What is Tapa?
Tapa is a logic and strategy puzzle about shading cells into one connected black wall. Numbered clue cells stay white, and the numbers tell you how the black cells are grouped in the eight surrounding squares.
This free Tapa online game includes 6x6, 8x8 and 10x10 puzzles with easy, medium and hard difficulty. Every base puzzle in the bank has been checked for a single solution, so the challenge is deduction rather than guessing.
- Shade cells to build the black wall.
- Never shade a numbered clue cell.
- Read each clue by looking at the eight cells around it.
- The clue numbers are the lengths of separate black groups around that clue.
- All black cells must connect orthogonally, and no 2 x 2 block may be fully black.
How to play Tapa online
Click or tap an empty cell to shade it black. Tap the same cell again to place a small dot when you know it must remain white, then tap once more to clear it.
Use Check for feedback without revealing the answer. Hint adds a correct wall cell or removes a wrong wall mark, Solution shows the full completed board, and New puzzle loads another uniquely solved Tapa challenge for the same size and difficulty.
- Start with clues that have one large number, because they often force a block of black cells.
- Use multi-number clues to separate black groups with at least one white cell.
- Mark safe white cells with dots when a clue group cannot pass through them.
- Watch the whole wall, not only one clue at a time.
- Avoid creating a fully black 2 x 2 square.
Tapa rules
A Tapa clue describes the black cells in the ring of eight surrounding cells. A clue of 3 means three adjacent black cells appear in that ring. A clue of 1 2 means one single black cell and one separate pair of adjacent black cells appear around the clue.
The order of the clue numbers is not important, but the groups must be separated by at least one white cell in the ring. Cells outside the grid count as white for edge and corner clues.
- Clue cells are always white.
- Numbers describe neighbouring black groups, not rows or columns.
- Adjacent black cells in a clue ring belong to the same group.
- Separate clue numbers must be split by white cells.
- The final black wall is one connected shape.
- A 2 x 2 square of black cells is not allowed.
Tapa strategy tips
Strong Tapa strategy starts with the clue ring. Check how many spaces are available around a clue, then ask where the required black groups can still fit.
As the board fills, wall connectivity becomes just as important as clue arithmetic. If a black mark would isolate part of the wall, or if a white dot would cut off every connection route, the opposite mark is often forced.
- Around a 4, 5, 6 or 7 clue, look for cells that are black in every possible placement.
- Around a 1 1 or 1 2 clue, look for the white separators between groups.
- Use corner and edge clues early because the outside of the grid removes options.
- Do not let the wall split into two islands.
- Use the no-2x2 rule to force white cells near thick wall areas.
Tapa grid sizes and difficulty
Small Tapa puzzles are good for learning clue rings and group separation. Larger grids give the wall more room to bend, which makes connectivity and long-range consequences more important.
Easy boards have more direct clue placements. Medium boards combine clue logic with wall planning. Hard Tapa puzzles have fewer immediate moves and longer chains of deduction, but the checked puzzle bank still gives each board exactly one solution.
- 6x6 Tapa is a friendly starting size.
- 8x8 Tapa gives a balanced online logic challenge.
- 10x10 Tapa adds more wall strategy and scanning.
- Easy, medium and hard change clue density and deduction pressure.
- Rotations and reflections add variety while preserving unique solutions.
Why unique Tapa puzzles matter
Tapa is expected to be a logic puzzle with a single final wall. If a puzzle has multiple solutions, a player may be forced to guess between equally valid boards.
The puzzles here are generated and checked against the Tapa rules before they are published in the playable bank. That makes the online game fair for daily practice, strategy learning and serious solving.
- Unique puzzles reward deduction.
- Hints and checks can compare your marks to one intended solution.
- A single solution keeps the article rules and in-game feedback consistent.
Reading Tapa clues: forced rings and counts
Some Tapa clues solve themselves. An interior clue cell has eight cells around it, so a clue of 8 means the whole ring is black as one group. More generally, when a clue equals the number of cells available around it, every one of those cells is black - which is why edge and corner clues are so powerful: an edge clue sees only five cells and a corner clue only three.
Multi-number clues lock in shape too. The clue 1 1 1 1 on an interior cell forces a perfect alternation: four single black cells separated by four white cells, the only way to fit four isolated groups into a ring of eight. Spotting these fixed rings early gives the wall a backbone to grow from.
- An 8 clue fills the entire eight-cell ring with black.
- A clue equal to the available ring cells makes them all black.
- A corner clue sees 3 cells; an edge clue sees 5.
- 1 1 1 1 forces an alternating black-white ring.
- A 7 puts black in seven of the eight ring cells.
When the wall takes over: connectivity and no 2x2
Once the obvious clues are placed, Tapa becomes a wall-shaping puzzle much like Nurikabe. Two rules drive the endgame: every black cell must join one connected wall, and no 2x2 area may be fully black. Each rule constantly forces white cells - a cell that would complete a black 2x2 must be white, and a cell that is the wall's only escape route must be black.
Read these globally, not clue by clue. If shading a cell would strand part of the wall with no way back to the rest, that cell is white. Marking the white separators a clue demands often reveals exactly where the wall must bend to stay in one piece.
- Every black cell ends up in one connected wall.
- No 2x2 block may be entirely black.
- A cell completing a black 2x2 is forced white.
- A cell that is the wall's only link is forced black.
- Never strand a section of wall from the rest.
Tapa, its variants and the shading-puzzle family
Tapa is a modern competition favourite that has grown a whole family of variants - versions with no clues, loop variants and colour variants among them. The core idea, clues that describe the ring of neighbours, makes it instantly recognisable on World Puzzle Championship sets.
If Tapa clicks for you, the same shading instincts transfer to Nurikabe and Heyawake, where you also build connected regions and dodge forbidden blocks. Tapa's twist is that the clues live inside the wall's white islands, so reading the eight-neighbour ring is the skill that sets it apart.