Rectangles

About Rectangles

Rectangles is a tidy logic puzzle, known in Japan as Shikaku. The grid is scattered with numbers, and your job is to cut it into rectangles: every rectangle holds exactly one number, and the number tells you how many squares it covers. A 6 might be a strip of 1 × 6 or a block of 2 × 3, standing up or lying down, and only one way of cutting the whole grid works. Draw a rectangle by dragging from one corner to the opposite corner, and watch its size as you go. Easy days are 6 × 6, medium 8 × 8 and hard 10 × 10, and every grid can be solved by logic alone, without guessing.

How to play Rectangles

1. Divide the whole grid into rectangles (squares count as rectangles too), so that every square belongs to exactly one of them.
2. Each rectangle holds exactly one number, and the number is its area: a 6 can be 1 × 6, 2 × 3, 3 × 2 or 6 × 1 squares.
3. Drag from one corner of a rectangle to the opposite corner to draw it; its size shows as you go. Tap a rectangle to take it away, or a single square for a 1 × 1. With a keyboard, press Enter at one corner and again at the other.
4. Easy grids are 6 × 6, medium 8 × 8 and hard 10 × 10. Every grid has one answer, found by logic alone. Fastest time wins; fewer changes break ties.

Tips & strategy

• Box the small numbers first, then the ones squeezed against the edge or between other numbers: they often have only one rectangle that fits.
• A prime number such as 5 or 7 can only be a straight strip. In a narrow space, that strip may have just one way to lie.
• Look at the squares far from any number and ask which numbers could reach them. If only one can, its rectangle must cover them.
• Leave the big numbers for last. They have the most shapes, and the small rectangles around them soon fix their outline.

Rectangles: questions and answers