What is Heyawake?
Heyawake is a Japanese shading logic puzzle played on a rectangular grid divided into rooms. Some or all rooms contain a number, and that number tells you exactly how many cells in the room must be shaded black.
This free Heyawake online game lets you play 6x6, 8x8 and 10x10 puzzles on easy, medium and hard difficulty. The base boards are checked for a single solution, so the intended solve is logic, not guessing.
- Shade cells to satisfy each room number.
- Black cells may not touch horizontally or vertically.
- All unshaded white cells must form one connected area.
- A straight line of connected white cells may not pass through three or more rooms.
- Use dots to mark cells you know must stay white.
How to play Heyawake online
Click or tap a cell to shade it black. Tap again to place a small white marker, and tap once more to clear the cell. Room numbers stay visible because they describe the whole room, not only the cell where the number appears.
Use Check for feedback without revealing the full answer. Hint adds a correct shaded cell or clears an incorrect mark, Solution shows the finished board, and New puzzle loads another unique Heyawake challenge.
- Start with 0 rooms because every cell in that room is white.
- A full room count can force all remaining cells in that room to be black.
- Every black cell forces its orthogonal neighbours to stay white.
- Watch long white corridors because they cannot cross more than two rooms.
- Keep checking that the white cells can still connect into one area.
Heyawake rules
The room count rule is local, but the connectivity and white-line rules make Heyawake strategic across the whole grid. A legal finished board satisfies every room clue and still leaves one connected white shape.
The most distinctive Heyawake rule is the room-crossing rule: if a horizontal or vertical run of white cells continues across room borders, that run may include cells from at most two rooms. A white line spanning three rooms is forbidden.
- A clue gives the exact number of black cells in its room.
- Rooms without a clue may contain any number of black cells.
- Black cells cannot share an edge.
- White cells must all connect orthogonally.
- Diagonal touching does not connect cells for these rules.
Heyawake strategy tips
Good Heyawake strategy begins with room counts. Mark safe white cells in 0 rooms, then use rooms with high counts to find forced black cells. Every black cell creates a ring of white restrictions around it.
When the easy room deductions run out, switch to global logic. Ask whether a possible black cell would disconnect the white area, or whether leaving a cell white would create a forbidden line through three rooms.
- Use 0 rooms as anchors for white connectivity.
- Separate possible black cells so they never touch by side.
- Count the remaining spaces in each room before guessing.
- Scan every row and column for white runs crossing room borders.
- Treat connectivity as a constraint throughout the solve.
Heyawake grid sizes and difficulty
Small Heyawake puzzles are ideal for learning the room and shading rules. Larger grids create longer white corridors and more places where local room logic interacts with global connectivity.
Easy puzzles use more direct room counts. Medium puzzles ask for more interaction between rooms. Hard Heyawake puzzles use larger grids and tighter white-line pressure, while still keeping one checked solution.
- 6x6 Heyawake is a friendly starting grid.
- 8x8 Heyawake gives a balanced online logic puzzle.
- 10x10 Heyawake adds more rooms and longer deductions.
- Easy, medium and hard change room layout, clue pressure and solve length.
- Rotations and flips add variety while preserving the checked solution.