Chiidoku Strategy Checklist

How to use this page

Keep it open next to Chiidoku. After every placement, return to A. Do not skip letters because the board “looks easy.” Easy boards are where you build the habit that infinite mode later tests.

This is a tool, not a story. For the lecture version, use how to solve. For rules, use getting started.

Scan A — closed units

Ask:

• Which rows already have a Chiikawa?
• Which columns already have a Chiikawa?
• Which color regions already have a Chiikawa?

Mark them as dead. You will not place in a dead unit. If you were about to tap a cell in a dead row, that was a heart trying to happen. On mobile, confirm you are not on a border using controls.

Scan B — hidden singles (forced cells)

For each living color region:

• Count empty cells that sit in a living row and a living column.
• If the count is 1, place there. Stop. Return to A.

For each living row:

• Count empty cells that sit in a living region and a living column.
• If the count is 1, place there. Return to A.

Repeat for columns. This is the engine of Chiidoku. Most campaign hearts are skipped B’s.

Scan C — pointing

If all living candidates for a region live in one row, that row is taken. Other regions must abandon that row. Same for columns.

Ask:

• Does this region live entirely in row R?
• If I close row R for everyone else, does another region drop to one cell?

If yes, you found a pointer. Place the new single. Return to A, not to a celebration guess.

Scan D — pairs and trials

Only if A–C produced nothing:

• Two regions sharing the same two cells: leave them. Look for a third constraint.
• If you must trial, pick the cell that appears in the fewest lists. Imagine it filled. If any region hits zero legal cells, the trial is false. Place the other cell.

A trial is still logic. A coin flip is not. If you cannot explain the trial in one sentence, you are not on D. You are bored. Take a break. Dailies can wait.

Adjacency check (mandatory, not optional)

Ask after every single placement: “Did I just place this token next to another Chiikawa?”

Official rules say tokens cannot be placed next to each other. If two tokens touch, one of them is illegal. The game will take a heart. This is not a soft rule from Queens that you can ignore. It is a hard Chiidoku rule.

Heart checkpoint

Before you spend a heart on purpose:

• Did I finish A on this board?
• Did I finish B for every region, row, and column?
• Am I about to tap a border?
• Will this placement put two Chiikawas next to each other?

If any answer is no, the heart is a donation. Heart + 1 will not refund a donation.

Infinite mode add-on

At the start of every generated board, physically reset. Say “new closed list.” Then A. Carrying a column from the previous grid is a unique infinite-mode death. Details on the infinite page.

Shop checkpoint

Do not open unlocks until the board is done. The checklist does not store itself in the shop UI.

Print it

A B C D plus adjacency check. Five questions on paper. That is the whole tool. When a patch changes a rule, the updates hub will update this list. Until then, recycle this page on every Chiidoku session.

Timing the scans

A should take a few seconds on a tutorial board and still under a minute on a late campaign snake. If A takes five minutes, you are staring instead of counting. Count out loud. B should produce a placement or a clear no. C is shorter than people fear once lists are small. D should be rare on campaign and more common on infinite mode. If D is your first scan every board, you are skipping homework.

Teaching someone else

Sit them on A only for one full board. Do not let them tap during your explanation. Then they run B while you watch. If they jump to a pretty color, reset the board in conversation, not in the engine if undo is gone. The guides hub is the homework packet. This page is the quiz they keep.

When they ask for a script, send auto-solve and this checklist in the same message. One is a warning. One is a tool. They should open the tool.