Meowdoku Level 4: Free Online Puzzle

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

Reading Level 4's six regions

Salmon takes R1C4, R1C5, R1C6, R2C6 and R3C5: 5 cells.

Lilac fills R4C1, R4C3, R4C4, R5C1, R5C2, R5C3, R5C4, R5C5, R5C6, R6C1, R6C3, R6C4 and R6C5.

Pink takes R6C2 (1 cell tucked into the bottom-left corner).

Blue takes R3C6, R4C5, R4C6 and R6C6: 4 cells.

Green takes R2C4, R2C5, R3C2, R3C3, R3C4 and R4C2: 6 cells.

Cream takes R1C1, R1C2, R1C3, R2C1, R2C2, R2C3 and R3C1: 7 cells, holding the top-left corner.

Salmon meets cream ×2, green ×9, blue ×4, lilac ×1.

Lilac touches cream ×1, green ×11, salmon ×1, blue ×9, pink ×5.

Pink borders lilac ×5.

Blue touches green ×2, salmon ×4, lilac ×9.

Green borders cream ×10, salmon ×9, blue ×2, lilac ×11.

Cream touches salmon ×2, green ×10, lilac ×1.

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 4, Step by Step

Pink is a one-cell region, R6C2, which is as good as a free cat. That closes row 6 (R6C4, R6C5, R6C6) and column 2 (R1C2, R2C2, R3C2, R4C2). From there the board is decided by shapes rather than by trials: three of the four deductions below come from a unit's remaining cells sitting inside another unit.

Row 5's open cells, R5C4, R5C5 and R5C6, all sit inside lilac, so lilac's cat is in row 5. Everything of lilac's outside row 5 leaves: R4C1, R4C3, R4C4, R6C4 and R6C5.

Column 1's open cells are R1C1, R2C1 and R3C1, all cream, so cream's cat is in column 1 and R1C2, R1C3, R2C2 and R2C3 go.

The interesting one is column 3, which now has a single open cell, R3C3. It belongs to row 3 and to green at the same time, so row 3's cat and green's cat are the same cat, and it can only be R3C3. Row 3 clears (R3C1, R3C2, R3C4, R3C5, R3C6) and green clears its flanks (R2C4, R2C5, R4C2).

Two candidates are left for cream's cat, and the test settles it: empty R2C1 and the lilac region has no cell left for its own cat. So R2C1 is the cat, row 2 closes at R2C6.

Notice how lopsided the methods are: two of the steps above were pure geometry, a row's cells sitting inside a region and a column's cells sitting inside another, and geometry costs nothing to check. Only the two placement tests needed a what-if, and each collapsed in one pass.

The blue region is the last open question, and the same test answers it: empty R4C6 and row 5 starves, so R4C6 carries the blue cat. Both tests prove a placement the same way. Leave the cell empty and a unit starves, lilac first, then row 5. Two counting steps end the board (R5C4, row 5's only open cell, then R1C5, column 5's only one). Cats on R1C5, R2C1, R3C3, R4C6, R5C4, R6C2, one to a row, column and region, none adjacent.

Where Level 4 wants you to slip

Try R5C1 first and the pink region is wiped out in one move: every cell it owns aligns with that spot, same line, or one corner over.

Hints for Level 4: Four Nudges

• Pink is one cell, R6C2, so start there and let row 6 and column 2 close. The rest of this board is decided by shapes rather than by trials.
• Row 5's cells all sit inside lilac, so lilac's cat is in row 5 and R4C1, R4C3, R4C4, R6C4, R6C5 are out. Column 1's cells all sit inside cream, so cream's cat is in column 1 and R1C2, R1C3, R2C2, R2C3 go.
• Column 3 is the hinge: one open cell, R3C3, and it belongs to row 3 and to green at once. Both take their cat there, which clears the rest of row 3 and green's flanks at R2C4, R2C5, R4C2.
• Two placement tests finish it. Empty R2C1 and lilac starves, so R2C1 is cream's; empty R4C6 and row 5 starves, so R4C6 is blue's. R5C4 and R1C5 are then the last cells of row 5 and column 5.

Answer for Level 4

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