Game / 01 / Rules
How to play.
Grow each slime to its number, fill the garden, and keep equal sizes apart. That is the whole game.
Below: the four rules with pictures, one small puzzle solved step by step, tips for when you are stuck, and how Slime Squares compares with Fillomino.
The rules.
1Grow each slime to its number
Every slime starts as one numbered cell. The number is how many cells its colony must cover, counting that first cell. Drag from a slime into empty cells up, down, left or right. A colony always stays in one piece, and it can turn corners.
A 3 covers three cells, in any connected shape. 2Fill every open cell
When the puzzle is solved there are no empty cells left. Rocks are the exception: nothing can grow onto them and they stay empty.
Everything is filled except the rock. 3Keep equal sizes apart
Two colonies of the same size may not share an edge. Touching at a corner is fine, and colonies of different sizes can touch however they like.
Not allowed: two 2s share an edge. Allowed: they only meet at a corner. 4Reason, don't guess
Every puzzle has exactly one solution, and you can always reach it by logic. If a move feels like a coin toss, there is a surer move somewhere else on the board.
A worked example.
Here is a small 4 × 4 puzzle with five slimes. Try it in your head first, then read on. Dashed outlines show the cells placed in each step.
Step 1. Keep the 2s apart. The upper 2 needs one more cell. Left and down both touch the lower 2, and above is the 4, so it must grow right. The lower 2 is in the same spot: up and right would touch the upper 2, so it grows down.
Step 2. Who can reach the corner? Look at the two empty cells on the left of the top two rows. The 2s are finished, so the only slime that can reach them is the 4, through the top-left corner. That is three cells; the fourth has to be the cell to the right of the 4, because every other route is blocked.
Step 3. Finish the 3 and the 5. The top-right corner can now only be reached from below, so the 3 runs straight up the right edge. That leaves exactly five cells around the 5, which completes the board. No 2 touches another 2 along an edge, so the puzzle is solved.
When you are stuck.
- Find the lonely cells. An empty cell that only one slime can reach belongs to that slime. Corners and cells boxed in by rocks are the usual suspects.
- Watch equal numbers. When two clues of the same size sit close together, many directions are already ruled out for both of them.
- Count the gaps. Every pocket of empty cells must be filled exactly by the slimes that can still reach it. If their remaining sizes cannot add up to the pocket, an earlier move was wrong.
- Finish the small slimes first. 1s are done from the start, and 2s often have only one legal direction.
- Use a hint to learn. In the game, a hint shows the next logical step and explains why it must be true. If your board can no longer be finished, it first rewinds to your last good position.
Slime Squares and Fillomino.
If you know Fillomino, the classic pencil puzzle, you already know most of the rules. In Fillomino you divide a grid into regions; every number gives the size of the region it sits in, and two regions of the same size may not share an edge. Some regions show several numbers and some show none, so part of the challenge is working out where the hidden regions are.
Slime Squares keeps the core rule and changes one thing: every colony has exactly one number, its starting slime. You always know how many colonies there are and where each one begins, so the puzzle is about shapes and edges rather than finding missing regions. Rocks and shaped beds add variety that a plain Fillomino grid does not have.
New to Fillomino itself? The Fillomino guide covers the classic rules, six solving techniques and five puzzles to try.
Questions.
Does every puzzle have exactly one solution?
Yes. Every level and every Daily Square is checked by an exact solver to have one solution, and to be solvable with the game's own hints. The game checks your board against the rules rather than a stored answer, so any fill that follows the rules counts as solved.
Do I ever need to guess?
No. Every puzzle can be finished by reasoning alone. If you feel stuck, look for a cell that only one slime can reach, or two equal numbers that are about to touch.
Can two slimes with the same number touch?
Only at a corner. Two colonies of the same size may never share an edge. Colonies of different sizes can touch freely.
What are rocks?
Rocks are cells that no slime can grow onto. They stay empty and do not count toward any colony. Some boards use them to make shaped beds.
How is Slime Squares different from Fillomino?
The core rule is the same: each number is the size of its region, and equal-sized regions cannot share an edge. In Slime Squares every colony has exactly one number, so you always know how many colonies there are and where each one starts.
How does the Daily Square work?
There is one new puzzle each day, easiest on Monday and hardest on Sunday. Finish it to keep your streak going and share a spoiler-free result. Past solutions are on the Daily Square page.
Is Slime Squares free?
Yes. It is free to play in your browser, with Android and iPhone versions on the way.
Ready to grow some slimes?
The first levels teach every rule as you play, and a new Daily Square arrives each day.