Pawdoku

Browser Controls

• Place a puppy: Double-click (or double-tap) a cell
• Mark an X: Click an empty cell; click an X again to remove it
• Mark many: Click and drag across cells to put an X on each of them
• Hint: Light-bulb button — shows the next logical step; Apply puts its marks on the board
• Find Puppy: Magnifier button — reveals where one puppy goes
• Settings: Gear button (sound effects, music)

Special Rules

• The Three Rules: One puppy in every color region. One puppy in every row and every column. Puppies can never touch each other — not side by side and not diagonally. An N×N board always holds exactly N puppies, one per row, column and color.
• Hearts: Each level gives you three hearts. Placing a puppy where it can't go costs a heart, while X marks are free and can be changed any time. Lose all three and the Out of Hearts screen lets you revive and keep your board, or restart the level.
• Hints That Explain: The hint button doesn't just point at a cell: it tells you why, in a sentence such as "Only Sky cell left in this row - puppy goes here." or "This row is all Rose - X Rose in other rows.", highlights the cells involved, and Apply fills in the marks for you. It also catches a wrong X you placed earlier.
• Find Puppy: When you'd rather not think it through, Find Puppy places one correct puppy on the board straight away.
• Coins & Boosters: You start with 3 hints and 5 Find Puppy boosters. Clearing a level pays 50 coins plus 10 for every heart you still have; extra hints and Find Puppy boosters cost 50 coins each, and you can also claim one for free every few minutes.
• 1,500 Levels: Levels come in the same fixed order for every player, starting with two 4×4 warm-ups and mixing 6×6 up to 10×10 boards as you go; some levels start with a puppy already in place. After level 1,500 the game keeps going by cycling back through the boards.
• Tutorial: The first time you play, a short guided board walks you through placing a puppy, marking an X and the no-touching rule.
• Progress Saves: Your level, coins and boosters are saved in your browser on this device.

Solving Techniques

• After every puppy: Mark an X on the rest of its row, its column and its color, and on all eight cells around it — none of them can hold another puppy.
• Last cell standing: If a row, a column or a color has only one cell left without an X, the puppy goes there.
• Color trapped in a line: If every free cell of one color sits in the same row (or column), that color's puppy is in that line — so X every other color's cells in that row.
• A line of one color: If all the free cells of a row (or column) belong to one color, that color's puppy is in that line — so X that color everywhere else.
• Groups of lines: When two colors fit only inside the same two rows, those rows are full: X every other cell in them. The same works for three colors in three rows, and for columns.
• Impossible spots: If a puppy on a cell would leave some row, column or color with no room left, that cell gets an X.