Islands

What is Islands?

Islands is a calm logic puzzle about drawing a coastline. The grid holds a few numbers, and every number stands on an island of exactly that many squares. Your job is to shade every other square as sea, so that each island holds one number, all the sea joins up into a single body of water, and the sea never fills a 2 by 2 block. Around the world the puzzle is also known as Nurikabe.

Every board has exactly one answer, and it can always be reached by reasoning, never by guessing. Boards come in three sizes, 6 by 6, 8 by 8 and 10 by 10, and a new sea, the same for everyone, arrives every day.

How to play

Tap a square to shade it as sea, tap again to put a dot on it as land, and once more to clear it. Drag across the grid to paint a whole run of squares the same way in one move.

• Islands. Every number ends up on an island of exactly that many unshaded squares, and every island holds exactly one number.
• One sea. All the shaded squares join up, side to side, into one body of water.
• No pools. The sea never fills a 2 by 2 block of squares.
• Colours. An island turns green once the sea walls it in at the right size, and anything that breaks a rule turns red, with the line under the board saying which rule.
• Score. Your score is the time to solve the board, plus 30 seconds for every hint. Undo is free, and every board size has its own leaderboard.

Strategy tips

1. Start with the ones. A 1 is an island that is already complete, so every square beside it is sea.
2. Keep numbers apart. A square that touches the islands of two different numbers has to be sea.
3. Watch for pools. When three squares of a 2 by 2 block are sea, the fourth must be land.
4. Too far is sea. A square that no island can reach with the squares it has left is sea.
5. Follow the only way. A stretch of sea with one way to reach the rest flows that way, and an island with one way to grow grows there.

FAQ

Is Islands free to play?

Yes. Like every game on Play, it runs free in your browser, with no download and no account needed.

Do I have to mark the land?

No. Dots are only notes for yourself; the board is solved the moment the sea you have shaded follows every rule.

What does a hint do?

It fixes a wrong mark first if there is one; otherwise it makes the next step that follows by logic and says which rule it used. Each hint adds 30 seconds to your time.

What is the daily sea?

Every day everyone plays the same medium 8 by 8 board, so times compare directly on the leaderboard.

How is my score counted?

Your score is the time from the first look at the board to the last square of sea, plus 30 seconds for every hint. Lower is better.