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Paws & BowlsA Takuzu-style binary logic puzzle with pets
A bowl for every pet - cat and dog logic puzzles.
Paws & Bowls is a binary logic puzzle set at a dinner table full of hungry dogs and cats. For every seat you decide one thing: does a pet sit here, or does a food bowl go here? There is no luck involved - only four short rules and your reasoning.
Game overview
What is Paws & Bowls?
Hints never just hand you an answer. They point to the reason, such as "this row already has three pets, so this seat gets a bowl", so each trick you learn becomes your own skill for the next table. Four meal modes and 800 levels take you from a small 4x4 table up to 12x12.
At a glance
- A bowl for everyone: every row and every column holds as many pets as bowls.
- Three in a row means a squabble - never place three of the same side by side.
- = means the two seats are the same, x means they are different.
- No twin rows: no two rows (or two columns) may look exactly alike.
The rules in one minute
Paws & Bowls is a binary logic puzzle. Every square on the table gets one of two things: a pet or a food bowl. You decide which, using a few short rules and nothing else. There is no timer and no luck involved.
Puzzles like this are often called Takuzu or Binairo. Every level has exactly one answer, and each one was checked so that it can be finished by reasoning alone, one forced step after another.
The four rules
every row and every column holds as many pets as bowls.
three pets or three bowls may never sit side by side, across or down.
two seats joined by = hold the same thing, and two seats joined by x hold different things.
no two finished rows, and no two finished columns, may look exactly alike.
The rules arrive one at a time. In Lunch Time the = and x marks first appear on level 4 and No twin rows joins on level 15, so you learn each idea before it matters.
Controls
tap Pet or Bowl at the bottom of the screen.
tap an empty square. Tap a filled square again to clear it, or tap it with the other choice selected to swap.
tap Hint. The hint fills one square and explains why.
the button in the top corner lets you continue, start over or go home.
The first level walks you through the controls on the board itself, and you can replay a small 4x4 practice board any time from Settings, How to Play. You can play with a mouse on a computer too. On a wide window the game switches to a wide layout, and the number keys 1 and 2 choose Pet and Bowl (1, 2 and 3 in Invite a Friend).
Hearts and mistakes
Because each level has one answer, the game can tell right away when a square is wrong. Your choice flashes red for a moment, you lose one of three hearts, and the square changes to the right answer and locks, marked with a small red dot. Locking it means you can never lose two hearts on the same square.
After three mistakes you can watch a short ad for one more heart, start the level over, or go back home. A level in progress is saved, so you can leave and pick it up later.
Hints that explain why
A hint never just reveals a random square. It finds the next step a person could work out, highlights the squares that prove it and tells you the reason in plain words, for example that both neighbors are already pets, so another pet here would make three in a row. Each idea you read once becomes a trick you can use on the next table.
New players start with 3 hints and 100 coins. Clearing levels earns coins, and coins buy more hints: 1 for 100, 5 for 450 or 15 for 1,200. You can also watch a short ad for a hint, and daily and weekly missions give hints as rewards.
Four meal modes, 800 levels
Each mode changes one rule, and each keeps its own progress.
300 levels with the classic rules, on tables from 4x4 to 10x10, most of them 8x8 and 10x10.
200 levels where numbers beside each row and column say exactly how many pets that line needs. Tables run from 5x5 to 10x10. Opens after 15 Lunch Time levels.
150 levels where rocks break the table into sections, and each section needs as many pets as bowls. 6x6 to 10x10. Opens after 30 Lunch Time levels.
150 levels where a second pet joins, so every line holds pets, friends and bowls in equal shares. 6x6, 9x9 and 12x12. Opens after 30 levels each of Order Sheet and Shaped Table.
Daily challenge and monthly trophies
A new puzzle opens every day on the calendar. The size follows the day of the week: a quick 4x4 on Monday, 6x6 on Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday, 8x8 on Thursday and Friday, and a 10x10 on Saturday. Days you missed can still be played, finished days can be played again, and future days stay locked. Your first clear of each day earns 30 extra coins.
Finish every day of a month and you earn that month's trophy. There are 12 trophies, one for each month.
Feed the pets, collect 100 friends
At the start you choose your first pet, a Shiba or a Persian. That pet is the one you seat at every table. Every pet you place on a cleared level counts as a pet fed, and as the total grows, new friends become ready to join. You pick who comes next from the locked pets, and there are 100 to collect. Any pet you own can become your main pet.
Tips for new players
Two pets side by side mean the squares on both ends must be bowls. The same goes for two bowls.
A pet, an empty square and another pet: the gap has to be a bowl, or three pets would sit in a row.
On an 8x8 table, once a row has four pets, every empty square left in it is a bowl.
An x next to a known square tells you its neighbor right away. Chains of = and x marks often solve several squares at once.
When a line is two squares from done and looks just like a finished line, No twin rows decides which way the last two go.
Why players come back
Features
- 800 levels in four meal modes: Lunch Time, Order Sheet, Shaped Table and Invite a Friend
- Hints that explain why, not just where
- A new puzzle every day on the challenge calendar, 12 monthly trophies and 100 pets to collect
- No timer, three hearts per level, 11 languages - free in your browser
Common questions
Frequently asked questions
Is Paws & Bowls free?
Yes. You can play it free in your browser, and there is nothing to buy here. After some cleared levels a short ad may play, and you can choose to watch an ad for a hint, extra coins or one more heart.
Will I ever have to guess?
No. Every level has exactly one answer and was checked so that it can be solved step by step. If you feel stuck, a hint shows the next step and why it works.
Is this the same as Takuzu or Binairo?
Lunch Time uses the same rules as those binary puzzles, shown with pets and bowls. The other three modes each change one rule: line targets, rock sections or a third piece.
Is my progress saved?
Yes. Your levels, daily puzzles, coins and pets are saved automatically in this browser. Clearing the site data for this page starts over.
Which languages are supported?
Paws & Bowls is available in 11 languages, including English, Korean and Japanese.
