Hitori

If a number has been circled to show that it must be

white, any cells containing the same number in that
row and column must also be black.

For other uses, see Hitori (disambiguation).

Hitori (Japanese for: Alone or one person) (

4
3
2
4
7
3
6
8

8
6
3
1
2
5
4
7

1
7
4
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3
6
2
1

6
2
8
5
1
7
3
4

3
1
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7
8
3
5
2

2
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1
4
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5
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1
8
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5

7
4
1
5
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8
6

If a cell would separate a white area of the grid if it

were painted black, the cell must be white.
In a sequence of three identical, adjacent numbers;
the centre number must be white (and cells on either
side must be black). If one of the end numbers were
white this would result in either two adjacent lled
in cells or two white cells in the same row/column,
neither of which are allowed.
In a sequence of two identical, adjacent numbers; if
the same row or column contains another cell of the
same number the number standing on its own must
be black. If it were white this would result in either
two adjacent lled in cells or two white cells in the
same row/column, neither of which are allowed.
Any number that has two identical numbers on opposite sides of itself must be white, because one of
the two identical numbers must be black, and it cannot be adjacent to another black cell.

Example of an incomplete Hitori puzzle (see bottom of page for

solution)

Hitori ni shite kure; literally leave me alone) is a type of

logic puzzle published by Nikoli.

When four identical numbers are in a two by two

square on the grid, two of them must be black along
a diagonal. There are only two possible combinations, and it is sometimes possible to decide which
is correct by determining if one variation will cut
white squares o from the remainder of the grid.

Rules

Hitori is played with a grid of squares or cells, and each

cell contains a number. The objective is to eliminate
numbers by lling in the squares such that remaining cells
do not contain numbers that appear more than once in either a given row or column.

When four identical numbers form a square in the

corner of a grid, the corner square and the one diagonally opposite must be black. The alternative would
leave the corner square isolated from the other white
numbers.

Filled-in cells cannot be horizontally or vertically adjacent, although they can be diagonally adjacent. The remaining un-lled cells must form a single component connected horizontally and vertically.

3 History
Hitori is an original puzzle of Nikoli; it rst appeared in
Puzzle Communication Nikoli in issue #29 (March 1990).

Solving techniques
When it is conrmed that a cell must be black, one
can see all orthogonally adjacent cells must not be
black. Some players nd it useful to circle any numbers which must be white as it makes the puzzle easier to read as you progress.

4 In media
Episode 11 of xxxHolic: Kei is titled Hitori in reference to this.
1

8
6
3 6 7 2
3 4
4 1
5
7
3
5 6 7
6
2 3
8 7 1 4

3 2
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1
5 4
2 8 6 1
7
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8 5 1 2
1 8
5 4 7 8
3
6

Example of a completed Hitori puzzle (see top of page for incomplete puzzle)

See also
List of Nikoli puzzle types
Sudoku
Kakuro

Hitori, Inc.

References
Puzzle Cyclopedia, Nikoli, 2004. ISBN.

External links
Sample Hitori puzzles on the Nikoli web site
Hitori tutorials on the Nikoli website
Hitori Number Puzzle Game Play online at Funmin

EXTERNAL LINKS

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

8.1

Text

Hitori Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitori?oldid=644352696 Contributors: The Cunctator, Phil Bordelon, Emperorbma,

DreamGuy, Jrg Knappen, Pitan, FlaBot, Gdrbot, YurikBot, Tavilis, Carolyn81, SmackBot, Tyciol, Sigma 7, Lstep, Cydebot, Dan1980,
Thijs!bot, Headbomb, Sherbrooke, Neil.berget, DorganBot, Nanaimobar, Pkx166h, Bporopat, Edderiofer, SieBot, Dvcas1, ClueBot, Addbot, Z. Patterson, Luckas-bot, Joule36e5, JustJohan, Thestraycat57, Minimac, FoxLogick, In ictu oculi, ZroBot, ClueBot NG, Pratyya
Ghosh, Pukiiaeit and Anonymous: 33

8.2

Images

File:Hitori.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Hitori.svg License: CC BY 1.0 Contributors: Own work,

based on File:Hitori.jpg Original artist: Own work, Dan1980
File:Hitori_completed.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/Hitori_completed.svg License: CC BY 1.0
Contributors: Own work, based on File:Hitori_completed.jpg Original artist: Own work, Dan1980

8.3

Content license

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0