Find the Cat #33: 6x6 Grid Puzzle (Easy)

easy

Tap a square: ✕ (ruled out) → 🐱 (cat) → clear

0 / 6 cats · 0:00
Red (12)Orange (3)Yellow (8)Green (5)Teal (7)Blue (1)

Find the 6 hidden cats. Each row, each column and each colored region holds exactly one, and cats never sit on neighboring squares, diagonals included.

  • One cat in every row and every column.
  • One cat in every color region.
  • Cats can’t touch — not even diagonally.

Step-by-step solution

Squares are written as R<row>C<column>, counting from the top-left. Cross out the squares listed, and place a cat wherever a step says so.

  1. The Blue region has only one open square left: R6C2. Put a cat there.
  2. Wherever the cat in the Orange region ends up, it rules out R1C1, R1C3 and R2C5. Cross those squares out.
  3. Wherever the cat in the Yellow region ends up, it rules out R4C6 and R5C4. Cross those squares out.
  4. Wherever the cat in the Green region ends up, it rules out R2C4, R3C4 and R4C3. Cross those squares out.
  5. Wherever the cat in row 5 ends up, it rules out R4C4 and R4C5. Cross those squares out.
  6. Row 4 has only one open square left: R4C1. Put a cat there.
  7. Column 4 has only one open square left: R1C4. Put a cat there.
  8. The Green region has only one open square left: R3C3. Put a cat there.
  9. The Teal region has only one open square left: R2C6. Put a cat there.
  10. The Yellow region has only one open square left: R5C5. Put a cat there.

About this puzzle

Where to start: the Blue region is a single square, so its cat is already decided. Its 6 color regions range from 1 square (Blue) to 12 squares. It can be solved in 10 deduction steps using "wherever it goes" eliminations.

If a row and a color both have only two open squares and share them, those two lines are locked together -- neither can use squares anywhere else.

This is a variation of the Star Battle family of grid puzzles, sometimes also called Queens-style puzzles, with cats in place of stars.

More easy puzzles