How to play Urchins
Urchins is Octopuzzle's daily logic puzzle. Fourteen urchins hide on a 9脳9 board. Each cell you open shows how many urchins touch it, and from those numbers you work out where every urchin sits and open every safe cell. Every board can be solved without guessing, and everyone gets the same board.
The rules
- 1
Open every safe cell
The puzzle is solved when every cell without an urchin is open. The board starts with a patch already open, so you always have numbers to work from.
- 2
Numbers count touching urchins
A number tells you how many urchins sit in the eight cells around it: above, below, left, right and the four corners. An open cell with no number has no urchins around it.
- 3
Mark the urchins
When you know a cell holds an urchin, mark it. A marked cell never opens by accident.
- 4
Never a guess
Every board is checked before you see it, so the numbers always tell you a next safe move. You never have to pick between two cells and hope.
- 5
A wrong open is a mistake, not the end
Opening a cell with an urchin shows it in red and counts as a mistake. The game goes on, and that urchin counts as found.
- 6
Tap, hold or switch
Tap a cell to open it. Press and hold to mark it, or switch the Open / Mark toggle so a tap marks. Tap a number whose urchins are all marked to open the rest of its neighbors. Undo steps back, and a hint explains one step and makes it.
A small board in progress
Tips for solving
- Start with a number that has as many hidden neighbors as urchins left to find. Every one of those hidden cells is an urchin.
- When a number already touches all its urchins, every other hidden cell around it is safe. Mark first, then open the rest in one tap on the number.
- Compare two numbers side by side. A 1 next to a 2 often settles a cell that neither number settles alone.
- Work along the edge of the open area. The cells far from any number tell you nothing yet.
- Keep an eye on the urchin count. When every urchin is found, every hidden cell left is safe.
How scoring works
A solve starts at 1,000 points and loses 1 point for every second on the clock, down to a floor of 100.
Each hint and each mistake takes points off. Giving up scores 0.
Your daily scores add up to your points for the week in groups and in your weekly league.
| Solved in 1:00 | 940 |
|---|---|
| Solved in 2:30 | 850 |
| Solved in 15:00 or slower | 100 |
| Gave up | 0 |
Streaks
Play any of the three daily puzzles to the end, solved or not, and your streak grows by a day. One puzzle is enough; you don't need all three.
Every 7 days in a row earns a freeze, and you can hold two. A freeze covers a missed day on its own, with nothing to tap.
If your streak breaks anyway, you can get it back for two days. Play the missed puzzle from yesterday or the day before on the Today screen, and the streak is restored.
Questions
Get the app
Word, Urchins and Logic arrive fresh every day, and Unlimited has Number and classic Sudoku whenever you want more. Free, no ads, and it plays offline. Octopuzzle is coming to iPhone first, with Android planned.
