Nurikabe Interactive

Nurikabe puzzles can be played interactively on the computer, offering many features and advantages compared to pencil and paper. This section explains everything about how to play Nurikabe on the computer. If you are not yet familiar with the puzzle rules, please go to Nurikabe rules.

Drawing walls and creating islands

Nurikabe Interactive is played by drawing walls between clues to create islands. First click fills the square to indicate it is part of the wall, second click marks a dot to indicate the square is part of an island and third click brings the square back to its original state. Multiple squares may be filled or dotted by dragging the mouse.

Completing clues

When all walls around a clue and its associated dots are accounted for, the clue and dots will change color to indicate it is completed.

Toolbar

All game functions are accessed through the toolbar. For some toolbar buttons, keyboard shortcut keys are also available as listed below. Toolbar may be positioned horizontally or vertically using the rotate button on the left edge, and relocated anywhere in the game by dragging its frame.

Zoom in

Enlarge small puzzles for best viewing on your screen.

Zoom out

Reduce large puzzles for best fit on your screen.

Undo (Keyboard: U)

Go back as many steps in the game as you want.

Redo (Keyboard: R)

Go forward after using Undo as many steps as you want.

Mark square (Keyboard: spacebar)

Marking squares is a useful feature when trying to determine what the content of one or more squares should be. When in the Mark square mode, first click marks a square with a question mark and second click unmarks the square by removing the question mark. Multiple squares may be marked or unmarked using click and drag.

Clear marks (Keyboard: delete)

Clear all marked squares at once.

Restart puzzle

Restart puzzle to solve from the beginning.

Check puzzle (Keyboard: C)

Check all walls and dots for errors.

Progress

Show elapsed solving time.

Show solution

Show solution of the puzzle. Using this button will also end the game.

Preferences

Open Preferences dialog box. New preferences will be automatically saved on the computer.

Show conflicts: Check this box to automatically show conflicts in walls and islands during the game.
Show island size: Check this box to show the size of the island which the mouse is pointing at.
Highlight islands and walls: Check this box to highlight islands and walls which the mouse is pointing at.
Sound on: Check this box to turn sound on.

About

Open About dialog box to see puzzle size, difficulty, ID, title and other information.

Help

Open Nurikabe Interactive page you are reading now.

Print options

Open Print dialog box. New print options will be automatically saved on the computer.

Print

Puzzle: Select to print puzzle.
Solution: Select to print solution.
Current state: Select to print current solution state.

Scaling

Preferred image scale: Reduce or enlarge printout.
Attempt to reduce to page: Check this box to fit large puzzles on a single page. When this box is unchecked, large puzzles will print in multiple pages according to selected scaling.
Attempt to enlarge to page: Check this box to fit small puzzles on a whole page. When this box is unchecked, small puzzles will print according to selected scaling.
Select optimal orientation: Check this box to automatically select puzzle orientation.