Puzzle guide
How to solve Norinori
Norinori has no numbers at all. Thick lines split the grid into regions, and you shade exactly two cells in each. Shaded cells always come in pairs, like dominoes, and the dominoes keep their distance. The shapes of the regions are the only clues you get.
The rules
- Shade cells so that every region holds exactly two shaded cells.
- Every shaded cell has exactly one shaded neighbour, so the shaded cells come in pairs: dominoes. A domino may cross the line between two regions.
- Two dominoes never share an edge. Touching at a corner is fine.
- Every puzzle has exactly one solution.
A solved puzzle
Your first moves
- Look for small regions: a region of two cells is shaded completely.
- Look for regions with only two free cells left: both are shaded.
- When a domino is complete, put a dot on every cell around it.
- Follow every shaded cell: if it has only one neighbour that could still be its partner, shade that neighbour.
Techniques, step by step
A full region
This region already has its two shaded cells. It may not have any more, so every other cell in it gets a dot: it stays unshaded.
Just enough room
The region on the left has three cells, and one of them already has a dot. That leaves exactly two free cells for its two shaded cells, so both are shaded. Small or narrow regions often leave no choice like this.
A finished domino
A shaded cell has exactly one shaded neighbour. Once a domino is complete, no other cell next to it may be shaded, or one half would have two neighbours. Put a dot on every cell around both halves.
The only partner
This shaded cell still needs its partner, and three of its neighbours already have a dot. Only the cell below is left, so it is shaded too. This chase is the heart of Norinori: one shaded cell pulls in its partner, often from the next region, and that region's count changes.
A cell with no partner
The same rule, read backwards. A cell whose neighbours are all unshaded, or all taken by finished dominoes, could never find a partner. So it cannot be shaded: give it a dot. Look for these lonely cells in corners and between dominoes.
Try a region's patterns
On hard boards, take one region and list every way its two shaded cells could still lie, together with their partners. A cell that is shaded in every way is shaded, and a cell that is unshaded in every way gets a dot. Count the supply too: if several shaded cells around a region all depend on it for their partner, it may not have enough to give.
Common mistakes
- Three shaded cells in a row. A shaded cell has exactly one shaded neighbour. Three in a row would give the middle one two.
- Dominoes side by side. Two dominoes may meet at a corner but never along an edge.
- Counting dominoes per region. Each region holds two shaded cells, not one whole domino: a domino may lie across two regions.
- Trusting a board with no red. The app marks too much, not too little. A region with only one shaded cell is not marked.
Questions and answers
Ready to play?
Two per region, one partner per shaded cell, and dots around every finished domino: follow the dominoes and the regions fill up one by one.