How Lumen works
A quiet clock starts at your first tap — solve and your time goes in your share, with how you rank against today’s solvers. No countdown, no pressure: the picture waits.
A hidden 7×7 pixel picture. The numbers beside each row and above each column are nonogram clues: they list the runs of filled cells in that line, in order. 2 2 means two filled cells, at least one gap, then two more. 5 means the whole line; 0 means the line is empty. Tap a cell to light it, tap again to mark it definitely-empty (✗), and again to clear. When you think the picture is complete, submit — you get told how many rows and columns are exactly right, and you have six submits.
Every day's picture is checked by a solver before it is published: the clues always admit exactly one solution, so you never have to guess. If you're stuck, you're missing a deduction, not information.
Nonogram logic in five moves
- Start with 5s and 0s. A 5 fills its whole line; a 0 empties it. Mark the empties — ✗ marks are as valuable as filled cells.
- Big numbers overlap. A 4 in a 5-cell line leaves only two placements, and they share three cells — those three are certain. Any run longer than half the line has a guaranteed middle.
- Count the pieces. A clue like 1 1 1 in five cells has exactly one placement: filled-empty-filled-empty-filled. Multi-run clues are often tighter than they look.
- Cross-reference constantly. Every cell you settle in a row is evidence in its column. The rhythm is: place, turn, re-read the crossing clue.
- Finish lines, not areas. When a line's runs are all placed, ✗ the rest of it immediately — most "stuck" positions are unmarked empties hiding an easy next step.
Sharing
Your result copies as one row per submit, showing how many of the five rows were exactly right — a little convergence story that never reveals the picture. The picture itself, and its name, appear for everyone in the archive the next day.