Free Hitori generator, with the answer
Pick a size and generate a Hitori, then print it with its answer. Every puzzle has one solution, with no sign-up and no watermark. It runs on the same engine as our KDP Publisher Studio.
Larger grids are harder. Every puzzle has one shading.
Customise colours
Clean drops the title band and footer, leaving the grid.
Two pages: the puzzle and its answer. Every puzzle has one solution, checked by the same engine as our KDP studio.
Want the whole book?
This makes one puzzle. Sign up to turn it into a full Hitori book for Amazon KDP: hundreds of graded puzzles at any trim, as print-ready PDFs.
Build the full bookFree to build · pay once to export
Preview
The puzzle and its answer, as they print.
How to make a Hitori puzzle
- 1Pick a difficulty. Choose a grid size. Larger grids give the logic more room, so they take longer to solve.
- 2Generate the puzzle. Press Generate puzzle. You get a fresh grid, proved to have exactly one solution.
- 3Print the two pages. Press Print / save PDF. You get two pages: the puzzle on page one and its answer on page two.
How to solve a hitori
Shade cells so no number repeats unshaded in any row or column, no two shaded cells touch, and the unshaded cells stay joined.
The method
- 1Find the duplicates. Scan each row and column for repeated numbers. At least all but one copy must be shaded.
- 2Never shade neighbours. Two shaded cells may not sit side by side, so shading one cell forces its four neighbours to stay unshaded.
- 3Keep the white joined. The unshaded cells must form one connected group, so a shade that would cut the grid in two is wrong.
- 4Chase the forced cells. Each shade and each forced-unshaded cell narrows the rest. Work outward until the board settles.
- The one rule
- No unshaded repeats per line, no touching shades, white stays connected.
- What the answer page shows
- The shaded solution is printed at the back.
- How the grades differ
- Bigger grids hide more duplicates to resolve.
- Good for
- Solvers who like elimination over placement.
Publishing a whole book?
This tool makes one puzzle for home or the classroom. To make a Hitori 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 Hitori makerQuestions
- What is Hitori?
- Hitori is a shading puzzle: shade cells so no number repeats unshaded in any row or column, no two shaded cells touch, and the unshaded cells stay connected.
- Is this Hitori generator free?
- Yes. Pick a difficulty, 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.
- Does every puzzle have one solution?
- Yes. Every puzzle is generated and checked by the same solver our Publisher Studio uses, so the clues fix exactly one solution. A puzzle is never ambiguous or unsolvable.
- Does it include the answer?
- Yes. Every puzzle prints as two pages: the puzzle on page one and its answer on page two, so you can check your work.
- 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.