Guides · Fog Nonograms

How to play Fog Nonograms.

Fog is Nonograms with some of the clues hazed over. A hazy clue still tells you how many squares in that line are filled, but not how they are grouped. The clear clues around it do the rest.

About 4 minutes · Know classic Nonograms first

The board.

The same grid and edge clues as a classic Nonogram, except that some clues are shown in blue: those are hazy. A hazy 3 means three filled squares in that line, in any arrangement: all together, or split up. It never says which.

An empty 5 by 5 Fog Nonograms board with two hazy column clues shown in blue and the two columns tinted
Fog, Starter level 1. Two column clues are hazy, the rest are clear.

The rule.

A clear clue works as in classic: runs in order, gaps between them. A hazy clue is only a total: that many squares in the line are filled, arranged any way at all.

Everything else is unchanged. The board has one solution, and the clear lines that cross a hazy one are what pin it down.

Work the clear lines first.

Ignore the haze to begin with. The clear clues give the same starts as any Nonogram: lines that fill exactly, and runs long enough to overlap themselves.

The Fog board with the top two rows and the fourth column tinted
The Fog board with three squares filled from overlaps and ringed
The Fog board with a fourth square filled and ringed

Then count the hazy ones.

A hazy clue becomes useful once the clear lines have filled some of its squares. Count what is filled against the total: when they match, X the rest of the line. When the empties left equal what is still missing, fill them all.

The completed Fog Nonograms board with every clue satisfied
The finished board. The two hazy columns each hold exactly three filled squares, exactly as their totals said.

Common questions.

Does a hazy clue ever say how the squares are grouped?

No. A hazy 3 could be three in a row or three singles. Only the crossing lines can tell you.

Can a whole row and a whole column both be hazy?

Yes, and the squares where they cross are pinned by the totals and by everything else around them. Every Fog board still has a single solution.

Play this board.

This is Fog Nonograms, Starter level 1 in Pocketful. It is on the Nonograms row, right after Classic.

Download on the App Store