Slow Squares

Binary Signs

Filled and hollow squares in equal measure — and = and × signs between them.

Binary Signs 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. Between some cells stands a sign — an = says both hold the same, an × that they differ. A few marks are given; the rest is the puzzle. 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 marks already say: three alike in a row, a mark its line has too many of and a sign its two cells quarrel with take a reddish wash. No hints, and nothing that checks you against the answer.

A new board every day — 6 × 6, 8 × 8, and 10 × 10 — 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.

An = between two cells says they hold the same; an × says they do not.

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 two cells that disagree with the sign between them.

Solved: three filled and three hollow squares in every row and every column, nowhere three alike together, and every sign kept.

How to solve Binary Signs

Beyond today’s board

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

Play today’s Binary Signs