How to play Evenly

Evenly is a daily logic puzzle on a square grid of tiles. You turn every tile light or dark until each row and column is perfectly balanced. A puzzle takes one to five minutes.

The rules

  1. Every tile is light or dark. Light tiles carry a round pebble, dark tiles a square block.
  2. Half and half. Every row and every column has as many light tiles as dark ones.
  3. Never three alike in a row. Three light or three dark tiles may not sit side by side, across or down.
  4. No copies. No two rows are the same, and no two columns are the same.

A 6×6 board has three light and three dark tiles in every line. Boards grow to 8×8 and 10×10 later in the week. Every puzzle has exactly one answer.

Controls

Five techniques that solve every board

Every Evenly puzzle can be finished with the five moves below. Easy puzzles need only the first three. Medium puzzles add the fourth. Hard puzzles need the fifth at least once.

1. Block the pair

Two dark tiles side by side? The tiles on both ends must be light, or you'd get three in a row. The same goes for two light tiles. This is the move you'll make most often.

2. Fill the gap

Two tiles of the same kind with one empty tile between them: the middle one has to be the other kind. Look for these gaps after every move, across and down.

3. Finish the line

Once a row or column has all of its dark tiles (three on a 6×6 board), every tile left in it is light, and the other way around. Counting is quick and often opens up a whole line.

4. Fit what's left

When a line is missing only a few of one kind, try each spot for them. In the row above, the two light ends leave one light and three dark tiles to place. If the light went in the second tile, the next three would all be dark: three in a row. The same happens in the fifth tile. So the light goes in the middle, and the second and fifth tiles are dark. Whenever every legal way to finish a line agrees on a tile, that tile is settled.

5. No copies

When a line is almost done and could still finish in two ways, compare it with the finished lines going the same way. If one of the two ways would make it identical to a finished row (or column), the other way is the answer. This rule only matters near the end of hard puzzles, so keep it in mind when you feel stuck with two tiles left in a line.

Questions

When does a new puzzle come out?

At midnight in your own time zone. Monday starts with a gentle 6×6, the middle of the week moves to 8×8, and Sunday is a hard 10×10.

Do I need an account?

No. Your streak, times and progress are saved in this browser. Clearing browser data removes them.

Does using a hint break my streak?

No. Your result just shows how many hints you used.

Is this the same as Takuzu or Binairo?

Yes, Evenly follows the classic rules of that puzzle family, also known as binary puzzles. Some apps leave out the no-copies rule or add extra clues between tiles. Evenly keeps all four classic rules, with no extra clues, a new board every day, 300 practice puzzles and step-by-step hints.

Can I get stuck and need to guess?

Never. Every puzzle is checked by a solver before it goes live: it has exactly one answer, and the five techniques above always reveal a next step.

Play today's Evenly