Find the Cat #177: 8x8 Grid Puzzle (Medium)
mediumTap a square: ✕ (ruled out) → 🐱 (cat) → clear
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.
- The Orange region has only one open square left: R3C3. Put a cat there.
- The Green region has only one open square left: R4C8. Put a cat there.
- The Purple region has only one open square left: R6C7. Put a cat there.
- Wherever the cat in the Yellow region ends up, it rules out R1C2 and R5C1. Cross those squares out.
- Wherever the cat in the Teal region ends up, it rules out R1C5, R2C5 and R8C6. Cross those squares out.
- Wherever the cat in the Pink region ends up, it rules out R1C1, R2C1, R7C2 and R8C2. Cross those squares out.
- The Yellow region has only one open square left: R5C2. Put a cat there.
- Row 2 has only one open square left: R2C6. Put a cat there.
- Row 1 has only one open square left: R1C4. Put a cat there.
- The Blue region has only one open square left: R8C5. Put a cat there.
- The Pink region has only one open square left: R7C1. Put a cat there.
About this puzzle
Where to start: the Orange region is a single square, so its cat is already decided. Its 8 color regions range from 1 square (Orange) to 15 squares. It can be solved in 11 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.
Every puzzle on this site has exactly one solution that can be reached by pure deduction. If you find yourself guessing, look again for a region or line with only a few open squares left.