Printable Norinori

What is printable Norinori?

Norinori is a Japanese-style logic puzzle played on a grid divided into irregular regions. Your task is to shade cells so that every region contains exactly two shaded cells.

The extra twist is that shaded cells must form dominoes: each shaded cell must touch exactly one other shaded cell orthogonally. This creates a clean mix of region logic, adjacency logic and elimination.

Norinori rules and domino logic

Norinori has two rules working together. First, every outlined region must contain exactly two shaded cells, no more and no fewer, whatever its size. Second, every shaded cell must touch exactly one other shaded cell along an edge, so shaded cells always pair up into dominoes. Crucially, a domino is allowed to straddle the border between two regions, which is what gives the puzzle its bite.

Use the two rules against each other. If shading a cell would push a region to three shaded cells, that cell must stay empty; if a shaded cell has no possible partner, an earlier mark was wrong. On paper, shade certain cells firmly and put a dot in cells you have proven empty, then recount each region, because a region that already holds its two shaded cells rules out all of its remaining cells.

• Every region gets exactly two shaded cells.
• Shaded cells form dominoes: each touches exactly one other.
• Dominoes may cross region borders.
• A lone shaded cell with no neighbour is illegal, so rule those options out.
• Once a region holds its two shaded cells, dot the rest as empty.

Which Norinori PDF should you choose?

Start with 6x6 easy if you are learning the puzzle. The smaller grid makes it easier to see how regions force shaded pairs and how one decision affects nearby cells.

The 8x8 PDFs are the best everyday printable choice for many solvers. The 10x10 PDFs are better when you want a longer challenge with more regions and more places where shaded dominoes can interact.

• 6x6: best for beginners, short breaks and learning the rules.
• 8x8: best for regular practice and balanced paper solving.
• 10x10: best for longer sessions with more region interactions.
• Hard: best once you are comfortable proving where domino pairs cannot go.

Norinori solving tips

A good first step is to look for small or narrow regions. Since every region needs exactly two shaded cells, some shapes quickly limit where the shaded domino can fit.

Watch the spaces between regions. A shaded pair can cross a region boundary, but each region still needs exactly two shaded cells total, so crossings often decide several nearby cells at once.

• Every region must contain exactly two shaded cells.
• Shaded cells must connect in orthogonal pairs, like dominoes.
• No shaded cell can belong to a group of three or more shaded cells.
• Use empty-cell deductions when a region already has its two shaded cells.

Solutions are included

Every printable Norinori PDF includes matching solution pages. Puzzle numbers and solution numbers line up, so checking a single puzzle is simple.

The PDFs use a language-neutral numbered layout inside the file, which lets the same downloads work across the English, French, Spanish and German pages.