Find the Cat #74: 6x6 Grid Puzzle (Easy)
easyTap a square: ✕ (ruled out) → 🐱 (cat) → clear
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.
- The Red region has only one open square left: R5C1. Put a cat there.
- Wherever the cat in the Orange region ends up, it rules out R1C3, R2C3 and R3C3. Cross those squares out.
- Wherever the cat in the Yellow region ends up, it rules out R1C5, R2C5, R3C6, R4C6 and R6C6. Cross those squares out.
- Wherever the cat in the Teal region ends up, it rules out R3C4 and R4C4. Cross those squares out.
- Wherever the cat in the Blue region ends up, it rules out R6C3. Cross that square out.
- The Orange region has only one open square left: R4C3. Put a cat there.
- Row 3 has only one open square left: R3C5. Put a cat there.
- The Yellow region has only one open square left: R1C6. Put a cat there.
- The Green region has only one open square left: R2C2. Put a cat there.
- The Blue region has only one open square left: R6C4. Put a cat there.
About this puzzle
Where to start: the Red region is a single square, so its cat is already decided. Its 6 color regions range from 1 square (Red) to 10 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.