Puzzle guide
How to solve Tapa
In Tapa you build one long wall through the grid. The numbers in some cells describe the wall in the eight cells around them: how many groups of wall there are, and how long each one is. It looks tricky at first, but reading one ring at a time makes it simple.
The rules
- A number tells you how many wall cells are in the 8 cells around it. Wall cells that touch make a group: 1 3 means a group of 1 and a group of 3, apart, in any order around the number.
- All the wall is joined in one piece, through up, down, left and right.
- No 2×2 square may be all wall.
- A cell with a number is never wall.
A solved puzzle
Your first moves
- Put an X around every 0: none of its eight neighbours is wall.
- Look at big numbers like 7 or 8, and numbers at the edge or in a corner, where the ring is small. They leave little choice.
- Wherever three cells of a 2×2 square are wall, put an X on the fourth.
- Keep an eye on the wall as a whole: every piece has to join up with the rest.
Techniques, step by step
A 0 has no wall
A 0 means none of the eight cells around it is wall. Put an X on all of them. That gives the numbers nearby fewer cells to choose from right away.
No 2×2 wall
Three cells of this 2×2 square are already wall. If the fourth were wall too, the square would be solid, which is not allowed. So it gets an X. Check every new wall cell for this: it is often the X that splits a ring the way a number needs.
Read the ring
This 4 stands on the top edge, so its ring has only five cells, in a line around it from left to right. It needs one group of four touching cells. Four in a line of five can start at either end, and both ways cover the three middle cells. So those are wall. A number tells you more the fewer cells its ring has: at the edge, in a corner, or next to other numbers.
Groups must stay apart
When a number has two or more parts, like 1 3 or 2 2, its groups may not touch inside the ring: there is at least one free cell between them. In a ring of eight, a 1 1 1 1 leaves only two patterns, and 4 4 is impossible. Count the free cells a number needs between its groups, and you often find which cells are free.
Wall that cannot connect
The wall is one piece. A cell that no wall can reach any more, because it is shut in by numbers and X marks, can never be wall. Put an X on it. Corners boxed in between numbers are the most common case.
The only bridge
The wall on the left and the wall on the right have to join up, and the only free cell between them is in the middle. If it stayed free, the wall would be in two pieces. So it must be wall. On harder boards this is the step that most often decides the last cells: before you mark a cell free, check that the wall can still meet.
Common mistakes
- Reading the numbers in order. 1 3 means a group of 1 and a group of 3 somewhere around the number, in either order, not left to right.
- Letting two groups touch. If they touch, they become one group. 1 3 next to each other would be a 4.
- A solid 2×2 square. No four wall cells may form a square.
- Two walls. The app does not mark a wall in two pieces while you play, because they may still join. Check it yourself at the end.
Questions and answers
Ready to play?
Read one ring at a time, keep groups apart, never fill a 2×2 square and keep the wall in one piece. That is how a Tapa wall is built.