The Doppit Almanac · No. 23

Yinit, a daily Yin-Yang puzzle

Two connected seas, no 2×2 blocks

What it is

Yinit is Doppit's daily Yin-Yang, No. 23 in the almanac: a grid, two colours, and an old quarrel over territory. Every cell is painted ink or pearl, each colour must hold together as one connected sea, and no 2×2 square may ever be one colour throughout.

A few faded stones come printed and stay put. Everything else is yours to settle, and the two rules squeeze harder than they read: wall off a single stone from its fellows, anywhere, and the whole board is lost.

How it plays

The ink keeps two commandments.

The difficulties

Four difficulties are dealt daily, Easy through Expert. Easy takes thirty seconds to a minute. Medium takes one to three minutes of keeping both colours connected. Hard is three to six and keeps its hardest step for late. Expert is hard's own eleven-wide board under one more rule: twice at least, a cell is settled only because the two colours cannot cross, either inside a 2×2 block or around the border. A new board is set every day, and it costs nothing.

Play today's board