What is Masyu?
Masyu is a Japanese loop logic puzzle played on a grid of black and white pearls. Your goal is to draw one single closed loop that passes through every pearl without crossing itself, branching, or leaving loose ends.
The beauty of a Masyu puzzle is that the symbols are simple, but their effects travel through the whole grid. A black pearl forces a turn and straight lines on both sides. A white pearl forces a straight line and at least one nearby turn. This online Masyu game lets you choose different grid sizes and difficulties while keeping the bright, friendly style of the other logic games on the site.
- Draw one continuous loop through the centres of cells.
- The loop may not branch, cross itself, or stop halfway.
- Every black pearl must be a turning point.
- Every white pearl must be passed through in a straight line.
- Each puzzle is built from a complete loop, so Hint and Solution can show a clear example path.
How to play Masyu online
Click or tap between two neighbouring cells to draw a line segment. Keep adding segments until they form one closed loop through all black and white pearls.
Use the Check button when you want feedback without revealing the answer. It highlights line segments that break the loop or pearl rules. Hint adds one helpful segment from the generated loop, while Solution fills the whole loop if you want to study the pattern.
- Start with black pearls because they always turn.
- After a black pearl, extend the loop straight for one cell in both outgoing directions.
- Use white pearls to find straight corridors.
- Avoid creating a small closed loop before every pearl is included.
- Watch for cells with too many lines, because a Masyu loop never branches.
Masyu grid sizes and difficulty
Smaller Masyu grids are good for learning the pearl rules because each forced line is easy to see. Larger Masyu puzzles create longer chains where one turn can decide several later moves.
Easy puzzles use denser, friendlier pearl patterns. Medium puzzles leave more space between clues. Hard Masyu puzzles ask you to combine black-pearl turns, white-pearl straights and loop-avoidance logic across a larger board.
- 6x6 Masyu is a friendly starting size.
- 8x8 Masyu gives a balanced daily challenge.
- 10x10 Masyu has longer loop paths and more strategic deductions.
- Easy, medium and hard change the clue density and solving pressure.
- New puzzle creates another board for the selected size and difficulty.
Masyu strategy tips
The fastest Masyu strategy is to translate every pearl into local line rules. A black pearl cannot go straight, and a white pearl cannot turn on the pearl itself. Those two facts often decide the first few segments.
As the loop grows, global logic becomes more important. Do not close a loop too early, do not create three lines meeting in one cell, and remember that every used cell in the final answer has exactly two line segments.
- Mark forced turns around black pearls first.
- Extend straight lines from black pearls before guessing nearby.
- At a white pearl, test which straight direction still allows a turn before or after it.
- Use loop avoidance whenever a short cycle would exclude other pearls.
- When stuck, look for cells that already have one line and only one legal exit.
Why varied Masyu puzzles matter
A fair Masyu puzzle should reward deduction, but it also has to be fun to look at. Repeating the same snake loop makes the clues feel predictable, even when the pearl rules are technically correct.
The puzzles on this page are built from more varied loop templates. Some boards may allow more than one valid loop, so Check focuses on Masyu rule errors while Hint and Solution show the generated example path.