Shikaku
Easy
00:00
Classic
Easy Shikaku — what to expect
Easy Shikaku is a 6×6 board with around ten clues, and every rectangle is forced outright by its own number. A "1" is a single cell. A "2" in a corner can only go one way. A prime clue can only ever be a single line of cells, one row or one column long. There is nothing to work out here — you read each rectangle off its clue and draw it. This is where you learn the feel of dragging a rectangle and checking that its area matches the number inside.
How to play Shikaku
- Divide the whole grid into rectangles. Every square ends up inside exactly one of them.
- Each rectangle contains exactly one number.
- That number is the rectangle’s AREA — how many squares it covers. A 6 can be 1×6, 6×1, 2×3 or 3×2, and nothing else.
- So a 1 is its own square, and a prime number can only be a single strip.
- Start where there is no choice: a number whose rectangle fits only one way, usually against an edge or a corner.
- Two numbers can never share a rectangle, which rules out a great many shapes before you try them.
- Every puzzle has one solution, reachable by logic alone, and every board has a move you can make from the empty grid.