How to play Parcels
Parcels is a daily shikaku puzzle. You split a grid into rectangles using the numbers on the board: each rectangle holds one number, and that number is its size. A puzzle takes two to ten minutes.
The rules
- Split the whole grid into rectangles. Squares count too, and so does a single tile.
- Each rectangle holds exactly one number.
- The number is the rectangle's size, in tiles. A 6 can be 1 by 6, 2 by 3, 3 by 2 or 6 by 1.
Every puzzle has exactly one answer, and you can always reach it by logic alone.
Controls
- Drag from one corner of a parcel to the opposite corner. While you drag, the size shows in the middle and turns gold when it fits the number inside.
- Tap a parcel to take it off. Drawing over parcels replaces them. Tap a 1 to make it a parcel of its own.
- Undo steps back one move. Clear takes every parcel off.
- On a keyboard: arrow keys move, Enter or Space sets one corner and then the other, Esc cancels, and Backspace takes off the parcel under the cursor.
- Hint highlights the next step you can prove and explains why.
- A parcel that breaks a rule, with no number, two numbers or the wrong size, gets a red hatch.
Five techniques that solve every board
Every Parcels puzzle can be finished with the moves below. Easy puzzles need only the first three. Medium puzzles ask you not to box a number in. Hard puzzles need the what-if check at least once.
1. Only one shape fits
List the rectangles of the right size that hold the number and no other. Near an edge, a corner or other numbers, often only one is left. A 1 is always its own tile.
2. Only one number can reach
Look at an empty tile and ask which numbers could cover it. If only one number can reach it, the tile belongs to that number, and every shape of it that misses the tile is out.
3. Tiles every shape covers
Some tiles are covered by every shape a number can still take. They belong to it for sure, so no other parcel can use them, even before you know the exact shape.
4. Don't box anyone in
Before you settle a shape, check its neighbors. If drawing it would leave another number with no room for a rectangle of its size, or cut off a tile no number can reach, that shape is wrong.
5. What if
On hard boards, pick a number with two or three shapes left. Imagine one of them, then play the simple moves above from there in your head. If some number runs out of room, or a tile is left that no number can reach, the shape was wrong. Start with numbers that have few shapes, because the chain stays short.
Questions
When does a new puzzle come out?
At midnight in your own time zone. The board grows through the week, from 5×5 on Monday to a hard 9×9 on Sunday.
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 Parcels the same as Shikaku?
The rules come from a classic Japanese pencil puzzle known as Shikaku or Divide by Box. Parcels has its own boards made by our own generator, a new puzzle every day, 300 practice puzzles and step-by-step hints.
Can a puzzle need a guess?
No. Before a puzzle is published, a solver works through it with the five techniques above, step by step. If it ever has to guess, the puzzle is thrown away.