Nonograms: Pixel Garden

The pitch

Every puzzle solves by logic alone, no guessing, no timer, no competition. Fill cells by coloured numbers along rows and columns, and a picture emerges from the very cells you filled, then settles onto its bed in the garden. 168 pictures from 5×5 to 30×30 in 14 garden corners, plus a new daily 10×10. Large high-contrast numbers; a big grid opens zoomed in, and "Whole field" shows all of it. Two more ways to play: "Endless mode", a path of black-and-white puzzles growing from 5×5 to 30×30, and "Random puzzle" with the size and difficulty of your choice. Corners open for seeds earned by solved pictures. The "With mistake checking" mode corrects a wrong cell at once and takes one of three leaves; "Classic" has no checking at all. Undo is unlimited, and an unfinished grid is saved after every move.

Controls & how it runs

A number next to a row or column is the length of a run of filled cells, and its colour is the colour of that run. Several numbers mean several runs in that order; runs of the same colour have at least one empty cell between them. • Tap a cell to fill it with the selected colour; drag to fill a line. • Pick a colour with the buttons below; "×" marks cells that are surely empty. • Undo takes a move back, any number of times. • The "+1 cell for 3 seeds" hint reveals a correct cell. • "Zoom" or a pinch zooms in: one finger paints, two fingers pan. A big grid opens zoomed in; "Whole field" shows all of it. • On a computer: arrows move the cursor, Space or Enter fills, X crosses, 1–5 pick a colour, Z undoes, +, − and 0 zoom, Esc opens settings; the wheel pans a big grid. A finished line greys out its numbers. Start with lines whose numbers nearly fill them. With mistake checking on, a mistake costs a leaf; out of three, restart, take three more for an ad or play on without checking.

Getting a run going takes exactly one press: Press start, up top, and the game boots inside this page — nothing downloads in the background and no form wants your details before the first jump. The cabinet is drawn for a flexible screen and listens to mouse, keyboard or touch, whichever the game prefers. It reshapes itself for tall and wide screens alike, so phone, tablet and desktop all get the full picture. Given a fullscreen button, use it — scores look better at full size, that's just science.

Pro tips for arcade cabinets

• Treat your first run as a scouting mission. Arcade cabinets hide their cruelty in the second minute, not the first — learn where the difficulty spikes before you start chasing numbers.
• Small scores compound. Grab the easy pickups on every pass instead of gambling the whole run on one heroic line; heroes respawn, banked points don't evaporate.
• Watch the edges of the screen. In classic arcade design the next problem almost always enters from somewhere you weren't looking — build the habit of scanning the borders.

Nonograms: Pixel Garden — quick-fire questions

Does Nonograms: Pixel Garden cost anything to play?

Not a token. The cabinet is free from the first run to the five-hundredth — no wallet, no sign-up, no toll booth hiding three levels in. The adverts around the page are what keep the floor's lights on.

What sort of game is Nonograms: Pixel Garden?

It stands on our Arcade row — that's the family it plays most like. The pitch above is the publisher's own rundown of what it throws at you and what it hands back.

Can I play Nonograms: Pixel Garden on my phone?

Happily, yes. It runs inside the browser on phones and tablets the same way it does on a computer. It reshapes itself for tall and wide screens alike, so phone, tablet and desktop all get the full picture.

Do I need to install anything first?

Nothing whatsoever. Nonograms: Pixel Garden is an HTML5 game: hit the start button and it boots on this page, and shutting the tab sweeps the cabinet clean behind you.

Before you wander off

Personal best banked, or still chasing it? Either way the full Arcade row is powered on and waiting — The main floor: 415 cabinets of pure arcade stock — the quick, the loud and the gloriously unfair. If it beeps, flashes and dares you to beat a number, it lives on this row.