HOW TO PLAY · NEMOPLAYS
One Puzzle. Everyone Plays.
Start with a Name
Create a game, choose a puzzle preset and share the invite link. Friends can join on their own phones or computers. No account is needed to play.
Fill the Garden
Each row, column and outlined 3 × 3 box needs the numbers 1 to 9, with no repeats. Tap an empty square, then tap a number. Everyone works on the same puzzle at the same time.
Your Score
A correct square earns 100 points, plus up to 20 speed points. A wrong answer costs 40 points and pauses your entries for two seconds. Your next correct entry has no speed bonus. If a friend fills your square first, you lose no points.
Choose Your Pace
Practice: 46 filled squares, automatic possible-number guidance and hints that explain a next move. A possible number is not always the answer. Practice earns lifetime play points, but no competitive points.
Gentle: 38 filled squares and straightforward row, column and box deductions.
Classic: 29 filled squares, with extra deductions where a number is confined to one row or column within a box.
Challenge: 26 filled squares, adding pairs of candidates that rule numbers out elsewhere. All four levels have one solution and a checked logical solve path.
Competitive Points
These are separate from your lifetime play points. Practice and solo rounds do not earn them. In a completed Gentle, Classic or Challenge round, at least two distinct profiles must each correctly fill 10% of the starting empty squares, rounded up, with a minimum of three, while another player is present. Only those contributions qualify. Idle seats and spectators do not count.
Correct moves and speed count toward a difficulty pool of 100 for Gentle, 200 for Classic or 300 for Challenge, scaled by the puzzle’s empty squares. Mistakes reduce your award. The top qualifying contributor earns an extra 10% of that pool per qualifying opponent, capped at 30%; tied winners split that bonus. Points are awarded once when the board is finished. Existing lifetime points stay intact.
Get a Hint
In Practice, tap Get a Hint to highlight a square and see why a number fits. The hint does not place the number for you. Choose it on the number pad when you understand the move.
Join, Watch or Take a Break
Four active seats are free. You can watch a full room and take a seat when one opens. Your seat is held for 60 seconds while you are away. Leaving frees your seat and keeps your score for that round. If the host leaves, a seated player becomes host.
Finish Together
Fill every square to see the final scores. Play another round returns everyone to the lobby. Tap Ready to play to join the next puzzle; players who are away remain spectators. The host can then start. The room score resets for a new round. Your player card keeps your total points, best round, puzzles finished and wins. Points are saved as you play. A completed puzzle counts once; tied top scorers who placed a number share the win. Save your profile to keep your progress across devices.
Need a Hand?
Save Your Scores
Open My player card and choose Google or enter your email. For email, read the 4-digit code in your inbox and type it back into the game. No link or Google account is required. Your current game and guest scores stay with you. You can resend after a minute, and each code expires in 20 minutes.
Watching and Sound
Watch instead lets you spectate while keeping the points you already earned. Spectators have a grey Spectating badge. The small initial on a filled square shows who placed it, not whether it was right or wrong. Use Sound on or Sound off to choose whether you hear the game’s gentle sounds.
Friends and Invitations
Open Friends & Rankings below the game. Save your player card, copy your friend code and exchange it with your friends. Accept a request to become friends. When you are in a room, invite an accepted friend from that panel. Invitations arrive in the same panel while the website is open; they do not send push notifications or email.
Rankings
Choose Show Me in Rankings to display your nickname and competitive score worldwide and among your friends. Rankings use competitive points, not lifetime play points. Practice and solo play do not qualify. You can hide your ranking again anytime.
Room Options
Add an optional password when creating a room, or change it in Room Options & Help. A simple password such as 1 is allowed. Existing players keep access when it changes. Hosts can remove players from the room while preserving earned scores. Any participant can submit a private problem report to NemoPlays.