chiidokuFIELD GUIDEUnofficial player guide
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THE FIRST MOVE

How to play Chiidoku

Place characters by logic: exactly one in each row, column, and colored region, with no two characters touching.

Three checks before you place

  1. Check the row and column.

    A piece already in that row or column rules the square out. Every row and column needs one piece in the completed board.

  2. Check the entire colored region.

    A region can bend across several rows. It still gets only one character. Do not treat each separate row of the same region as a new allowance.

  3. Check all eight neighboring squares.

    Two pieces cannot share an edge or touch at a corner. The in-game rule panel shows the eight cells around a central piece crossed out. This is local adjacency; it does not forbid every square on a long diagonal.

Adjacent diagonal or distant diagonal?

Not allowed

R1C2 + R2C3
One row and one column apart: the pieces touch diagonally.

Not excluded by touching alone

R1C2 + R3C4
Two rows and two columns apart. Still check row, column and region constraints.

An X is a note, not a placed character

White X marks in the recorded walkthroughs are eliminations the player can change. A character icon is a placement. A red X after an attempted placement is error feedback in the shown interface; do not confuse it with a harmless white note.

Hannah’s 29 August tutorial describes double-tapping to place, while other guides describe single-click placement. Those descriptions should not be generalized across devices or updated interfaces. In a matching interface, distinguish the note and placement actions using the game’s instruction panel before committing. This guide has not tested every current device.

Try a real example

On the checked Level 4 layout, the violet region is a single square at R1C2. Its piece must go there. R2C1 and R2C3 then touch that piece diagonally and cannot be used. Row 2 is left with R2C4 once its occupied column is excluded.

See the full Level 4 layout and answer →

How do I know a level is finished?

The observed successful runs show a level-complete dialog and a Next Level button. The piece counter reaches the board’s required total. Follow that confirmation rather than assuming that a board full of X marks is complete.

Sources: creator’s description; visible rule panel and Level 4 play ↗; dated double-tap tutorial ↗.