” and “Diagram”, Britain’s The Telegraph began publishing Nonograms in their Sunday edition. And so it was, the Nonogram puzzle was born.

Each Nonogram row and column contains clues about how many neighboring squares should be filled in. For example, a clue of 4.8 would mean that there are 4 squares in a row that are filled in followed by at least one blank square (could be more) which are then followed by 8 filled in squares. Note that the 4 filled in squares and the 8 filled in squares don’t necessarily begin and end at the beginning of the line. By following the clues for each row and column the successful puzzle solver will reconstruct the image.

After several years with The Telegraph, Non Ishida decided she wanted to use the term Nonogram exclusively for her own creations and The Telegraph would have to come up with a name of their own for their designs. The Telegraph ran a competition in 1998 and the winning name was “Griddler”. As a side note, in Australia, Nonograms are also know as Tsunami.

Tips for solving Nonograms:
� Mistakes happen. Always use a pencil and a good eraser.
� For the best possible picture, fill in the solids evenly.
� Mark squares identified as being empty with a dot.
� Cross out the clues as they are completed.

Each time either a dot or a solid is marked, this information is applied to both a row and a column. Using logic, a previously difficult row or column now has more information. Gradually, as the user completes clues, the previously difficult lines now become solvable and the Nonogram picture emerges.