Find the Cat #150: 8x8 Grid Puzzle (Medium)

medium

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

0 / 8 cats · 0:00
Red (6)Orange (8)Yellow (16)Green (7)Teal (9)Blue (8)Purple (1)Pink (9)

Can you place all 8 cats? One per row, one per column, one per color -- and keep them at least one square apart in every direction.

  • 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 Purple region has only one open square left: R4C7. Put a cat there.
  2. Wherever the cat in the Green region ends up, it rules out R5C4, R6C6 and R7C5. Cross those squares out.
  3. Wherever the cat in the Teal region ends up, it rules out R1C8, R7C8 and R8C8. Cross those squares out.
  4. Wherever the cat in the Blue region ends up, it rules out R6C5, R7C1, R7C2, R7C3 and R8C5. Cross those squares out.
  5. Wherever the cat in the Green region ends up, it rules out R5C3. Cross that square out.
  6. Wherever the cat in row 3 ends up, it rules out R1C1, R1C2, R1C3, R1C4, R2C1, R2C2 and 2 more. Cross those squares out.
  7. Wherever the cat in row 1 ends up, it rules out R2C4, R2C5 and R2C6. Cross those squares out.
  8. Row 2 has only one open square left: R2C8. Put a cat there.
  9. The Orange, Green and Blue regions can only use columns 4, 5 and 6, so columns 4, 5 and 6 are already spoken for. Cross out R3C4, R3C5, R8C4 and R8C6.
  10. Wherever the cat in the Red region ends up, it rules out R3C3 and R7C4. Cross those squares out.
  11. The Blue region has only one open square left: R7C6. Put a cat there.
  12. The Orange region has only one open square left: R1C5. Put a cat there.
  13. The Green region has only one open square left: R6C4. Put a cat there.
  14. The Red region has only one open square left: R8C3. Put a cat there.
  15. The Pink region has only one open square left: R5C2. Put a cat there.
  16. The Yellow region has only one open square left: R3C1. Put a cat there.

About this puzzle

Where to start: the Purple region is a single square, so its cat is already decided. Its 8 color regions range from 1 square (Purple) to 16 squares. It can be solved in 16 deduction steps using grouped row/column/region deductions.

A useful habit is to mark squares you have ruled out. Tap a square once for a cross and twice for a cat -- crosses cost nothing and make later deductions much easier to spot.

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 medium puzzles