Meowdoku Level 3: Free Online Puzzle

A cat in every region, row and column; none touching, corners included. Strategy guide.

Reading Level 3's six regions

Cream takes R1C5, R1C6, R2C5, R2C6, R3C5, R3C6, R4C5 and R4C6: 8 cells.

Lilac fills R5C4, R5C5, R5C6, R6C4, R6C5 and R6C6.

Pink takes R2C1, R2C2, R3C2, R4C2, R4C3, R5C1, R5C2, R5C3, R6C1, R6C2 and R6C3 (11 cells).

Blue? That's R1C1, R1C2, R3C1 and R4C1. 4 cells in all.

Green takes R1C3, R2C3, R2C4, R3C3, R3C4 and R4C4: 6 cells.

Salmon takes R1C4 (1 cell).

Cream touches salmon ×2, green ×8, lilac ×5.

Lilac touches pink ×5, green ×2, cream ×5.

Pink meets blue ×12, green ×10, lilac ×5.

Blue touches pink ×12, green ×2.

Green touches blue ×2, salmon ×3, pink ×10, cream ×8, lilac ×2.

Salmon touches green ×3, cream ×2.

Every touch above is a live constraint: a cat on one side of a border rules the touching cells on the other side out, corners included.

How to Solve Level 3, Step by Step

This is the friendliest board of the ten: once the first cat is placed, nothing on it needs a test. Salmon is a single cell, R1C4, so it takes the cat immediately, and row 1 (R1C1, R1C2, R1C6) and column 4 (R3C4, R4C4, R5C4, R6C4) close around it.

Green shrinks to two cells, R2C3 and R3C3, and R2C3 sits diagonally against the cat on R1C4, so green's cat is R3C3. Row 3 empties (R3C1, R3C5, R3C6) and column 3 with it (R5C3, R6C3).

Blue is down to R3C1 and R4C1 after row 1 closes, both in column 1, and R3C1 leaves with row 3. That makes R4C1 blue's only open cell, so it is the cat; row 4 loses R4C5 and R4C6, column 1 loses R2C1 and R6C1.

Column 2 has three candidates left and both placements nearby kill two of them: R4C1 takes R5C2 out diagonally, R3C3 takes R2C2 out the same way. R6C2 is the only cell in column 2 that can still hold a cat, and it does.

Cream is left with R2C5, R2C6, R3C5, R3C6, R4C5 and R4C6. Rows 3 and 4 already have their cats, and R1C4 sits diagonally against R2C5, so R2C6 is cream's only cell. Column 6 closes there.

It is worth seeing why this level runs so cleanly: each placement shrinks the next region to a single cell, so the board feeds itself. Salmon hands over green, green hands over blue, blue hands over column 2, and column 2 hands over cream. A unit with one cell left can never be wrong.

One cell remains: R5C5, the only open cell of column 5, which row 5 has been waiting for since the start. The solution is R1C4, R2C6, R3C3, R4C1, R5C5, R6C2. Six cats, one per row, column and region, none of them in contact. No step above required you to guess.

Where Level 3 wants you to slip

Most wrong first moves here start at R1C3. It kills R1C4 outright, and the salmon region never recovers.

Hints for Level 3: Four Nudges

• Nothing on this board needs a test. Salmon is a single cell, R1C4, and that placement alone closes row 1 (R1C1, R1C2, R1C6) and column 4 (R3C4 to R6C4).
• Watch each region collapse in turn. Green is left with R2C3 and R3C3, and R2C3 touches the cat on R1C4, so R3C3 is green's; that closes row 3 and column 3 as well.
• Blue falls next: row 1 takes R1C1 and R1C2, row 3 takes R3C1, so R4C1 is the only cell left and it is the cat. Column 2 then narrows to R6C2, because R4C1 and R3C3 sit diagonally against its other two candidates.
• Cream is the last region: rows 3 and 4 are spoken for and R1C4 touches R2C5, so R2C6 takes it. Column 5 has only R5C5 left. That is the whole solve, six forced placements and no guesses.

Answer for Level 3

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