Slow Squares

Binary Blocks

Filled and hollow squares in equal measure — and blocks that hold only one kind.

Binary Blocks is a board of filled and hollow squares: every row and every column holds as many of one as of the other, and nowhere three alike stand side by side. On the board lie blocks — two, three or four cells inside an outline — and every cell of a block holds the same square, though which one is not said. Few squares are given, sometimes only two; the blocks tell the rest. Here a tap walks a cell from empty to a filled square to a hollow one and back, and the board tells you only what your own squares already say: three alike side by side and a square its line has too many of take a reddish wash, and a block holding both kinds turns red all over. No hints, and nothing that checks you against the answer.

A new board every day — 8 × 8, 10 × 10, and 12 × 12 — the same for everybody, each with a single solution that reasoning alone reaches. No timer and no account needed: a board left half-done waits for you until the day turns, at midnight UTC.

Today’s boards

How to play

Put a filled or a hollow square in every empty cell so that each row and each column holds as many of one as of the other.

Never three alike side by side — not in a row, not in a column.

Every cell of a block holds the same square.

Tap a cell for a filled square, tap again for a hollow one, once more to clear it. The squares the board came with stay put: tap one and they all give a shake, to show which they are.

Shown in red: three of the same kind side by side, squares a row or column has too many of, and a block holding both kinds.

Solved: three filled and three hollow squares in every row and every column, nowhere three alike together, and one kind of square in every block.

How to solve Binary Blocks

Beyond today’s board

No timer. Leave and come back — it’s saved.

Play today’s Binary Blocks