Sudoku and Fill-a-Pix are both grid-based logic puzzles you solve by pure deduction, so solvers naturally wonder how alike they really are. The short answer: Fill-a-Pix is distant to Sudoku. Below we lay out what the two share, where they part ways, and whether the skills you have built on Sudoku will carry over.
- Grid: Rectangular
- Closeness to Sudoku: Distant
- Also called: Mosaic, Fill-A-Pix
What is Fill-a-Pix?
Shade cells so each number equals how many of the cells in its 3×3 neighbourhood are shaded, revealing a picture. Here are the rules in full:
- A numbered cell tells how many of the nine cells in its 3×3 block — itself included — are shaded.
- Work out every cell's state until all clues are satisfied.
- The finished shading forms a picture.
See a Fill-a-Pix picture
Fill-a-Pix shades cells so each number equals how many of the cells in its 3×3 neighbourhood (itself included) are shaded, revealing a picture. Below, a solved snippet forming a small shaded block.
Shaded from 3×3 neighbourhood counts — the cells build a picture (here a plus).
Both are single-solution logic puzzles solved without guessing, and both lean on marking what a cell must or cannot be from the counts. But Fill-a-Pix is black-and-white painting from neighbourhood counts, not number placement — there is no row, column or region rule. A distant relative.
What Fill-a-Pix shares with Sudoku
- Both are single-solution logic puzzles solved without guessing.
- Both lean on marking what a cell must or cannot be from the counts.
How Fill-a-Pix differs from Sudoku
- It is black-and-white painting from neighbourhood counts, not number placement.
- There is no row, column or region rule — only the 3×3 clues.
Do Sudoku skills transfer?
No digit technique transfers, but a Minesweeper-style count instinct — "this clue is already satisfied, so the rest stay clear" — is the same forcing logic Sudoku sharpens.
The verdict
Fill-a-Pix shares Sudoku's count-driven deduction but paints a picture instead of filling digits.