Find the Cat #184: 8x8 Grid Puzzle (Medium)

medium

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

0 / 8 cats · 0:00
Red (13)Orange (7)Yellow (9)Green (9)Teal (8)Blue (10)Purple (7)Pink (1)

Find the 8 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 Pink region has only one open square left: R6C2. Put a cat there.
  2. Wherever the cat in the Purple region ends up, it rules out R7C5 and R8C3. Cross those squares out.
  3. Wherever the cat in the Blue region ends up, it rules out R1C1, R2C1 and R3C1. Cross those squares out.
  4. Wherever the cat in the Yellow region ends up, it rules out R3C4. Cross that square out.
  5. Wherever the cat in row 5 ends up, it rules out R2C8, R3C6, R3C8, R4C6, R4C7, R4C8 and 1 more. Cross those squares out.
  6. The Green and Purple regions can only use rows 7 and 8, so rows 7 and 8 are already spoken for. Cross out R8C1.
  7. The Blue region has only one open square left: R4C1. Put a cat there.
  8. The Yellow region has only one open square left: R3C3. Put a cat there.
  9. The Orange region has only one open square left: R1C4. Put a cat there.
  10. The Purple region has only one open square left: R8C5. Put a cat there.
  11. The Green region has only one open square left: R7C7. Put a cat there.
  12. The Teal region has only one open square left: R2C6. Put a cat there.
  13. The Red region has only one open square left: R5C8. Put a cat there.

About this puzzle

Where to start: the Pink region is a single square, so its cat is already decided. Its 8 color regions range from 1 square (Pink) to 13 squares. It can be solved in 13 deduction steps using grouped row/column/region deductions.

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.

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