Hard Kaku: Try a Shape in Your Head (Hard 295)

Kaku The JoyPlus Soft Planning Team October 18, 2026

Hard boards start at 9 x 9. The four beginner hints, plus the Normal guide's habit of remembering where a number has to reach, take you most of the way, but now and then the board stops giving moves. Let's solve Hard 295 together. Most of it is a warm-up with hints you already know. The new idea comes at step 16.

Hard 295. A 9 x 9 board with 16 numbers, so 16 rectangles.

Warm-up: the right side (moves 1-5)

Beginner hints settle the right side: the 4 near the top right, the 4 and the 9 below it, the 3 on the edge, and the 5 across the top-right corner.

Hint 1 (from the Normal guide): Remember where a number has to reach

Only the 4 in the second row can reach the top of the second column. Every other number would have to cover that 4 to get there. It still has three shapes that do, so just remember: this 4 reaches the top edge.

Warm-up again (moves 7-14)

More beginner hints fill the middle: the 4s, the 10, both 2s, the 9 and the 3.

Now only the two left columns are open: 18 cells for the 4, the 8 and the 6.

Same idea at the bottom. Only the 6 can reach the bottom of the second column, either as the 3 x 2 block at the bottom or as a line up the second column (dashed). Remember that too.

Hint 2: Try a shape in your head

The 4 has two shapes left: the 2 x 2 in the corner, or a line down the second column (red dashed). Suppose it were the line. Then nothing could cover the circled cell: the 8 could no longer be a 4 x 2 block, and the 6 could no longer stand in the second column. So the line is out.

When no hint gives you a move, pick a number with just two shapes left and try one of them in your head. Then look at the cells and numbers right around it. Does every empty cell still have a number that can reach it? Does every number still have a shape? If something breaks, that shape is wrong and the other one is the answer. You rarely need to look further than the next few cells.

Finish

17. So the 4 is the 2 x 2 in the corner.

18. The 8 takes the 4 x 2 block below the 4.

Solved: 16 rectangles, one number in each, and every cell covered.

How to use Hint 2 well

Run through the beginner hints first. On Hard boards they still do most of the work.
Remember every cell that only one number can reach (Hint 1). Those notes keep the test in Hint 2 short.
Try a shape only on a number with two shapes left. Then one test settles it.
After the test, check the cells right next to the shape you tried. That is where things break.

Try it now Free in your browser, no install.

▶ Play Kaku