It is a shading puzzle on a grid that has been cut into rooms. A room with a number in it holds exactly that many shaded squares, shaded squares never touch each other side by side, all the unshaded squares join up into one region, and no straight run of unshaded squares may cross two room walls. Most rooms carry no number at all.

Is this Heyawake generator free?

Yes. Pick a grade, generate a puzzle and print it with its answer, with no sign-up and no watermark. It is free for classroom, home and personal use.

How do I start solving one?

Start with the rooms numbered zero, where nothing is shaded. Then read along the rows and columns: three unshaded squares in a row sitting in three different rooms are not allowed, so one of them has to be shaded. That rule works in rooms with no number in them, which is where most of the solving comes from.

Why are some rooms blank?

Because they are still constrained. The rule about runs counts room walls crossed, not numbers, so a blank room narrows what its neighbours can do just as a numbered one does. A good Heyawake leaves most of its rooms blank, and the harder grades here leave about two thirds of them.

Is a Heyawake the same as a nurikabe?

No, though both shade a grid and both need the unshaded squares to stay connected. In nurikabe the numbers give the size of unshaded islands and the shaded squares are meant to join up. Here the numbers count shaded squares inside a room, the shaded squares may never touch, and the rule that really drives the puzzle is the one about runs crossing room walls.

Does every puzzle have one solution?

Yes, and here it takes real work to guarantee. Most room layouts you could draw admit no legal shading at all, and most of the ones that do are not pinned by their numbers. Every puzzle here is checked by the same solver our Publisher Studio uses before it prints.

What size are the pages?

The free tool prints at 8.25 by 11 inches, a popular large-print size. Our Publisher Studio will export the same book at any KDP trim, from 5.06 by 7.81 up to 8.27 by 11.69, as a print-ready 300 DPI interior.

Free tool

Free Heyawake generator, with the answer

Pick a board and generate a Heyawake puzzle, then print it with its shaded answer. Every puzzle shades exactly one way, with no sign-up and no watermark. It runs on the same engine as our KDP Publisher Studio.

Difficulty

A bigger board is harder, and so is leaving more of its rooms without a number. An unnumbered room is still pinned by the rule about runs, which is what lets most of a board go blank.

10×10 board, 27 rooms. A numbered room holds exactly that many shaded squares, shaded squares never touch, the unshaded squares stay connected, and no straight run of them crosses two room walls.

Two pages: the puzzle and its answer. Every puzzle is proved to have exactly one answer by the same engine as our KDP studio.

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This makes one puzzle. Sign up to turn it into a full Heyawake book for Amazon KDP: hundreds of graded puzzles at any trim, as print-ready PDFs.

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Preview

The puzzle and its answer, as they print.

Heyawake Hard

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Heyawake Hard · Solution

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How to make a Heyawake puzzle

1Pick a difficulty. Choose a board. Harder grades cut a bigger grid into more rooms and leave more of those rooms without a number.
2Generate the puzzle. Press Generate puzzle. You get a fresh board, proved to shade exactly one way.
3Print the two pages. Press Print / save PDF. You get two pages: the puzzle on page one and its shaded answer on page two.

How to solve a heyawake

The grid is cut into rooms. Shade squares so that a numbered room holds exactly that many shaded squares, no two shaded squares touch side by side, the unshaded squares all join up, and no straight run of unshaded squares crosses two room walls.

The method

1Start with the rooms numbered zero. A 0 means nothing in that room is shaded, which is free information and usually opens a corner. A room whose number equals the most it could possibly hold is just as free: in a room one square wide, a number that fills every other square leaves no choice at all.
2Count the rooms a run crosses, not the squares. This is the rule the whole puzzle turns on and the one beginners skip. Look along any row or column: if three squares in a row would be unshaded and they sit in three different rooms, one of them has to be shaded. It works in rooms with no number at all, which is why most of the board can be blank.
3Shade one square and you have ruled out four. Shaded squares never touch side by side, so every square you shade makes its four neighbours unshaded. Mark them, because those unshaded squares are what the run rule reads next.
4Keep the unshaded squares joined up. They have to form one single region at the end. If shading a square would wall a group of unshaded squares off from the rest, it cannot be shaded, however well it suits the numbers.

The one rule people get wrong: The run rule counts ROOM WALLS crossed, not squares. A run of six unshaded squares is perfectly legal if they all sit in one room, and a run of three is illegal if it touches three rooms. That is why the walls are printed heavier than the grid.
What the answer page shows: The same grid with every shaded square filled in. Where a number sits on a square the answer shades, it is printed in white so you can still read it.
How the grades differ: A bigger board cut into more rooms, with more of those rooms left without a number. The easy grades number most rooms; the hardest leaves two thirds of them blank and leans on the run rule instead.
Is it the same as nurikabe?: No. Both shade a grid and both keep the unshaded squares connected, but in nurikabe the numbers give the size of unshaded islands and the shaded squares are meant to join up, while here the numbers count shaded squares inside a room and it is the shaded squares that may never touch.
Good for: Anyone who likes a rule that rewards looking along a line.

Publishing a whole book?

This tool makes one puzzle for home or the classroom. To make a Heyawake book you can sell on Amazon KDP, Publisher Studio generates hundreds of graded puzzles across a difficulty curve, at any KDP trim, as a print-ready interior and solutions PDF.

See the KDP Heyawake maker

Questions

What is a Heyawake?: It is a shading puzzle on a grid that has been cut into rooms. A room with a number in it holds exactly that many shaded squares, shaded squares never touch each other side by side, all the unshaded squares join up into one region, and no straight run of unshaded squares may cross two room walls. Most rooms carry no number at all.
Is this Heyawake generator free?: Yes. Pick a grade, generate a puzzle and print it with its answer, with no sign-up and no watermark. It is free for classroom, home and personal use.
How do I start solving one?: Start with the rooms numbered zero, where nothing is shaded. Then read along the rows and columns: three unshaded squares in a row sitting in three different rooms are not allowed, so one of them has to be shaded. That rule works in rooms with no number in them, which is where most of the solving comes from.
Why are some rooms blank?: Because they are still constrained. The rule about runs counts room walls crossed, not numbers, so a blank room narrows what its neighbours can do just as a numbered one does. A good Heyawake leaves most of its rooms blank, and the harder grades here leave about two thirds of them.
Is a Heyawake the same as a nurikabe?: No, though both shade a grid and both need the unshaded squares to stay connected. In nurikabe the numbers give the size of unshaded islands and the shaded squares are meant to join up. Here the numbers count shaded squares inside a room, the shaded squares may never touch, and the rule that really drives the puzzle is the one about runs crossing room walls.
Does every puzzle have one solution?: Yes, and here it takes real work to guarantee. Most room layouts you could draw admit no legal shading at all, and most of the ones that do are not pinned by their numbers. Every puzzle here is checked by the same solver our Publisher Studio uses before it prints.
What size are the pages?: The free tool prints at 8.25 by 11 inches, a popular large-print size. Our Publisher Studio will export the same book at any KDP trim, from 5.06 by 7.81 up to 8.27 by 11.69, as a print-ready 300 DPI interior.

Short of ideas? Browse our ready-made printables for this puzzle and print one today.