How to Play Akari (Light Up): Rules, Strategy & Free Puzzles

Akari, also known as Light Up, is a logic puzzle on a grid of white and black cells. You place light bulbs in white cells so that every white cell is lit. A bulb shines along its row and column until a black cell blocks it, and no two bulbs may shine on each other. Numbered black cells tell you exactly how many bulbs sit next to them.

• Skill: Illumination logic & deduction
• ·
• Difficulty: Intermediate

How to play Akari

1. Light every white cell. Place bulbs so that every white cell is illuminated by at least one bulb.
2. Bulbs shine in a line. A bulb lights its own cell and every cell along its row and column until a black cell stops the light.
3. Never dazzle a bulb. No bulb may lie in the lit line of another bulb — two bulbs can never see each other.
4. Obey the numbers. A numbered black cell must have exactly that many bulbs in the four cells directly around it.

Akari strategy & tips

• A 0 clue means none of its four neighbours can hold a bulb — mark them as blocked at once.
• A 4 clue forces a bulb in all four adjacent cells; a 3 on an edge is nearly as forcing.
• Any white cell that only one direction can ever light must contain a bulb there.

Akari FAQ

Related puzzles

Reference: Akari on Wikipedia